Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I Engineers of Prosperity
1 Maglite's Tony Maglica: Torchbearer of the American Dream 15
2 The Wizards of Cool: Air-Conditioning Innovators Willis Carrier and Irvine Lyle 35
3 Roebling: The Family That Built America's Most Famous Bridges 60
Part II The Miracle of the Mundane
4 I, Toilet Paper 103
5 Crowning Glory: How William Painter's Bottle Caps Became a $9 Billion Business 115
6 "Keep Looking": How Painter's Razor-Sharp Genius Inspired King Gillette 135
7 Seeing Dollars in the Dirt: The Wisdom of Charles E. Hires 143
Part III BFFs: Dynamic Duos of American Business
8 Death-Defying Mavericks of Glass: Edward Libbey and Michael Owens 155
9 "Perfect Partnership": Westinghouse, Tesla, and the Harnessing of Niagara Falls 186
Part IV Past, Present, Future
10 Smart Limbs: The Next Generation of American Tinkerpreneurs 219
Conclusion 233
Acknowledgments 245
Notes 249
Index 309