Tod Maffin reveals six Canadian inventions most people don't know about: George Retzlaff's 1955 instant replay for hockey, Joseph Coyle's 1911 egg carton, Norman Brakeley's paint roller, Susan Olivia Poole's Jolly Jumper baby bouncer, Herbert McCool's Easy Off cleaner, and Louise Poillet's 1964 Wonderbra. Canada quietly fuels global innovation while getting almost no credit for it.
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Imagine being the brainiac in school who builds a rocket, but everyone just remembers you for lighting your fart on fire. That's Canada in the innovation world. Sure, you know the mainstays of Canadian invention: basketball, insulin, the California Roll. But how many of these do you know? How many of these do you know? In 1955, George Retzlaff, a producer for Hockey Night in Canada, came up with a way to rebroadcast a play within seconds using kinescope film. And like every great Canadian contribution, instant replay was initially treated like a neat little party trick before being monetized by everyone else on the planet. Then there's Joseph Coyle, a newspaper editor in Smithers, BC, who was in his office one day when he overheard a hotel owner and a farmer arguing. The hotelier was mad that half of each week's eggs delivery came in broken. So Coyle went outside, he looked at the smashed eggs in the cart, and thought to himself, "Maybe separate compartments?" and he invented the egg carton in 1911. The paint roller, a device which made painting walls suck slightly less, because before the roller, painting your wall was like mowing your lawn with scissors. It was invented by Norman Brakeley in 1940, who didn't patent it, didn't scale it up, and ended up watching others get rich from his design. The Jolly Jumper.
And because its portable clamp fastens securely to any doorway, your baby can be happy nearby wherever you're busy.
That bouncing baby contraption that has soothed generations of cranky infants and preserved the sanity of sleep-deprived parents. Invented in 1910 by an Ojibwe woman, Susan Olivia Poole, inspired by the indigenous practice she grew up with of suspending babies in cradleboards from tree branches. She tied a cloth diaper to a broom handle with a spring, and boom! Millions of babies now bounce their way into stronger legs and a lifelong addiction to adrenaline. But she only patented it in the 1950s because even bouncing a baby was considered too radical for the business world when it came from a woman, never mind an Indigenous one. Herbert McCool, an electrician from Regina who invented Easy Off in 1932, mixing the chemicals in his basement and slapping a label designed by his 5-year-old daughter on it. And like many inventors of his time, he made and sold it from his basement. After his death, his wife Doris continued the business and eventually sold the rights to US companies. The Wonderbra, invented by Louise Poillet in 1964. She turned 54 individual engineering elements into a garment that could lift and separate and start international conversations. It changed lingerie, advertising, arguably even posture. But we know more about the models who wore it than the genius who created it. So next time someone tells you Canada's boring, remember: we invented the Wonderbra and instant replay. You're welcome, sports bars. Innovation Canadian style doesn't start in the boardrooms. It starts when something's broken, it's -30, and we mutter, "Fuck it, I'll fix it myself." Canada is like the duct tape of countries. Underappreciated, indispensable, and holding civilization together one brilliant idea at a time.
