Star Tribune
8 Minnesota inventions that changed the world
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Minnesotans have solved so many problems facing modern society that one article could not contain all these homegrown inventions.
The Star Tribune’s reader-powered reporting project, Curious Minnesota, recently compiled a list of notable inventions that came from Minnesota. We invited our audience to tell us any that we missed.
We heard from readers and dug up a few more in the process of assembling this sequel, which still doesn’t capture the full scope of the state’s world-changing contributions.
Bobcat / skid-steers
Farm work and construction projects are a lot easier today thanks to the Keller brothers of Rothsay, Minn. Cyril and Louis Keller were running a machine shop in 1957 when a turkey farmer approached them looking for a better way to handle his growing poultry operation.
The farmer “was finding it more difficult to get the manure cleaned out of his turkey barns,” Louis’ son Joe Keller recounted in a family history. “Standard loader tractors couldn’t be used because of their limited maneuverability, plus they were too heavy to operate on the second story.”
It took just six weeks to put together the first three-wheel front-loader using parts from junkyards, and bars from the old Rothsay jail, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
The skid-steer was a hit with poultry farmers and attendees of the 1958 Minnesota State Fair. Manufacturing moved to North Dakota not long after, and the first four-wheeled Bobcat skid-steer hit the market in 1962. Bobcat is now a multinational company with its U.S. headquarters in West Fargo, N.D.
Infant changing tables
Infant changing tables are a staple of restrooms across the country. Minnesotan Timothy Burt invented the fold-down changing stations in 1985 and received his first patent for them in 1989. He wrote to Curious Minnesota about how the idea developed.
“A friend of mine, Glen Cook from Brainerd, was a top executive for the McDonald’s corporation at that time, and we sat down and talked about why they needed them in their restrooms,” Burt wrote. “Glen put them in a trial run for a year, and after no incidents, they gave us permission to sell them to McDonald’s nationwide.”
Burt said he sold the majority share in the Diaper Deck in 1991 to focus on his true calling — the ministry.
“I worked for five years pioneering this industry, trying to convince the powers that be that they were greatly needed,” he wrote. “The rest is history.”
Automatic elevator doors
A Duluth barber named Alexander Miles invented a crucial piece of technology we take for granted every time we walk on or off an elevator. Before 1887, doors for both an elevator shaft and the elevator itself were manually opened by either an operator or the passengers.
“There were many examples of people accidentally falling to their death through the shaft,” the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recounted in a profile of the inventor. “Miles was determined to solve this problem.”
With a system of belts, drums, levers and rollers, Miles automated opening and closing the doors. Modern elevators are still based on his patent.
Softsoap
Liquid soap dates back to 1865. But it was a Minnesota company, Minnetonka Corp., that made hand-pumped liquid soap dispensers a mainstay in homes around the world.
Entrepreneur Robert Taylor devised the idea behind Softsoap on a drive to work one day, according to a 1980 Star Tribune article. Public restrooms at the time featured liquid soap dispensers, but bar soap still dominated in homes.
“It is an innovative product that eliminates the mess and waste that bar soap [creates],” Taylor said in 1980. “And at the same time, it leaves moisturizers on the skin.”
The product was a big hit and remains the leading brand in the liquid soap market. Colgate-Palmolive bought Softsoap in 1987 and kept producing the liquid soap in Chaska until 2000.
Tilt-a-Whirl
It has been nearly a century since thrill seekers first experienced the chaos of the Tilt-a-Whirl. These spinning state fair mainstays made their debut in 1927 in Faribault, Minn. Here’s how inventor Herbert Sellner described the “apparatus” in his patent filing:
“The riders will be moved in general through an orbit and will unexpectedly swing, snap from side to side or rotate without in any way being able to figure what movement may next take place in the car.”
Sellner built the first 14 contraptions in his backyard, before the Tilt-a-Whirl needed a factory to meet demand, according to a 2015 Star Tribune article. Faribault honored the inventor in 2014 by installing a restored original Tilt-a-Whirl car on a downtown corner.
GPS
Bradford Parkinson, who was born in Wisconsin but spent most of his younger years in Minnesota, is considered the “father” of the Global Positioning System.
“As a young Air Force colonel in the 1970s, he was the person most responsible for synthesizing elements of competing navigational systems into a single, viable concept,” reads Parkinson’s entry in the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame. “His education, experience and personality made him particularly well-qualified to lead the multi-service and civilian joint task force that created GPS.”
Parkinson started work on a satellite-based navigation system in 1972. The first satellites launched in 1978.
Nerf
St. Paul ad man and inventor Reyn Guyer created the Nerf ball. It was successfully marketed as “the world’s first indoor ball,” since it wouldn’t cause damage around the house. Guyer also devised Twister in the 1960s.
