Joshua Lionel Cowen (/ˈkoʊən/; August 25, 1877 – September 8, 1965) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. Cowen attended two different colleges but never obtained a degree. He had a mechanical inclination and was interested in the principals of electricity. He worked a lot with batteries, transformers, and electrical motors which led to inventions and innovations. His first patented invention for a photographer's flash igniter for flash photography developed into a detonator for exploding mines for the United States Navy. That resulted in a $12,000 (equivalent to $390,864 in 2021) defense contract which gave him the money to go into the novelty business.