Inventions
Anemometer
The anemometer is a device that measures the speed of the wind (or other airflow, like in a wind tunnel). The first anemometer, a disc placed perpendicular to the wind, was invented in 1450 by the Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti. Robert Hooke, an English physicist, later reinvented the anemometer. In 1846, John Thomas Romney Robinson, an Irish physicist, invented the spinning‑cup anemometer. In this device, cups are attached to a vertical shaft; when the cups spin in the wind, it causes a gear to turn.
Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim (1459‑1537) was a German mapmaker, navigator, and merchant. Behaim made the earliest globe, called the "N ü rnberg Terrestrial Globe." It was made during the years 1490‑1492; the painter Georg Glockendon helped in the project. Behaim had previously sailed to Portugal as a merchant (in 1480). He had advised King John II on matters concerning navigation. He accompanied the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cam (C ã o) on a 1485‑1486 voyage to the coast of West Africa; during this trip, the mouth of the Congo River was discovered. After returning to N ü rnberg in 1490, Behaim began construction of his globe (which was very inaccurate as compared to other maps from that time, even in the areas in which Behaim had sailed). It was once thought that Behaim's maps might have influenced Columbus and Magellan; this is now discounted. Behaim may have also developed an astrolabe. Behaim's globe is now in the German National Museum in N ü rnberg.
Caravel
The caravel (also spelled carvel) is a light sailing ship that was developed by the Portuguese in the late 1400's, and was used for the next 300 years. The Portuguese developed this ship to help them explore the African coast.
William Caxton
William Caxton (1422?‑1491) was an English businessman, royal advisor, translator, editor, and printer who set up England's first printing press in 1476. Caxton had learned about printing in Cologne, Germany. In Brussels, he printed "The Recuyell," the first book printed in the English language, around 1474. His second publication was "The Game and Play of Chess Moralised" (printed in 1476); this was the first printed book on chess and the first printed book to use woodcut illustrations. Caxton then returned to England and set up England's first printing press (in 1476), where he printed "Troilus and Creseide," "Morte d'Arthur," "The History of Reynart the Foxe," Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," and many other books. Since Caxton refused to print regional variations in English, he began the standardization of the English language and its spelling.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452‑1519) was an Italian inventor, artist, and scientist. Da Vinci had an interest in engineering and made detailed sketches of the airplane, the helicopter (and other flying machines), the parachute, the submarine, the armored car, the ballista (a giant crossbow), rapid‑fire guns, the centrifugal pump (designed to drain wet areas, like marshes), ball bearings, the worm gear (a set of gears in which many teeth make contact at once, reducing the strain on the teeth, allowing more pressure to be put on the mechanism), and many other incredible ideas that were centuries ahead of da Vinci's time.
Johannes Gitemberm
Printing Press with Movable Type
Johannes Gutenberg (the late 1300's‑1468) was a German craftsman, inventor, and printer who invented the first printing press with movable type in 1450. This invention revolutionized printing, making it simpler and more affordable. Gutenberg produced dies (molds) for easily producing individual pieces of metal type that could be made, assembled, and later reused. Gutenberg's new press could print a page every three minutes. This made printed material available to the masses for the first time in history. Religious materials were the majority of the early printed materials. The use of printing presses began the standardization of spelling.
Screwdriver
The earliest known screwdriver dates from the 15th‑century. Slotted screws (which were inserted with screwdrivers) were then used in knight's armor. One is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York.
Compound Microscope
Zacharias Janssen was a Dutch lens‑maker who invented the first compound microscope in 1595 (a compound microscope is one which has more than one lens). His microscope consisted of two tudes that slid within one another, and had a lens at each end. The microscope was focused by sliding the tubes. The lens in the eyepiece was bi‑convex (bulging outwards on both sides), and the lens of the far end (the objective lens) was plano‑convex (flat on one side and bulging outwards on the other side). This advanced microscope had a 3 to 9 times power of magnification. Zacharias Janssen's father Hans may have helped him build the microscope.
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei (1564‑1642) was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. Galileo found that the speed at which bodies fall does not depend on their weight. Galileo did extensive experimentation with pendulums, finding that they nearly return to the height at which they were released, that different pendulums have different periods (independent of bob weight and amplitude), and that the square of the period varies directly with the pendulum's length.
