紅綠燈是誰發明的？-------------------10pt

On 10 December 1868, the first traffic lights were installed outside the British Houses of Parliament in London, by the railway engineer J.P. Knight. They resembled railway signals of the time, with semaphore arms and red and green gas lamps for night use. The gas lantern was turned with a lever at its base so that the appropriate light faced traffic. Unfortunately, it exploded on 2 January 1869, injuring the policeman who was operating it.
The modern electric traffic light is an American invention.[1] As early as 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah, policeman Lester Wire invented the first red-green electric traffic lights. On 5 August 1914, the American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system on the corner of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.[2] [3] It had two colors, red and green, and a buzzer, based on the design of James Hoge, to provide a warning for color changes. The design by James Hoge (USPTO # 1251666 Sept. 22, 1913) allowed Police and Fire stations to control the signals in case of emergency. The first four-way, three-color traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit in 1920.[4] In 1923, Garrett Morgan patented a traffic signal device, although it was not a precursor of the modern traffic light [7].
The first interconnected traffic signal system was installed in Salt Lake City in 1917, with six connected intersections controlled simultaneously from a manual switch. Automatic control of interconnected traffic lights was introduced March 1922 in Houston, Texas.[5] The first automatic experimental traffic lights in England were deployed in Wolverhampton in 1927.[6]
Ampelmännchen pedestrian traffic signals have come to be seen as a nostalgic sign for the former German Democratic Republic.

Traffic lights for vehicles or pedestrians normally have two main lights—a red light that means 'stop' and a green (or sometimes white for pedestrians) light that means 'go' (or, more correctly, 'proceed with caution'); the use of these colors are thought to originate from nautical right-of-way[citation needed]. Usually, the red light contains some orange in its hue, and the green light contains some blue, to provide some support for people with red-green color blindness. In most countries there is also a yellow (colloquial term) or amber(official term) light, which when on by itself and not flashing means stop if able to do so safely. In some systems, a flashing amber means that a motorist may go ahead with care if the road is clear, giving way to pedestrians and to other road vehicles that may have priority. A flashing red is treated as a regular stop sign.
There may be additional lights (usually a green arrow or "filter") to authorize turns. In the U.S., a turn permitted by such a light is called a protected left or protected right. A left turn light preceding the opposing through movement is called a leading left turn because it leads the opposing through green light (likewise, a left turn arrow that follows the opposing through movement is known as a lagging left turn). In Canada, a turn that is authorized before the opposing traffic is called an advanced green and a green arrow at the end of the phase is called a delayed green. A leading left turn, advanced green, lagging left, or delayed green can apply either to only one direction, allowing both turning and through traffic while opposing traffic is stopped, or to both directions, allowing left turns from opposing directions while all through traffic is stopped.

無論是你司機，還是普通的行人，我們每天都會經過十字路口，也會順其自然的看到紅綠燈，“紅燈停、綠燈行、黃燈要注意！”這是我們從小就會熟稔於心的。那麼你知道這紅綠黃燈到底是誰發明的，是從什麼時候開始出現的呢？若是還不清楚，就看看下面這段有趣的汽車史話吧！

　　國外，紅與綠的最初含義

　　19世紀初，在英國中部的約克城，紅、綠裝分別代表女性的不同身份。其中，著紅裝的女人表示我已結婚，而著綠裝的女人則是未婚者



紅綠燈的出現

　　後來，英國倫敦議會大廈前經常發生馬車軋人的事故，於是人們受到紅綠裝啟發，1868年12月10日，信號燈家族的第一個成員就在倫敦議會大廈的廣場上誕生了，由當時英國機械師德·哈特設計、製造的燈柱高7m，身上挂著一盞紅、綠兩色的提燈——煤氣交通信號燈，這是城市街道的第一盞信號燈。在燈的腳下，一名手持長桿的警察隨心所欲地牽動皮帶轉換提燈的顏色。後來在信號燈的中心裝上煤氣燈罩，它的前面有兩塊紅、綠玻璃交替遮擋。不幸的是只面世23天的煤氣燈突然爆炸自滅，使一位正在值勤的警察也因此斷送了性命。從　此，城市的交通信號燈被取締了。直到1914年，在美國的克利夫蘭市才率先恢復了紅、綠燈，不過，這時已是“電氣信號燈”。稍後又在紐約和芝加哥等城市，相繼重新出現了交通信號燈。

　　中國人的自豪：黃燈的發明

　　隨著各種交通工具的發展和交通指揮的需要，第一盞名副其實的三色燈(紅、黃、綠三種標誌)於1918年誕生。它是三色圓形四面投影器，被安裝在紐約市五號街的一座高塔上，由於它的誕生，使城市交通大為改善。

　　黃色信號燈的燈的發明者是我國的胡汝鼎，他懷著“科學救國”的抱負到美國深造，在大發明家愛迪生為董事長的美國通用電器公司任職員。一天，他站在繁華的十字路口等待綠燈信號，當他看到紅燈而正要過去時，一輛轉彎的汽車呼地一聲擦身而過，嚇了他一身冷汗。回到宿舍，他反復琢磨，終於想到在紅、綠燈中間再加上一個黃色信號燈，提醒人們注意危險。他的建議立即得到有關方面的肯定。於是紅、黃、綠三色信號燈即以一個完整的指揮信號家族，遍及全世界陸、海、空交通領域了。

　　中國最早的馬路紅、綠、燈，是於1928年出現在上海的英租界。

　　從最早的手牽皮帶到20世紀50年代的電氣自動化控制，從採用電腦控制到現代化的電子定時監控，交通信號燈在科學化、自動化上不斷地更新、發展和完善。

本文來源:網易汽車社區