Parking Meter Patented 72 Years Ago Today
72 years ago today, May 24, 1938, patent, #2,118,318 was issued by the U.S. Patent Office for the Coin Controlled Parking Meter.
Magee was a lawyer and newspaper publisher in Oklahoma City, OK.
Magee actually had some help from Gerald A. Hale and Professor H.G. Thuesen of Oklahoma State University.
Gee, thanks guys! Motorists around the planet curse your memory.
Check out these great drawings from the original patent.
Here is the U.S. Patent office’s listing.
After 70 some years, nearly 5 million parking meters, manufactured by three major companies, line the streets of this country’s cities, according to the Parking Meter Page.
[...] May 13, 1935 for a “coin controlled parking meter” It took just over three years, but his patent, #2,118,318, was issued May 24, 1938. Less than two months from filing the patent, the first parking meter was bolted into the street of [...]