When he wasn’t busy drafting the Declaration of Independence, founding the University of Virginia, or serving as President, Thomas Jefferson liked to invent things (and, frequently, improve upon other people’s inventions). He never took out a patent, owing to his belief that every invention should benefit all of society. Just a few of his numerous inventions (or innovations) include:
- dumbwaiters for wine bottles
- the Great Clock
- the hideaway bed
- macaroni and cheese, not to mention
- a macaroni extruding device
- the pedometer
- the plow moldboard of least resistance
- the polygraph (not a lie detector, but a copying machine)
- a revolving bookstand
- the spherical sundial
- an improved swivel chair
- the wheel cipher
You can learn more about many of these inventions at About.com and Jefferson’s Inventions.
Feed the authors who feed your mind. 
November 6th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Just to set the record straight, Jefferson really only invented the moldboard of least resistence for certain. It’s very possible that he invented the cylindrical wheel cipher, but that has not been established for certain. He also appears to have created the spherical sundial on his own, but earlier examples of it are known to have exisited in Europe. He was interested and played with some of the other items listed here. But there is no evidence whatsoever that Jefferson invented, thinkered with, or even employed a “hideaway bed” (though he did place many of the beds at Monticello and Poplar Forest in alcoves after seeing this done in Europe).