For more than a century, New York's Capital District was one of the most industrialized regions in America. Adding to the growth and fame of Capital District engineering were hundreds of gifted inventors, without whom some industries would never have been established. Based on the strength of milestone inventions, Troy became known as the Collar City, Cohoes as the Spindle City and Schenectady as the City that Lights the World. Other inventors established businesses to manufacture valves, fire engines, billiard balls, horseshoes and farming equipment, to name just a few. Great Inventors of New York's Capital District describes the lives and accomplishments of dozens of inventors. Some of their stories are well known; others, which are being published here for the first time, were groundbreaking and no less important to the evolution of technology in America.