1950 - Dawn of Inventions

Since the dawn of inventions, many have helped out around the American family home. But in the 1950's there was such an outpour of amazing inventions it turned the decade around. It helped to make life much easier, and also increased output power of the family. Many have also changed how a family does certain things. Some inventions have also pulled a family together more. In the 1950's technology was able to increase leisure time of people.

One of the many inventions that changed American lives is the television. As stated in the CED magazine of 1998 "As the 1950s unfolded, cable TV began to make news, albeit minor." This attracted much of the family to the television during newscast reports. The attraction of the family to the television made stronger family ties and better communication between the families. Television sets during this time were black and white. The first television system was called the CATV system, this used microwave relay systems to broadcast one the first television signals. This help to bring cable into the home of many American families. Later as television developed, the "split-band" amplifiers came out. This allowed for more than a three-channel system. In 1956 almost 72 percent of American homes had a set to watch popular shows such as "I Love Lucy" and "The Honey Mooners."(Chase, 122) This is one way that many families during this time period enjoyed there leisure time.

Another way that many American families enjoyed there leisure time was the radio. One of the first transistor radios was invented in 1954, and was called the TR-I. (Chase, 116) The radio was small enough to fit in ones pocket to carry around. By 1955, Tokyo invented its own transistor radio called "The Sony", and then many Japanese corporations started to mass produce this new way of entertainment.

Next, computers were introduced around the 1950's also. Computers took up about a whole entire room, and took hours to figure out the problems inputted into the system. One of the first computers was the UNIVAC, The Smithsonian Book of Information Age Inventions, states that "It weighed some 16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000 calculations per second." The UNIVAC used internal programs to process information. Previous computers had to be disassembled and re-wired for any of the calculations that had to be done. This new way of programming allowed for the user of the computer to store the program that would calculate the information inputted and to be left in there, instead of disassembling and re-wiring the computer.

The UNIVAC computer was delivered to the United States Census Bureau in 1951. This would speed up much of the time to calculate the population. These machines ended up turning into business type machines, many businesses then ended up purchasing them. The first business UNIVAC was delivered to the