The Q-Tip
Leo Gerstenzang claimed he invented the Q-Tip after watching his wife attach wads of cotton to toothpicks to clean their infant’s ears. The truth is a little less bootstrappy—he actually bought the patent rights from Mrs. Hazel Tietjen Forbis. In any case, Gerstenzang ended up being the first person to mass-produce the cotton swab; and his Q-Tip would go on to sell 25 billion units a year. The place of origin was 132 West 36th Street nearly a century ago.
The ATM
Credit for the first automated teller machine goes to New York City. Its first iteration was for deposits only, patented by Luther George Simjian, a New York inventor. Called the Bankograph, a trial version was launched in 1961 by City Bank of New York. Alas, it was ahead of its time—after 6 months it was pulled due to lack of use, and Simjian never made a penny from his invention.
The Remote Control
The miniature ship above was the very first object in this world to be manipulated by remote control. Nikola Tesla, a long-time Manhattan resident, invented the device and provided its first public demonstration. On December 8, 1898, at Madison Square Garden, Tesla astonished spectators, most of whom didn’t even know of the existence of invisible signal-sending radio waves. (And you could argue this invention isn’t just remote control; it’s also the beginning of the drone.) Unfortunately for Tesla, the invention took a long time to catch on—decades after its original patent expired.
Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York
Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann