---
title: "Who invented the Parking Meter?"  
description: "Who invented the Parking Meter?"  
author: "Cox elliott"  
published: 2018-08-30  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49250/who-invented-the-parking-meter  
category: "innovation, discovery and technology"  
tags: ["innovation, discovery and technology"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# Who invented the Parking Meter?

Who invented the Parking [Meter](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49062/what-year-was-parking-meter-invented-and-how)?\
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## Answers

### Answer by Harshal Vispute

A **parking meter** is a device that collects money in exchange for the privilege of parking a car in a specific location for a set period of time. **Municipalities** can use **parking meters** to enforce their integrated on-**street parking policy**, which is usually linked to their traffic and mobility management policies, but they can also be used to generate money.

**Roger W. Babson** filed a **U.S.** **patent application** for a **parking meter** on **August 30, 1928.** The meter was designed to run on the parking vehicle's battery and required a connection from the vehicle to the meter.

The **Black Maria**, designed by **Holger George Thuesen** and **Gerald A. Hale in 1935**, was the first operational parking meter. **Thuesen** and **Hale** were **[engineering](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93003/why-students-choose-engineering-as-a-career) teachers** at **Oklahoma State University** when they started to work on the **parking meter** in **1933** at the suggestion of **Carl C**. **Magee**, an **Oklahoma City attorney** and newspaper publisher.\

On **July 16, 1935,** the **world's first parking** meter was **established** in **Oklahoma City**. On **May 24, 1938,** Magee got a patent for the invention.

![Who invented the Parking Meter?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/5f3ab18c-3985-41d9-8d59-38db341c7e12/images/b9f1ef2c-2544-4552-bf75-55fb5d741b44.jpeg)\

**M.H. Rhodes Inc**. of **Hartford**, Connecticut, began manufacturing parking meters for Mark-Time Parking Meter Company of **Miami** in **1936**, where the first Rhodes meters were erected. These were different from Magee's meters in that they just required the driver's action of twisting a handle to keep the spring-wound, but Magee's meters required a serviceman to wind the spring on a regular basis.

A **[digital version](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93513/what-are-the-new-guidelines-by-the-indian-government-for-digital-media-and-ott-media)** was created in the mid-**1980s**, which replaced mechanical pieces with electronic components such as boards, keyboards, and displays. Because an **EEPROM chip** may be modified more easily than similar mechanical components, the meter gained additional versatility.\

Millions of parking meter units had been sold around the world by the beginning of the **1990s**, but the market was already seeking new solutions, such as collective pay and display devices and new means of payment that developed alongside electronic money and **communication technologies**.\

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Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49250/who-invented-the-parking-meter

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