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Inventors and Inventions
 Building a Better Mousetrap, Part 2

Building a Better Mousetrap, Part 2
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.88

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    gas-powered, optics, escalator, life-changing, fruitful, telegraph, transmit, diverse, better, launched, spacecraft, telescope, ranks, orbit, Coca-Cola, fortune
     content words:    North America, Chester Greenwood, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, George Eastman, Then Carrier

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Building a Better Mousetrap, Part 2
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     Mechanical inventions took many forms. The first modern tumbler lock was invented in 1861. A new type of roller skates were invented in 1863. They started a new craze not only in North America but in Europe as well.
 
2     The first typewriter became available in 1867. At first, keys were arranged in alphabetical order. Later on, typists became so fast that the keys would jam up. The letters were rearranged in the pattern we know today, in order to slow them down.
 
3     The first motorcycle was fueled by coal and driven by steam in 1867. That same year also ushered in inventions like toilet paper and barbed wire.
 
4     Not all inventions are life-changing ones. Some are simpler and designed to aid in comfort.

Paragraphs 5 to 14:
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