Forget fireworks, celebrate these American tech inventions

Blueprint for the Intel 4004 - widely considered to be the first microprocessor.

/ Intel

(CBS News) Happy birthday, America! To honor the independent spirit that gave birth to this nation, we are highlighting some of the inventions that have contributed to modern computer technology.

Ever wonder when the QWERY keyboard layout was introduced? It's hard to believe that an invention by two Milwaukee, Wis. men in 1868 influences the way we type our words today. 

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Did you ever hear about the memo that gave birth to the Internet? Legend has it that a 1963 note kicked off a chain of events that changed our lives forever.

And don't forget about the odd location where the first mobile phone call was made. We can thank AT&T for making it happen.

Check out the photo essay below to see what piece of game-changing technology was "Made in the U.S.A."

17 Photos

Made in the USA: American tech inventions

[mrdalek]

QWERY keyboard ? Try QWERTY or just look at what you're typing on. Does anyone proof read anymore ?

[venusvegasvada]

Enjoy them because after the changes made to the US Patent system last year, you can forget individual inventors getting patents like in the past.

After Hundreds of years of using the "first to invent" system, the US Govt changed our system last year to the European version- "first to file". Which drastically favors large corps over individuals.

Hardly anything to celebrate. Actually, it was a very sad event. Instead of fixing the system, they broke it for the little guy.

Canada is the proof. They switched to the "first to file" system in the 1980's and saw the number of individual entrepreneurs that file patents plunge afterwards.

Welcome to the Corp States of America.

[hypnotoad72]

More "American company" innovations:

http://resumeguru.us/node/141

http://www.11points.com/News-Politics/11_Companies_That_Surprisingly_Collaborated_With_the_Nazis

Surprising stuff... looks like we've always had globalization, certainly past WW2, but for the longest time (30~60 years), developed nations' middle classes hadn't been adversely affected in the process...

[hypnotoad72]

Errors abound.

IBM is a multinational company. Not "American" company. Otherwise they would not have helped a certain group of people in the 1940s...

And Kodak did file for bankruptcy. Granted I didn't care much for their consumer-grade camera models' quality, but as the spiral continues more companies, regardless of quality, will be going under as well.