We asked readers which U.S. technologies, including the cotton gin, the microchip and even the dishwasher, have mattered most ...

Photographs by Jo Whaley for TIME; Inventions from left: On Cloudboom Strike LightSpray, Medical Microinstruments Symani ...

Take a look at all of these awesome accidental, serious, and at times funny inventions!

Stacker has chronicled social, scientific, and business inventions that changed America over hundreds of years.

Robert Susa is the President of InventHelp, where he has long focused on supporting inventors in the invention process. He is ...