Galileo was the first person to use a telescope to observe the skies (in 1609), after hearing about Hans Lippershey's newly‑invented telescope. Galileo discovered the rings of Saturn (1610), was the first to see the four moons of Jupiter (1610), observed the phases of Venus, studied sunspots, and discovered many other important phenomena. In 1593 Galileo invented the thermometer. After publishing the many discoveries he made using his telescope, including the motion of the Earth around the Sun (the Copernican system), Galileo was accused of heresy by the Inquisition (in 1633).
Galileo found that the speed at which bodies fall does not depend on their weight and did extensive experimentation with pendulums.
In 1593 Galileo invented the thermometer.
In 1609, Galileo was the first person to use a telescope to observe the skies (after hearing about Hans Lippershey's newly‑invented telescope). Galileo discovered the rings of Saturn (1610), was the first person to see the four major moons of Jupiter (1610), observed the phases of Venus, studied sunspots, and discovered many other important phenomena.
Globe
Martin Behaim (1459‑1537) was a German mapmaker, navigator, and merchant who made the earliest globe, called the "N ü rnberg Terrestrial Globe". It was made during the years 1490‑1492; the painter Georg Glockendon helped in the project. Behaim had previously sailed to Portugal as a merchant (in 1480). He had advised King John II on matters concerning navigation. He accompanied the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cam (C ã o) on a 1485‑1486 voyage to the coast of West Africa; during this trip, the mouth of the Congo River was discovered. After returning to N ü rnberg in 1490, Behaim began construction of his globe (which was very inaccurate as compared to other maps from that time, even in the areas in which Behaim had sailed). It was once thought that Behaim's maps might have influenced Columbus and Magellan; this is now discounted. Behaim may have also developed an astrolabe. Behaim's globe is now in the German National Museum in N ü rnberg.
Zacharias Janssen
Zacharias Janssen was a Dutch lens‑maker who invented the first compound microscope in 1595 (a compound microscope is one which has more than one lens). His microscope consisted of two tudes that slid within one another, and had a lens at each end. The microscope was focused by sliding the tubes. The lens in the eyepiece was bi‑convex (bulging outwards on both sides), and the lens of the far end (the objective lens) was plano‑convex (flat on one side and bulging outwards on the other side). This advanced microscope had a 3 to 9 times power of magnification. Zacharias Janssen's father Hans may have helped him build the microscope.
Microscope
The microscope may have been invented by eyeglass makers in Middelburg, The Netherlands, invented sometime between 1590 and 1610. Hans and his son Zacharias Janssen are mentioned in the letters of William Boreel ( the Dutch envoy to the Court of France) as having invented a 20X magnification microscope.
Robert Hooke used an early microscope to observe slices of cork (bark from the oak tree) using a 30X power compound microscope. He published his observations in "Microgphia" in 1665. In 1673, Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria, free‑living and parasitic microscopic protists, sperm cells, blood cells, etc., using a 300X power single lens microscope.
Pencil
The "lead" pencil (which contains no lead) was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite (black carbon) mine was discovered in England. The pure graphite was sawn into sheets and then cut into square rods. The graphite rods were inserted into hand‑carved wooden holders, forming pencils. They were called lead pencils by mistake ‑ at the time, graphite was called black lead or "plumbago," from the Greek word for lead (it looked and acted like lead, and it was not known at the time that graphite consisted of carbon and not lead).
In 1795, the Nicholas Jacques Conte (a French officer in Napoleon's army) patented the modern method of kiln‑firing powdered graphite with clay to make pencils of any desired hardness.
Thermometer
The Thermometer was invented by Galileo Galilei in 1593. His thermometer consisted of water in a glass bulb; the water moved up and down the bulb as the temperature changed.
Barometer
A barometer is a device that measures air (barometric) pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere. There are two types of barometers commonly used today, mercury and aneroid (meaning "fluidless"). Earlier water barometers (also known as "storm glasses") date from the 17th century. The mercury barometer was invented by the Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli (1608 ‑ 1647), a pupil of Galileo, in 1643. Torricelli inverted a glass tube filled with mercury into another container of mercury; the mercury in the tube "weighs" the air in the atmosphere above the tube. The aneroid barometer (using a spring balance instead of a liquid) was invented by the French scientist Lucien Vidie in 1843.
