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The 19 greatest inventions and innovations created in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has been a home of innovation since colonial times - thanks in no small part to one of our most famous residents, Benjamin Franklin, and his penchant for inventions.

However, Mr. Franklin was by no means the only creative soul that called our fair state home. Here's our list of the 19 greatest inventions devised here in the Keystone State!

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Richmond County Bank Ballpark, home of the Staten Island Yankees will be dwarfed by a proposed 625-foot ferris wheel if the plans go through. (AP Photo/Office of the Mayor of New York)

Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com

The Ferris Wheel

George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. made his living in the railroad industry in Pittsburgh. The engineer created the world's first ferris wheel while living in the city, designing the ride for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, in an attempt to "out-Eiffel" the Eiffel Tower.

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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com

The pencil with attached eraser

Hymen Lipman combined the graphite pencil with a rubber eraser while living in Philadelphia, applying for a patent in 1858. We might not be able to avoid all of our mistakes, but thanks to Mr. Lipman, they're a lot simpler to fix.

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Polio vaccine being administered by Dr. Jonas Salk on April 23, 1964. (AP Photo)

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The polio vaccine

Dr. Jonas Salk made medical history when he successfully created a vaccine for the dreaded virus polio in 1955, while working as a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

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Workers replace the lightning rod on the top of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday , Aug. 5, 2004. The height from the pavement of the basilica to the cross of the dome is 137mtrs (452 feet). (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri)

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The lightning rod

Combining both his research on electricity and his efforts to fight fires in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod as early as 1749, and made later advancements in 1760.

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Carnegie Mellon professor Scott E. Fahlman posted the smiley face emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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The smiley face emoticon

With the ever-expanding world of digital communication, sometimes context can be lost. Thankfully, professor Scott E. Fahlman of Carnegie Mellon invented the smiley-face emoticon in 1982, giving us all a chance to add emotion to our emails, text messages and even entertainment blogs. =-)

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A Market Square crowd watches the outcome of a 1940 World Series game between Detroit and Cincinnati in front of the Patriot and Evening News building - next door to the Senate theater, 12-15 N. Second St. (No. 2712, Neill Collection. Copy obtained by Mark Pynes from the Historical Society of Dauphin County. Also featured on page 110 of the book "Images of America Harrisburg" by Linda A. Ries)

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The movie theater

Motion pictures were still a relatively new phenomenon in 1905. So when Harry Davis and John P. Harris opened the very first 96-seat "nickelodeon" in Pittsburgh that year, they made entertainment history.

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** ADVANCE FOR MONDAY AUG. 18 ** Karen Fetter of the Lincoln Highway Historical Society in Ligonier, Pa., displays August 12, 2003, some of the painted old-time gas pumps that will be placed along a 200 mile stretch of U.S. Route 30 between Gettysburg, Pa., and Pittsburgh. The pumps will be placed to mark historic spots, such as golfer Arnold Palmer's birthplace in Latrobe, Pa., along the nation's first coast-to-coast interstate this fall. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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The gas station

A few years later, Pittsburgh also saw the world's first drive-in gas station in 1913. Even back when automobiles were still a relative novelty, Pittsburgh was ready to field the demand for fuel.

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Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., plays with a Slinky toy during a tour of the Johnstown Wire Factory in Johnstown, Pa., Saturday, March 29, 2008. The plant makes the Slinky. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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The Slinky

What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound? Slinkey, of course. The bouncing spring toy was created by Richard T. James and debuted in a Philadelphia Gimbels department store in 1945.

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Tyler Mapes, a right handed pitcher for the Harrisburg Senators wins a bubble gum blowing contest put on by a local television station as Mapes and the rest of the 2016 Harrisburg Senators arrived on City Island Wednesday, Apr. 6, 2016. Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

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Bubble gum

Walter E. Diemer's experiments with chewing gum in 1928 led to a stretchier, more bubble-friendly formula for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company of Philadelphia.

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Bill Smith's odometer on his 1995 Honda Shadow American Classic Edition motorcycle as seen at his office in Glens Falls, N.Y., on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Jim McKnight)

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The odometer

Another of Ben Franklin's designs, the odometer was designed in 1775 to help make Franklin's carriage-borne post office deliveries more efficient. Is there anything that guy didn't do?

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The bifocal glasses

Another of Ben Franklin's achievements was a pair of glasses that combined lenses of different thickness, which would allow people with vision problems two different optical powers to choose from. Reading Poor Richard's Almanac was suddenly that much easier.

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The Arnold Palmer

According to legend, the famous half-lemonade, half-iced tea drink invented by golfer Arnold Palmer was first ordered in a country club in California. But supposedly, he first invented it himself in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

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The revolving door

Theophilus Van Kannel won several awards, including one from the Franklin Institute in his native Philadelphia, for inventing the revolving door. His ingenuity prevented noise, dust, precipitation and drafts from entering public buildings.

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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com

Soda pop

People had been partaking in carbonated drinks since at least 1767 for their supposed health benefits, but druggist Townsend Speakman was the first to add fruit flavoring to his soda water. He sold his "Nephite Julep" in Philadelphia in 1807.

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The toilet paper roll

We can thank Irvin and Clarence Scott of Philadelphia's Scott Paper Company for the convenience of perforated toilet paper on individual rolls. They devised the product in 1890. Just make sure you put the roll on the dispencer facing the right direction.

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A U.S. Marine driving an ambulance jeep struggles in the sandy beach at Iwo Jima during American advance on the strategic Japanese volcano island stronghold on Feb. 26, 1945, in World War II. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal)

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The Jeep

At the outset of World War II, the US army put out a call for an all-purpose, all-terrain four-wheel drive vehicle. The American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania responded. The Jeep went into mass production after field testing by then-Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1941.

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(B19) ** FILE ** Heinz ketchup bottles line the shelves of a Pittsburgh grocery store in a file photo from May 23, 2006. Food maker H.J. Heinz Co. said it expects better-than-expected results for the fiscal first quarter on strong sales and volume growth. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

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Pre-packaged condiments

The roots of ketchup date back to Asian fish sauce and European attempts to re-create it, but the Pittsburgh-based Heinz company was the first to produce pre-packaged tomato-based ketchup in 1859. The product would go on to be one of the companies 57 varieties of products.

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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com

Color crayons

The Crayola company of Easton, Pennsylvania didn't invent crayons or dustless chalk, but they were the first company to produce a box of eight multi-colored wax crayons and offer them to the public in 1903.

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The United States of America

Lest we forget: it was in Philadelphia on July 2 of 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to confirm that the 13 American colonies would no longer recognize British rule, and would instead form a new and independent nation. The Declaration of Independence, written in Philadelphia, was adopted on July 4 of that year. The Articles of Confederation were drafted in York in 1777, and the Constitution was written in Philadelphia in 1787. You're welcome, America.

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Sean Adams | sadams@pennlive.com

Which is your favorite?

Setting aside the United States and American republican democracy (it's hard to argue against that one), which is your favorite invention created in Pennsylvania? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

And check out some other uniquely Pennsylvania stuff:

45 Signs You're a Longtime Pennsylvanian

The Pennsylvania Bucket List

Things You Find in a Pennsylvania Grocery Store