Imagine how much time it would take to paint a room without a paint roller. Not so long ago people spent many back-breaking hours doing just that. We have Norman Breakey of Toronto who invented the paint roller in 1940 to thank for an invention so simple that it's hard to believe no one thought of it before! Sadly, Norman never was able to produce his invention in large enough numbers to profit from it before others made small changes to the paint roller's design and were able to sell it as their own invention.