The glamorous Hedy Lamar invented a guidance system for Allied torpedoes. (Wikipedia photo)Pretty advanced! But despite her stellar early career, Lawrence had an unlucky second act. She didn’t file for a patent, got hurt in a fire, couldn’t find acting work, and took ant poison. Her last words: “I am tired. Hope this works. Good bye, my darling. They can’t cure me, so let it go at that.” She was 52. Maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference if she did get a patent, because Percy Douglas-Hamilton applied for and got one in 1907 for a device “indicating the intended movement of vehicles,” and we don’t remember him, either., Flash forward to the 1938 Buick, which boasted the “Flash-Way Directional Signal,” aka the first flashing light turn signal. You’d expect that the new approach would have immediately been adopted industry-wide, but in fact turn signals didn’t become commonplace until the early 1950s., The turn signal, or blinkers, is not the first thing we think about when we think of car parts that make us safe on the road, unlike brakes or airbags. But this humble invention has silently shaped our roads’ safety and communication protocols..