South African inventions that made global history to celebrate this Heritage Month - IOL

There are products that have made a global impact that not enough people know were invented in South Africa.

There are some things we use so routinely that we rarely stop to think about where they came from.

A pool cleaner quietly moving around the bottom of a swimming pool. A medical scan helping doctors see inside the body.

A concrete structure protecting a harbour from powerful waves. A radar device telling us just how fast a cricket ball is travelling.

South Africa has played a part in all of these.

For Heritage Month, it is worth looking beyond the people, places, food and traditions that usually shape conversations about our heritage and remembering the country's history of innovation too.

These five South African inventions and innovations went on to make an impact well beyond our borders.

The Kreepy Krauly is probably one of the most recognisable South African inventions in swimming pools around the country.

South African engineer Ferdinand Chauvier invented the automatic pool cleaner in 1974.

His aim was simple: create a device that could clean a swimming pool using its existing filtration system.

The original prototype was made from materials including wood, rubber and plastic. It used suction from the pool's filtration system to move around the pool while collecting dirt and debris.

The invention was later developed for international markets and became one of the world's best-known automatic pool-cleaning systems.

A small tub of Pratley Putty has a rather extraordinary piece of South African history behind it.

George Montague Pratley and his team developed the epoxy putty in the early 1960s for use with electrical junction boxes. It was designed to insulate and secure electrical connections.

Its versatility soon saw it used for many other applications.

But its most famous journey was into space. Pratley Putty was used on the Apollo 11 mission and travelled to the Moon in 1969.

That makes it a remarkable example of South African ingenuity finding a place in one of the most famous technological achievements in history.

The CAT scan, now more commonly called a CT scan, has a significant South African connection through physicist Allan M. Cormack.

Born in Johannesburg, Cormack developed the mathematical foundations that made it possible to reconstruct images of sections of the human body using X-rays taken from different angles.

His work, together with that of British engineer Godfrey Hounsfield, led to the development of computerised tomography.

The pair received the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work.

It is worth noting that the CT scanner was not solely a South African invention. But Cormack's contribution was fundamental to the technology that transformed medical imaging.

CT scanner was not solely a South African invention, but Cormack's contribution was fundamental to the technology that transformed medical imaging.

Those enormous, oddly shaped concrete blocks found protecting harbours may look like abstract sculptures, but they have a serious job.

Dolosse were developed in East London in the 1960s to help protect harbour structures from powerful waves.

The interlocking concrete units absorb and dissipate wave energy, helping to reduce damage to coastal infrastructure.

Harbour engineer Eric Mowbray Merrifield is generally credited with the design, although draughtsman Aubrey Kruger also played an important role and later disputed how credit was attributed.

The design was subsequently used in coastal engineering projects beyond South Africa.

Dolosse were developed in East London to help protect harbour structures from powerful waves.

The next time you watch cricket and see the speed of a delivery flash across the screen, there is a good chance you are seeing the legacy of South African innovation.

South African engineer Henri Johnson developed a radar-based system for measuring the speed and trajectory of fast-moving sporting objects.

His technology was adapted for sports including cricket and tennis, allowing broadcasters and spectators to see just how fast a ball was travelling.

The technology made its international cricket debut during the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England.