Earl Smith

Downeast Genius Earl Smith

The genius Thomas Edison once said all anyone needed in order to invent something was a good imagination and a pile of junk. Imagination and creativity have always been essential qualities for survival in Maine and the ingrained habits of "saving up" and "making do" inevitably led to heaps of junk. As a result Maine has produced some extraordinary inventors and inventions with many aimed at a simply making daily life, easier and more comfortable: from Joseph Peavey's self-named tool that dramatically improved log driving to Chester Greenwood's ear muffs to Charles Forster's toothpicks to Hiram Maxim's machine gun to the L. L. Bean Duck Boot.