(Dr. Forrest Bird, the inventor of the medical respirator and an Inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, wrote the Foreword to Inventing A Better Mousetrap: 200 Years of American History in the Amazing World of Patent Models.)

One Man Who Made a Difference: Dr. Forrest Bird 

Dr. Bird became a pilot at an early age due to the encouragement of his father, a World War I pilot. Bird met many significant people responsible for shaping  this  country’s history. He met Orville Wright and Henry Ford. Ford came to his father’s clambakes each Memorial and Labor Day and was impressed by 12 year old Forrest’s building of homemade tractors out of Model T Ford car parts.