Canadian Inventions

Dr. James A. Naismith, from Almonte, Ontario, was a physical director at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. He invented basketball as a game that would relieve the boredom associated with traditional gymnastics.

Originally, half-bushel peach baskets were nailed to the wall of the gymnasium, but spectators interfered with the play so a version of the current backboard was designed.

Canada's most famous basketball team was the Edmonton Commercial Grads, a female team that stayed together after graduating from high school in 1915. By the time they had disbanded in 1940, the team had won 502 of the 522 games they had played. They were the Canadian champions nineteen times and held the World Championship title for sixteen consecutive years.

Invented by Arthur D. Ganong and his factory supervisor George F. Eansor in 1910.

The five cent nut bar was created as a convenient snack for those earning their living, or enjoying recreation, in the pursuit of fish.

The first credit union in North America was founded in Levis, Quebec on December 16, 1900.

In 1874, Henry Woodward, medical student from Toronto, patented the first incandescent lamp with an electric bulb, testing it successfully at 87 Woodward Street in Toronto.

He sold a share in the patent to Thomas Edison in 1875 and in 1879 Edison created a more practical version of the lamp leading to what we use today.

Hockey, as it is played today, originated in Canada. The first recorded game took place on Christmas Day, 1885, in Kingston, Ontario, when members of the Royal Canadian Rifles played with field hockey sticks and a lacrosse (another Canadian invention) ball.

Frederick Banting discovered insulin in 1921 while working with his student Charles H. Best at the University of Toronto.

Banting did not take out a patent on insulin but instead turned over the rights to the University of Toronto.

Pablum was invented by three doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto in the late 1920's.

Since then, Pablum has generated substantial income for the HSC in the form of royalties donated to the hospital's Pediatric Research Foundation.

First suggested by Canadian Sir Sanford Fleming on February 8, 1879 at the Canadian Institue for the Advancement of Scientific Knowledge in Toronto.

On November 18, 1883, all North American railway companies adopted his idea and on January 1, 1885 Greenwich Mean Time was established and eventually adopted as the standard around the world.

• The Zipper
• The Paint Roller
• The Green Garbage Bag
• Ginger Ale

It's interesting to note these and other Canadian inventions and achievements are the subject of the book "Canadian Firsts".

Written by Ralph Nader (yes, he's American), it's published by McClelland & Stewart Inc.