Skip to main content
  • Main menu
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
  • Home
  • Explore
    • Study
    • Try
    • About
    • Multimedia
  • Invention Stories
    • Blog
    • Places of Invention
    • Beyond Words
  • Inventive Minds: Everyone Is Inventive
  • Andy Butler
Inventive Minds Logo
Invention sketch of accessible snowboard

Andy Butler

June 24, 2015 by Joyce Bedi and Alison Oswald

Throughout American history, inventors and innovators have used their imaginations to create, improve, and promote inventions and innovations that shape our everyday lives. Explore their stories in the Inventive Minds gallery.

Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print

archivescenter_butler-andy_03053401-edit.jpg

SmartLevel sketches

SmartLevel sketches, 1988. Records of Wedge Innovations, 1985-1996, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

The “SmartLevel” was the creation of California carpenter and engineer Andy Butler and some Silicon Valley engineers in 1990. An alternative to the familiar bubble-type hand level, the new tool depended on high-tech electronics to digitally display precise angles. SmartLevels found a market among users of who needed exact degree measurements, but Butler and his colleagues were more interested in developing a new idea than amassing a fortune. They sold the SmartLevel line and moved onto new projects. 

  • Continue To Matt Capozzi and Nate Connolly
  • Previous
  • About Inventive Minds
  • Ralph Baer
  • Patricia Bath
  • Andy Butler
  • Matt Capozzi and Nate Connolly
  • Marion O'Brien Donovan
  • Ashok Gadgil
  • Jerome Lemelson
  • Van Phillips

Tags

  • Women inventors (Relevance: 38%)
  • Immigrant inventors (Relevance: 14%)
  • Assistive technology (Relevance: 11%)
  • Video games (Relevance: 8%)
  • Environment (Relevance: 23%)

VIEW 2727 Matching Results

Found 2727 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.2071873854052%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.7473414008067%)
  • Archives@NMAH (Relevance: 8.4341767510084%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 3.0803080308031%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 3.3003300330033%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.5540887422076%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.5837917125046%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.3370003667033%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.4103410341034%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.367803447011%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.8503850385039%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.4470113678034%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 3.5203520352035%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.3736707004034%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 5.977264393106%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 3.3003300330033%)
❯
Go to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History website

About Menu

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Explore
    • Blog
    • Invention Stories
    • Places of Invention
    • Beyond Words
  • Study
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Books
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • Try
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Spark!Lab
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • About
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • News
    • Who We Are
    • FAQ
    • Donate
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • Surprise Me
  • Search
  • Open Drawer
Copyright 2023, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • DONATE
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print