Katie's+Tech+Project

Katie's Tech Project


 * J.P. Knight- First Traffic Light**


 * Eh not bad. I wonder how he made the green and red? Is he also responsible for part of the invention? Really decent though.**
 * - YOur gir****lfriend**

I never thought that someone had like actually invented a stoplight.. ~Boo Graham sources: [] [] [] []

J.P. Knight was born in 1828 Nottingham, England. He stayed in school until he reached the age of 12 but dropped out to work at a nearby Derby railroad station. He remained working at the railroad station for years, starting off in the parcel room which is basically a mail room but was very active in the railway system of the station. Not only was he later on promoted to be manager, but was also credited for some innovations that made railway travel safer and more efficient like the Pullman Car and safe carriages for women.

His background with working in the Derby railroad station exposed him to technology that would soon become useful in his creation of the first traffic light which related to some of his safety devices he created to help out railway travel. J.P. Knight, who had been living in London for years now, was exposed to the dangers of the streets and out of control traffic at the time and decided to take charge and help out by setting his mind on creating a signal system. Just in the year of 1866, 1102 people were killed and 1334 people were injured on roads in London; it was time to make a change.

The traffic lights you see today used all over the country do not sport the original design of his traffic light, but his original invention is what sparked the modification of them to make them safer and more efficient. The first traffic light was made using gas-powered lanterns with the classic green and red lights you see today. The first installed light was placed near the House of Parliament in London in 1868, on the corner of Bridge St. and George St. (very busy intersection). While this design was successful and used at the time, it unfortunately exploded a year later in 1869 and was taken down. Inventors like Earnest Sirrine and Lester Wire quickly took up the opportunity to modify the design by adding automatics and using electric lights instead of gas-powered lanterns.

The first traffic light by J.P. Knight was such an important invention during that time and even today. Without the traffic light, more corruption in the streets and intersections would occur more frequently than it did back then and there would be no order with the use of cars. Traffic lights allowed for more organization in busy cities to even small back road towns and was one of the most important inventions of its time.