American Inventor is a reality television series based on a search for America's best inventor. It was conceived by UK entrepreneur Peter Jones, who appears on the British version of the somewhat similar programme Dragons' Den. It is produced by Jones alongside Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol. Airing on ABC, it premiered on March 16, 2006. On March 20, 2008, the show's official website was removed, possible confirmation that the show will not be returning.

Janusz Liberkowski, who invented a new type of child safety seat based on the human womb and called the Anecia Safety Capsule, was declared the first season's winner in a live episode May 18, 2006. The second season premiered on June 6, 2007. Firefighter Greg Chavez, who invented a fire suppression system for Christmas Trees called the Guardian Angel, was the winner of the second season, on August 1, 2007.

Season 1

Twelve inventors and their products are chosen from a pool of hundreds by four judges including Ed Evangelista, Mary Lou Quinlan, Peter Jones and Doug Hall. The 12 semi-finalists are broken down into four groups of three, with each episode focusing on a different group of three. Each of the twelve semi-finalists in each group receives $50,000 to improve their inventions and compete to become one of the four finalists. In the show's live finale, the four finalists present a 30-second commercial advertisement for their product, with the home audience voting by phone for the winner. The winner receives $1,000,000 worth of business support, entrepreneurial counsel, physical resources, and prize money.

Season 2

Instead of 12 finalists receiving $50,000 checks to develop their inventions like in season one, six finalists, one from each of the audition cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Tampa and Houston, will each receive $50,000 and have one month to develop their inventions. The 1 finalist is narrowed down to three based on the judges' preference. Unlike the first season, the three finalists for voting will be declared and will be voted on by viewers immediately after the second-to-last show. The season finale will be a single show, where the winner is declared among the finalist. In the first season, the finale was a two-episode feature with 30-second commercials on the first and the results of viewer voting on the second part. Also, the first season had four finalists instead of six narrowed to three.

Season 1 Finalists

• Anecia Safety Capsule: A car seat shaped like a sphere with a movable sphere inside it. In the event of a car accident, the sphere will move, lessening the force on the baby. Winner

• Word Ace: A game that tells you a letter and a number and you have to come up with a word that starts with the letter and has a number of letters equal to the number. (Final 4)