In the late 1960s, one of Guyer’s team members was developing a “dinosaur-era game” featuring foam rocks, according to the book “Inventors at Work.” The game was a dud, so instead they started tossing the foam around.
“We quickly realized how fun it was to break the ubiquitous household rule of ‘no playing ball in the house,'” Guyer wrote in his 2016 book, “Right Brain Red.”
They licensed the idea to Parker Brothers, which debuted the Nerf ball in 1970.
Alvin, the deep-sea submersible
General Mills, the Golden Valley-based producer of Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Pillsbury products, was once a major military contractor. In the 1960s, the Navy came looking for a way to bring humans farther below the ocean’s surface than was previously possible.
Minneapolis native Bud Froehlich was working for General Mills’ aeronautical research lab and led development of the little sub, which could hold three people and reach depths of 14,000 feet. The deep-water submersible, launched in 1964, is still in operation today.
“The Navy was initially skeptical about a Wheaties company designing a submarine,” recounted the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame. But decades later, in 1985, Alvin brought back the first high-quality images of the Titanic since it sank.
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Some take him up on it and fret when he’s not around.
“It is nice to be missed and be part of the school’s culture,” Arzola said. But mostly, he added, he wants kids to know that police aren’t around just for when the bad stuff happens. He’ll hand out his stickers and bracelets, even a trading card bearing his image. Then, they’ll talk about dogs and family.
School resource officer Al Arzola talks to students in his office at John Adams Middle School in Rochester on Oct. 11. (Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Two months ago, Rochester played host to a three-day training session for new SROs from across the state — an event organized by the Minnesota School Safety Center. On the final day, the 26 officers learned about surveillance challenges at the other school where Arzola works: Dakota Middle School.
It is a beautiful building with a scenic view. There is a lot of glass, too. Arzola, handling the role of instructor and tour guide, took the group outside and noted how one could look straight through the entrance to the large groups that gather inside. There were no curbs in front, either.
“There is nothing stopping any vehicle whatsoever from going through my front doors,” Arzola told the officers. “Law enforcement wasn’t talked to before this building was made. It was kind of like, ‘Here it is. You’re the SRO. Do what you do.’”
He showed them his office, too, which is separate from the main office and near those of other school support staff members. That makes sense, said Jenny Larrive, SRO coordinator for the Minnesota School Safety Center, given than SROs spend more time connecting with youth than on actual law enforcement.
“The basic rule in Minnesota is you cannot preemptively post law enforcement at a polling place,” he said. “A city can’t say, ‘Wow, Precinct Two, there’s a lot of intensity there, let’s just put a cop at the door.’”
Simon doesn’t go deep into the details on security, though. “I don’t want to give a total road map to the bad guys,” he said.
But testimony at the Capitol last year on behalf of the new law bolstering protections for election and polling place workers indicated there’s room for concern. One election worker was followed to her car by an angry voter; the head of elections in another county was called repeatedly on her home phone during off hours, and an official was lunged at by an aggrieved voter, forcing her to call the local sheriff.
Those who violate the law could now face civil damages and penalties of up to $1,000 for each violation.
The Brennan Center survey indicated more than four in 10 election leaders were concerned about recruiting enough poll workers due to threats of harassment and intimidation. This includes doxing — publishing a person’s personal information online in a threatening manner — and swatting, fake emergency calls that result in an armed response being sent to someone’s home.
“Election officials are working to prepare for everything right now,” said Liz Howard, director of partnership engagement at the Brennan Center. “More than 90% of election officials have made improvements to election security since 2020.”
Star Tribune
Daylight saving time ends next weekend. This is how to prepare for the potential health effects
The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time next Sunday, Nov. 3, which means you should set your clock back an hour before you go to bed. Standard time will last until March 9 when we will again ”spring forward” with the return of daylight saving time.
That spring time change can be tougher on your body. Darker mornings and lighter evenings can knock your internal body clock out of whack, making it harder to fall asleep on time for weeks or longer. Studies have even found an uptick in heart attacks and strokes right after the March time change.
”Fall back” should be easier. But it still may take a while to adjust your sleep habits, not to mention the downsides of leaving work in the dark or trying exercise while there’s still enough light. Some people with seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression usually linked to the shorter days and less sunlight of fall and winter, may struggle, too.
Some health groups, including the American Medical Association and American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have said it’s time to do away with time switches and that sticking with standard time aligns better with the sun — and human biology.
Most countries do not observe daylight saving time. For those that do — mostly in Europe and North America — the date that clocks are changed varies.
Two states — Arizona and Hawaii — don’t change and stay on standard time.
Here’s what to know about the twice yearly ritual.
