Together, a Swiss clock maker, a German glassblower, a mathematician, machinists, carpenters, and a host of lab assistants dreamed, envisioned and experimented their way to innovative products.

FORBES: How You Can Profit From Thomas Edison's Inventions

Dorsey has an artist friend, a glassblower, whose business was too small to justify the monthly fees and confusing rules and rates of a traditional credit card swipe machine.

WSJ: Simplicity and Order for All | Innovator of the Year 2012 Technology

All that changed when he set up shop in Menlo Park, New Jersey, and cobbled together a team that included, among others, a German glassblower, an African American engineer, a Swiss watchmaker, an American mathematician, and a British textile machinist.

FORBES: Thoreau's Idea Hunt, and Ours

Ludwig Boehm was a glassblower.

FORBES