Almon B. Strowger: The undertaker who revolutionized telephone technology

Truly, necessity is the mother of invention. Imagine you’re an undertaker working in Kansas City in the late 19th century. You’re one of just two undertakers serving a city of more than 50,000 people, so business must be booming, right? Not if your competitor is stealing all of your clients. Legend has it that Almon Brown Strowger found himself in …

In the SPARK Museum, a trove of early electric motors

On display at The SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention are myriad devices that tell the exciting story of electrical history, including a string of devices that walk visitors from the early thought experiments of Michael Faraday to the electric induction motors of Nikola Tesla: Faraday Rotating Cup Experiment: Michael Faraday’s rotating cup device, which he invented in 1822, is one …