Great Canadian Inventors Using Life Skills

There are inventors all over the world and they all have one thing in common: they used the knowledge they gained to improve or create something to solve a problem. We’re so much more grateful to our very own great Canadian inventors. Do you know any of them?

Here is a short list of a few Canadians who saw the need to help and used their skills to create something to help us all. How many do you recognize?

Marcellus Gilmore Edson

Photo taken from: Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/145919627/marcellus-gilmore-edson : accessed 12 July 2021), memorial page for Marcellus Gilmore Edson (7 Feb 1849–6 Mar 1940), 

Find a Grave Memorial ID 145919627, citing Cimetière Mont-Royal, Outremont, Montreal Region, Quebec, Canada ; Maintained by Jeff Donaldson (contributor 47678069) .

Marcellus Gilmore Edson was a chemist and pharmacist who, in 1884, created the process used to make peanut butter paste, which is now used to make the peanut butter we eat today. The reason behind this invention was to allow people who had a hard time chewing solid food an opportunity to eat something that was nutritious. Since it was a common problem, his peanut butter paste was revolutionary. His process was described as milling roasted peanuts until it reached a “fluid” state. It was then cooled with added sugar until it was in a butter-like consistency.

John D. Millar

Engineer John D. Millar invented the idea of road lines. A simple concept, but before road lines there were many car accidents happening because there was no guidance along the roads. The very first lines were painted on the highway between Ontario and Quebec in 1930 and helped drivers safely share the road that was now divided into lanes.

People gather around an automobile accident on Parkside Drive in Toronto in 1929, before road lines existed. (John Boyd/Library and Archives Canada)

Graeme Gerfuson, Roman Kroitor, and Robert Kerr

With a growing need to show film to the masses after originally showing films for Expo 67 in Montreal on the sides of buildings, this trio knew there was a better solution. They developed a camera system to show high resolution images and enlarged projections. They were tasked with producing a film for Expo 70 in Japan. Together they created Multiscreen Corporation, and with financial help from Fuji and the  recruitment of William Shaw, they invented the camera system they wanted to film in “image maximum” or IMAX for short. The film Tiger Child, screened at Expo 70, was the very first IMAX movie. These great Canadian inventors changed the face of entertainment.

Chris Haney and Scott Abbott

Chris Haney, left, with Scott Abbott. The two men created Trivial Pursuit.

Credit: The Canadian Press, via Associated Press

Chris Haney was a photo editor for the Montreal Gazette, and Scott Abbott was a sports journalist for The Canadian Press. They both loved playing scrabble together. However, when pieces went missing one day, they needed something else to play with. So they decided to come up with their own game called Trivial Pursuit in 1979. It took some help from Chris Haney’s brother, John, and lawyer Ed Werner, and so the game was officially launched in 1981. See what happens when you’re bored?

Norman Breakey

Before 1940, houses were painted by hand with a simple paint brush. It was a painstakingly long process. Norman Breakey of Toronto decided to come up with a paint roller. He attached a cylinder of absorbent material at the end of a rod and was soon able to complete the painting process much quicker. 

Thomas Ahearn

Thomas Ahearn was another great Canadian inventor and businessman who was heavily involved in the progress of electricity in Ottawa. He is known for his work on the Ottawa Electric Railway using electric streetcars and held many positions in various companies because of his knowledge in electricity. Among his inventions, his patent on the electric oven and warming cars allowed for a system of using an electric stove and streetcars to deliver meals to an Ottawa hotel. This invention was ahead of its time and took awhile for it to really take off, unlike the gas oven. Nevertheless, it paved the way for the development and production of the electric oven we use today.

Did you know about these inventors? Are there others that you can add to this list?

You and your children can be inventors too! Do you see something around you that could be improved or do you see a need to do something more effectively? The possibilities are there. Maybe you’ll be the next great Canadian inventor!

Also see another article on great Canadian inventors, Cool Facts About Canadian Inventors.

This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.