William Potts (inventor)
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{{Infobox person
| name = William Potts
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = May 1883
| birth_place = Bad Axe, Michigan
| death_date = 1947
| death_place =
| occupation = Police officer
| years_active =
| known_for = Three-lens traffic light
| spouse = {{marriage|Grace (Baker) Potts|1910}}
| children = 4
}}
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.){{cite web |last=BBC |title=The man who gave us traffic lights |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2009/07/16/john_peake_knight_traffic_lights_feature.shtml |date=2009-07-22 |access-date=2024-07-24 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-gb}}
Biography
William Potts was born in Bad Axe, Michigan. The 1900 census lists Potts as 17 years old and a police officer. By 1910, he was married to Grace (Baker) Potts, and they subsequently had 4 children. Potts became the "superintendent, signal person police" for the city of Detroit.
The old system of police directing traffic had become increasingly outmoded; two-color signals, with green and red lights, already existed, but they did not leave drivers sufficient time to stop at high speeds. Some municipalities experimented with leaving the green on for a few seconds after the red was illuminated, to caution the driver that the right of way was soon to change. In 1917, Potts devised a new system by inventing a "yellow" or "amber" light which would shine after the green light and before the red light to indicate the impending transition.Henry Petroski, The Road Taken. Bloomsbury, 2016, p. 71.
In 1920, Potts designed the first four-way, three-color traffic signal tower, which was installed at the intersection of Woodward and Michigan Avenues in Detroit, in October 1920.[http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph240/miller1/docs/moyer/ Mr. Trafficlight]. Motor News, March 1947.
See also
References
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External links
- https://didyouknow.org/trafficlights/
- http://signalfan.freeservers.com/historical/pottssig1.htm
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Category:Detroit Police Department officers
Category:People from Bad Axe, Michigan
Category:20th-century American inventors
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