Inventors Who Were Killed by Their Own Inventions

In matters of defective and dangerous products and product liability, we often think of the consumers as the primary victims – and in many cases, they are. But inanimate objects do not (indeed cannot) discriminate, and sometimes their own inventors are the ones who are victimized.

In this blog entry, our personal injury attorneys revisit some notable cases of inventors who were killed by their own inventions. Were these simply tragic flukes? Or are these products inherently hazardous? You can be the judge.

If you or a loved one was hurt by a dangerous product, call The Reiff Law Firm’s Philadelphia product injury lawyers at (215) 709-6940 today for a free case evaluation.

Jimi Heselden of Segway, Inc. Rides Over a Cliff

Alright, so we’re cheating a little with this one. Jimi Heselden didn’t technically invent the Segway – but he did own Segway, Inc., the company that manufactured the machine.

The Segway was invented by Dean Kamen, and made its world debut in 2001. In 2010, Heselden purchased Segway, Inc., with the intent of developing Kamen’s “gyrobike” further.

The Invention

The machine received mixed reviews upon its premiere, both hailed as a futuristic innovation and mocked for appearing clunky, awkward, and downright silly. In fact, the Segway is frequently used as comedy fodder on popular television show Arrested Development, with an episode of South Park also devoted to poking fun at the device. Nonetheless, its creators had high hopes. Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com even pronounced, “Cities will be built around this device.”

Bezos’ prediction has yet to come true, thanks partially to the highly publicized death of Segway, Inc. owner Jimi Heselden in 2010. Heselden was a British entrepreneur who had made his millions (340 of them) with the HESCO bastion prior to taking an interest in Segway. But Heselden’s support for Segway was not purely financial calculation – he enjoyed riding the Segway in his personal life as well. Sadly, he would die partaking in his hobby.

The Accident

62-year-old Heselden was last seen riding a Segway near his West Yorkshire estate. Around 11:40 A.M. on the morning of September 26, 2010, local police received reports of a body falling into the River Wharfe from the jagged limestone cliffs above. Paramedics pronounced Heselden dead at the scene, with the coroner’s report citing “multiple blunt force injuries to the chest and spine consistent with a fall.”

It was ultimately determined that Heselden’s fatal fall was not, in fact, the result of mechanical malfunction, but of human error. After being recovered from the scene and analyzed by experts, this particular Segway was deemed perfectly safe for use.

West Yorkshire Coroner David Hinchliff had this much to say: “[Heselden] held back and waited as an act of courtesy to allow Mr. Christie [a dog walker] more room. In so doing, he’s attempted to reverse the Segway back. As a result of that, he’s got into difficulty.”

The Analysis

The verdict? On the one hand, the Segway is mechanically sound – nothing malfunctioned. But on the other, its controls aren’t always easy to use – and in Heselden’s case, a split-second mistake led to a tragic death.

Henry Smolinski Tries to Combine a Pinto with a Cessna

Some people are car enthusiasts. Some people are aviation enthusiasts. Some people are inventors who think outside the box and then proceed to pick up the box and dropkick it into oblivion. Henry Smolinski was all three: a lover of cars, airplanes, and car-airplane hybrids that would have caused Acme cartoon characters to turn white with terror.

Today, the Pinto inspires two reactions: laughter over how terrible it was, and horror over how terrible it was. Ralph Nader famously called the Ford Pinto “unsafe at any speed,” and after a grisly series of deaths, injuries, and lawsuits, Ford’s explosive Pinto was finally pulled from production in 1980.

The Invention

But in 1973, the Pinto was still running strong. Aeronautical engineer Henry Smolinski, a recent graduate of the Northrop Institute of Technology, wondered if he could successfully combine the Pinto’s power with a Cessna’s lift to create an entirely new mode of transportation.

Smolinski called his experimental vehicle the AVE Mizar. The AVE Mizar, named for the Mizar star of the “Horse and Rider,” featured the wings and rear end of a Cessna mounted on the roof of a Pinto. Wing struts from the Cessna attached the wings to the car beneath. Unfortunately for Smolinski, the AVE Mizar would never make it to the production phase slated to begin in 1974.

The Accident

On a September day in 1973, Smolinski and friend Harold Blake were conducting a routine test of the AVE Mizar. Smolinski manned the controls, while Blake rode as a passenger. An air traffic controller watched in horror as the right wing strut failed, causing the wing to lose its support and buckle downward. Damage to the wing resulted in a fatal crash, which killed both Blake and Smolinski.

The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board), the organization responsible for investigation plane crashes in America, determined that the primary cause of the crash was a bad weld in the defective strut. The NTSB also cited the Pinto’s weight – heavier than the load the Cessna was designed to carry – as a contributing factor, in addition to an overall poor design.

The Analysis

Unlike Heselden, the deaths of Blake and Smolinski were caused by a defective product. No amount of flying expertise could have prevented a poorly welded wing strut from crumbling under duress. If the AVE Mizar had been a viable machine, it may have lived on into the present. Smolinski’s brave if risky dream died with him, while the Segway – despite all the teasing – continues to enjoy status as a marketable luxury item today.

