Who Invented the Cat's Eye?
Percy Shaw, OBE (15 April 1890 – 1 September 1976) was an English inventor and businessman. He patented the reflective road stud or "cat's eye" in 1934, and set up a company to manufacture his invention in 1935.
One night in 1933, Percy Shaw (1890 - 1976) was driving home in Yorkshire when he saw the light of his car's headlights reflecting in the eye of a cat. This inspired Shaw to invent a practical method, later called the cat's eye, that would help drivers drive on better-lit roads by enhancing this effect.
Shaw wanted to develop a low-maintenance device that was bright enough to illuminate the roads during the night, and would remain intact despite the constant passing of cars. Shaw developed a small device that could be put on the road as a marker. Called the cat's eye because it resembles a cat's eyes, this device consisted of two pairs of glass beads placed in two flexible domes facing in opposite directions. The rubber contracted as vehicles passed over the dome, and the glass beads would fit safely under the road surface. The device even had a self-cleaning feature. The cast-iron base collected rainwater, and each time pressure was applied to the top of the dome, the rubber removed any dirt that had accumulated on the device, just like cleaning an eye with tears. The cat's eye was patented in 1934, and in 2001 the device was named the greatest design of the twentieth century, even beyond the Concorde.