Oklahoma, the United States, experienced dramatic growth in the 1930s thanks to oil. The growth of the car park was even more dramatic, with cheap fuel: in less than a decade, the county went from 3,000 to half a million vehicles. Driving around Oklahoma City and, above all, parking, was getting harder and harder. So, the city's Chamber of Commerce, Carl C. Magee was appointed Chairman of the Traffic Commission as a successful lawyer and entrepreneur. To solve the problem, Magee devised and patented the parking meter; on July 16, 1935, they placed the first fourteen devices on the streets of the city. Soon the parchimeters multiplied as fungi.

“He likes the public,” said The Oklahoma News newspaper about one of the most hated inventions of the last century. The owner of the newspaper, Carl C. It was Magee.