Marie Curie’s Experiments in Radioactivity Take Their Toll

Marie Curie is one of the most famous women in science. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for science for her work in researching radioactivity. In fact, her and her husband’s research is the source of the word “radioactivity.”

The Discovery

Rather than inventions, most of Curie’s work (performed with her husband, Pierre) was in discovering elements and effects of radiation and radioactivity.

She and her husband were responsible for isolating and naming both the elements polonium – named for her homeland of Poland – and radium – named for its radioactive properties. They used these elements and studied their effects on cancer cells, making this some of the earliest work in radiotherapy.

All of this led to her receiving a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. Along with these and other recognitions, she also later had a unit of radioactivity and another element on the Periodic Table named after her.

The Accident

Rather than one single accident causing her death, it was years of exposure to radiation and radioactive materials. Her work gave her the radiation exposure needed to cause aplastic anemia, a form of cancer that affects the bone marrow. It was pretty clear from her studies – which included radiation that specifically affects the bones – that this was the likely cause.

Curie was known to carry radioactive test tubes around with her in her pocket. She may have been one of the world’s most eminent scientists studying radiation and X-rays, but she just didn’t know the long-term effects and dangers of radiation exposure like we do today (in part because of her work and the safety she sacrificed to learn these things).

Her husband died in a vehicle accident in 1906, well before he would have also potentially developed adverse effects from their radiation studies. Marie survived him and passed away in 1934.

The Analysis

We only know about the dangers of radioactivity because of the work people like Marie Curie did. Her work is the reason people who handle radioactive materials know to use safety gear and take proper exposure precautions today.

In her time, it would have been impossible to know of the dangers.

Today, her papers, many of her personal effects, and her body are too irradiated to safely handle. Her body was later re-interred in a lead-lined casket and is sometimes displayed in scientific museums around the world.

Stockton Rush’s “Titan” Submersible Implodes Touring the Titanic

Stockton Rush was the founder and owner of OceanGate, a submersible vessel company that ran tourist trips down into the ocean to view the shipwreck of the Titanic.

Experts, including The Titanic (2000) director and submersible vessel expert, James Cameron, questioned the safety of Rush’s Titan submersible, especially after its tragic implosion in June 2023.

The Invention

The Titan, originally named Cyclops 2, was a submersible vessel – essentially a small submarine. The vessel was driven with a video game controller and designed to carry a small group, plus the operator, down to depths beyond 4,000 meters (the Titanic sits at a depth of about 3,800 meters or 12,500 feet).

Many submersible vessels designed to go this deep have a few important features, like a spherical hull so that they can withstand pressure from all sides. They are also typically made of strong materials.

The Titan had a cylindrical hull made of carbon fiber. Alleged warnings given to Rush before June 2023 indicated to him that carbon fiber just wasn’t the right material for the job, and that it would not withstand enough pressure – an important feature for a vessel that would face upwards of 400 atmospheres of pressure at Titanic depths.

The Accident

On June 18, 2023, a tour of the Titanic wreckage began around 5:15 in the morning with five people on the Titan. OceanGate later lost communications with the Titan, and even lost its transponder. This, James Cameron later noted, made it obvious to him and other experts that the vessel was probably destroyed, given that the tracking transponder was housed in its own battery-powered and pressurized housing. For contact to be lost with the transponder, it would have to have meant the entire ship was destroyed.

Later acoustic analysis revealed a loud bang corresponding to the time that contact was lost, probably indicating sudden implosion under the immense pressure.  This tracks with the fact that the last contact with the vessel was at around 3,346 meters deep.

Search and rescue efforts were undertaken over the following days. With around 96 hours of breathable air in the vessel when it started its tour, rescuers hoped they would be able to locate an intact vessel. When debris was later discovered, the vessel was assumed to be destroyed with all five occupants killed.

The front and back ends of the wreckage were later found in different areas, turning rescue efforts into recovery efforts.

The Analysis

This invention killed Stockton Rush, along with four other occupants, including a father and son. These tourists expected safety, but later investigations showed alleged errors and safety issues that indicate OceanGate allegedly should have known better than to put this vessel in the water.

Many of the design questions were allegedly raised with OceanGate and Rush before the tragic June 2023 expedition, but they allegedly went unheeded. Cameron even notes that letters were written by others in the submersible community, apparently urging Rush not to take people down in the Titan.

International investigations and lawsuits are still pending as of the writing of this article, dealing with the alleged safety concerns and what OceanGate knew before sending Rush and the four passengers down in a potentially unsafe submersible.

Personal Injury Lawyers Handling Product Injury Cases

When products are poorly designed or insufficiently tested, they can pose a serious hazard to the consumers (or inventors) who use them. If you or someone you love has been hurt by a defective product, you may have a case for a product liability lawsuit.

To speak confidentially with an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney, call the law offices of The Reiff Law Firm at (215) 709-6940.