HARD HATS DIDN’T JUST FALL FROM THE SKY; SOMEBODY HAD TO INVENT THEM:  Edward Bullard was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during WWI.  He noticed something that was obvious, but it’s funny how many people fail to see things that are obvious:  Helmets work.  They saved the lives of many a doughboy from shrapnel, bullets, and whatever else came flying at them.  When Bullard returned home to San Francisco and to his family’s business, which sold equipment to miners, he wanted develop a helmet that could protect miners, too.  His “Hard Boiled Miner’s Helmet” eventually evolved into the modern hard hat.

Bullard was posthumously inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame just this year.