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William Potts (May 1883 – 1947) was a Detroit police officer who is credited with inventing the modern, three-lens traffic light in Detroit in 1920. (A gas-powered, two-lens, red/green traffic signal was invented in London in 1868 by John Peake Knight, though after a short test installation, traffic lights were not seen again in the U.K. until 1929.) [1]
The first four-way, three-color traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit, Michigan in 1920. [14] [15] He was concerned about how police officers at four different lights signals could not change their lights all at the same time.
Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr. (March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963) was an American inventor, businessman, and community leader.His most notable inventions were a type of three-way traffic light, [1] and a protective 'smoke hood' [2] notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue.
A few years later, Detroit police officer William Potts is credited with adding the yellow light, though as a city employee he couldn’t patent it. By 1930, Nelson wrote, all major American cities and many smaller ones had at least one electrical traffic signal.
[10] [11] [12] The first four-way, three-colour traffic light was created by William Potts in Detroit, Michigan in 1920. [13] His design was the first to include an amber 'caution' light along with red and green lights. [14] Potts was Superintendent of Signals for the Police Department of Detroit.
Eight years after Wire's invention, in Detroit, Michigan, Detroit Police Department Detective William Potts introduced the amber light and a series of electrical controls that would ultimately result in the automatic traffic light. [11] Like Wire, Potts did not apply for a patent. The first inventor of a traffic light to do so was Garrett ...
Traffic lights with artificial intelligence could improve traffic flows in cities, advocates say.
William Potts (inventor) (1883–1947), American policeman and inventor of modern traffic lights William E. Potts (1921–2005), American army general William Estel Potts (1935–2004), American army general