Chester Greenwood, 1858 to 1937, is one of the Smithsonian Institution's 15 Most Outstanding Inventors. He is most famous for the "Chester Greenwood Champion Ear Protectors, For Use in Cold Weather" (more familiar to modern people as earmuffs), which he invented at age 15.
Among his more than 100 patents were spring-toothed steel rakes, conical automobile bearings, fluid shock absorbers, self-priming spark plugs, and airplane shock absorbers.
He is celebrated in his native Farmington, Maine with an annual festival.