History of Inventing in NJ

Many Americans are familiar with Thomas Edison's invention factory in Menlo Park, where he patented the phonograph, the light bulb and more than one thousand other items. Yet many other ideas have grown in the Garden State, too.

New Jerseyans brought sound and music to movies and built the very first drive-in theater. In addition to the first cultivated blueberry, tasty treats like ice cream cones and M&Ms are also Jersey natives. Iconic aspects of American life, like the batting cage, catcher's mask and even professional baseball itself, started in New Jersey. Life would be a lot harder without the vacuum cleaner, plastic and Band-Aids, and many important advances in medicine and surgery were also developed here. Join author Linda Barth as she explores groundbreaking, useful, fun and even silly inventions and their New Jersey roots.

Linda Barth has been a fan of New Jersey for a long time. A lifelong resident of the Garden State, she became fascinated by the many inventions created here. After the publication of A History of Inventing in the Garden State: From Thomas Edison to the Ice Cream Cone (The History Press, 2013), many people told her of additional New Jersey inventions. These new creations led to this current book. With her husband, Bob, Mrs. Barth has written The Millstone Valley through Time and Somerville through Time. She has authored three books about the Delaware and Raritan Canal, as well as Hidden New Jersey, a seek-and-search book.