[DanaC]

The inventor of Cats Eyes was from near where I live. The factory where they're made is still there.

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.[1] 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 (patent No. 436,290 and 457,536), and on 15 March 1935, founded Reflecting Roadstuds Limited in Halifax to manufacture the items.[2][3] The name Catseye is their trademark.[4] The reflective lens had been invented six years earlier for use in advertising signs by Richard Hollins Murray, an accountant from Herefordshire[5][6] and, as Shaw acknowledged, they had contributed to his idea.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_eye_(road)