I was joining a dual carriageway from the slip road recently at night, and the cat's eyes at the junction caught my attention. A bit of googling later, and I found this on Wikipedia;
"The inventor of cat's eyes was Percy Shaw of Boothtown, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. When the tram-lines were removed in the nearby suburb of Ambler Thorn, he realised that he had been using the polished strips of steel to navigate at night. The name "cat's eye" comes from Shaw's inspiration for the device: the eyeshine reflecting from the eyes of a cat. In 1934, he patented his invention (patents Nos. 436,290 and 457,536), and on 15 March 1935, founded Reflecting Roadstuds Limited in Halifax to manufacture the items. The name Catseye is their trademark."
It occurred to me that it was a good job the cat was facing Mr Shaw when inspiration struck. Had it been walking away he might well have invented the pencil sharpener instead.