Mono Monday - inventions of the 20th century

Traffic lights as seen in the village - not sure what they are digging up this time, but a poor workman was down inside an extremely deep hole in the pouring rain as I walked to meet friends for lunch today.  Inventor Garrett Morgan was credited with having invented traffic signals which were eventually patented in 1923 and then apparently sold to The General Electric company.  There was a traffic signal system set up outside the Houses of Parliament in 1868 which was based on a gas lit semaphore system.  Sadly that was short lived as it exploded and killed the police officer operating it!  It was then over 40 years later when electricity became more widespread that traffic light systems of different types started to be installed in several big cities in America and France.  Always an interesting history behind things we now just accept as a standard part of everyday life!  Not the best photo as I was trying to take a quick shot across the road whilst there were no cars passing! Thanks to Laurie 54 for hosting.