William Potts

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William Potts (born May 1883 in Bad Ax , Huron County , Michigan , † 1947 ) was a police officer in Detroit , Michigan, USA . He is considered the inventor of the modern traffic light with three colors. A two-color traffic light (red / green) was invented in London as early as 1868 .

Life

William Potts was listed in the Michigan Census in 1900 as a 17-year-old police officer. In 1910 he married Grace Baker with whom he had four children. In 1920 Potts became superintendent of the traffic police. There he worked on the further development of the existing traffic lights with two colors. He came up with the idea of ​​adding a third color, yellow.

Its first three-color traffic light was installed and put into operation on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue in October 1920. This traffic light was still switched by hand and had 12 lamps, three for each direction. The lenses were 4 inches in diameter and were placed in a wooden frame. The case was made of pewter . As early as December 1920, further traffic lights were set up along Woodward Avenue, all of which were manually switched by the surveillance tower of the first traffic light. In 1921 the first automatic switching was installed in 15 traffic lights. Further modifications, such as the central suspension in the middle of the intersection or whippoles, followed in the years to come.

26 years later, there were already 600 traffic lights with 11,000 lamps in operation in Detroit. The American Automobile Association Report spoke of 36,000 signal systems nationwide.

In 1939, William Potts retired and was henceforth involved in the Safety and Traffic Department of the Michigan Automobile Club.

Potts hadn't filed a patent for his idea. When the manufacture of traffic light systems was commercialized in 1924, legal disputes arose with various manufacturers. In 1928 the Michigan court ruled that Potts need not be named as an inventor either.

He remained only a local personality throughout his life and was forgotten when he died in 1947.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Motor News - Automobile Club of Michigan - March 1947 - MR. 'TRAFFICLIGHT'. In: large.stanford.edu. October 23, 2011, accessed January 14, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Traffic lights in use before there were motorcars. In: didyouknow.org. July 2, 2010, accessed January 14, 2019 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Potts, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American policeman and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH May 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Ax , Huron County , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH 1947