William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson set up shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, and produced the first of what has become a legendary line of motorcycles. For those who really wanted to get around, a 40-year-old engineer from Edison Illuminating Company named Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company.

Life also got a lot more fun in 1903. Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith brought life to the drawings of children for generations to come when they revealed the first box of eight Crayola crayons.

The question of what to do with your jacket when you get home from work was answered that year when a true genius, Albert J. Parkhouse, invented the wire coat hanger.

If you've ever had a heart-stopping experience, you may know that Wilhelm Einhoven invented the electrocardiograph in 1903. And while enjoying your next cold beer, think about Michael Joseph Owens. He invented the first automatic bottle-making machine in 1903, which some say was the most significant development in glassmaking since the invention of the blowpipe more than 2,000 years ago.

Lastly, while they are not as much fun as airplanes, motorcycles and crayons, 1903 also saw the nonetheless important invention of safety glass by Edourd Benedictus and Marie Curie's study of radioactivity.

The first flight

When Orville and Wilbur Wright declared they would make the first airplane flight, few believed they had the right stuff. Only five people showed up to witness history as Orville took the Flyer into the air. Three years later, the Wrights obtained a patent for their flying machine.

Wireless transmission

Marconi used a powerful transmitter and a massive antenna system to send a 54-word greeting from President Theodore Roosevelt to Britain's King Edward VII. Marconi had sent a message between Newfoundland and Britain in 1901, but the 1903 transmission is seen by many as the spark that ignited global communication.

Harley-Davidson

Nothing symbolises freedom and rebellion quite the way a Harley-Davidson motorcycle does. The first bike was built to be a racer, and was put together in a 'factory' consisting of a three-metre by five-metre wooden shed, and had a tomato soup can for a carburettor.

Crayola crayons

Binney & Smith did a lot to bring colour to America. Their red oxide pigments were used to make paint for the classic red barn and their carbon pigments were used by the Goodrich company to make tyres black instead of white. The first crayon colours were black, blue, red, brown, violet, yellow, orange and green.

Wire coat hanger

Legend has it that Albert J. Parkhouse always had a hard time finding a hook for his coat. Arriving at work one day and finding no space available he grabbed some wire and twisted it into a shape that fit inside his coat. He bent another wire to curl in the centre. With a bit of refining a great product was born.