

Forget Tesla vs. Edison. Remember Kettering, whose hack revolutionized cars. - chrisvls
http://blog.selligy.com/post/74292615032/get-past-tesla-vs-edison-just-dont-forget-kettering?utm_source=hn&utm_medium=social&utm_content=tesla&utm_campaign=tesla

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dalke
While true, there are many hundreds of people who "revolutionized" cars. Even
with starter motors, it had to be married to Bendix's method for engaging and
disengaging the starter motor automatically, in order to complete the
transformation over to electric starters.

Or there's Florence Lawrence, "The First Movie Star", who created the turn
indicator and a brake indicator (a 'stop' sign) activated by applying the foot
brake.

(And [http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/silent-film-
star-...](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/silent-film-star-and-
inventor-of-mechanical-turn-signal-dies) points out that Lawrence's mother
invented the first electrical windshield wipers.)

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chrisvls
True enough, there's also the interesting question of the difference between
radio/telegraph/phonograph and television . . . innovations that have "an
inventor" versus a team . . . the starter definitely has a one foot on both
sides of the line.

Thanks for the Lawrence link! No idea . . .

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sbierwagen
So, separation of concerns, encapsulation, and DRY. Day one of OO programming
101.