Cassegrain Telescope
A Cassegrain telescope is a wide‑angle reflecting telescope with a concave mirror that receives light and focuses an image. A second mirror reflects the light through a gap in the primary mirror, allowing the eyepiece or camera to be mounted at the back end of the tube. The Cassegrain reflecting telescope was developed in 1672 by the French sculptor Sieur Guillaume Cassegrain. A correcting plate (a lens) was added in 1930 by the Estonian astronomer and lens‑maker Bernard Schmidt (1879‑1935), creating the Schmidt‑Cassegrain telescope which minimized the spherical aberration of the Cassegrain telescope.
Christian Huygens
Christian Huygens (1629‑1695) was a Dutch physicist and astronomer who developed new methods for grinding and polishing glass telescope lenses (about 1654). With his new, powerful telescopes, he identified Saturn's rings and discovered Titan, the largest moon of Saturn in 1655. Huygens also invented the pendulum clock in 1656 (eliminating springs), wrote the first work on the calculus of probability (De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae, 1655), and proposed the wave theory of light (Trait é de la lumiere, 1678).
Hans Lippershev
Hans Lippershey (1570?‑1619) was a German‑born Dutch lens maker who demonstrated the first refracting telescope in 1608, made from two lenses; he applied for a patent for this optical refracting telescope (using 2 lenses) in 1608, intending it for use as a military device.
Microscope
The microscope may have been invented by eyeglass makers in Middelburg, The Netherlands, invented sometime between 1590 and 1610. Hans and his son Zacharias Janssen are mentioned in the letters of William Boreel ( the Dutch envoy to the Court of France) as having invented a 20X magnification microscope.
Robert Hooke used an early microscope to observe slices of cork (bark from the oak tree) using a 30X power compound microscope. He published his observations in "Microgphia" in 1665. In 1673, Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria, free‑living and parasitic microscopic protists, sperm cells, blood cells, etc., using a 300X power single lens microscope.
Reflecting Telescope
A reflecting (or Newtonian) telescope uses two mirrors to magnify what is viewed. The reflecting telescope was first described by James Gregory in 1663.
Refracting Telescope
A refracting telescope uses two lenses to magnify what is viewed; the large primary lens does most of the magnification. The first refracting telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey in 1608.
Telescope
A telescope is a device that lets us view distant objects. Early telescopes used glass lenses and/or mirrors to detect visible light. Some modern telescopes gather images from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays.
The first refracting telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey in 1608. Lippershey (1570?‑1619) was a German‑born Dutch lens maker who demonstrated the first refracting telescope in 1608, made from two lenses; he applied for a patent for this optical refracting telescope (using 2 lenses) in 1608, intending it for use as a military device. Newton improved the design of this telescope, and it is now called a Newtonian telescope.
James Gregory (1638‑1675), a Scottish mathematician, invented the first reflecting telescope in 1663. He published a description of the reflecting telescope in "Optica Promota," which was published in 1663. He never actually made the telescope, which was to have used a parabolic and an ellipsoidal mirror.
Evangelista Torricelli
Evangelista Torricelli (1608 ‑ 1647) was an Italian physicist who invented the mercury barometer (in 1643) and made improvements to the microscope. Torricelli was a pupil of Galileo. Torricelli inverted a glass tube filled with mercury into another container of mercury; the mercury in the tube "weighs" the air in the atmosphere above the container. A barometer is a device that measures air (barometric) pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere. There are two types of barometers commonly used today, mercury and aneroid (meaning "fluidless").
Bifocal Glasses
Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal glasses in the 1700s. He was nearsighted and had also become farsighted in his middle age. Tired of switching between two pairs of glasses, Franklin cut the lenses of each pair of glasses horizontally, making a single pair of glasses that focused at both near regions (the bottom half of the lenses) and far regions (the top half of the lenses). This new type of glasses let people read and see far away; they are still in use today.
Carbonated Water
People have been drinking naturally‑carbonated water (water with carbon dioxide bubbles) since pre‑historic times. The English chemist Joseph Priestley experimented with putting gases in liquids in 1767, producing the first artificially‑produced carbonated water.
In 1770, the Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman invented a device for making carbonated water from chalk and sulfuric acid.
Celsius Thermometer
Anders Celsius (1701‑1744) was a Swedish professor of astronomy who devised the Celsius thermometer. He also ventured to the far north of Sweden with an expedition in order to measure the length of a degree along a meridian, close to the pole, later comparing it with similar measurements made in the Southern Hemisphere. This confirmed that the shape of the earth is an ellipsoid which is flattened at the poles. He also cataloged 300 stars. With his assistant Olof Hiorter, Celsius discovered the magnetic basis for auroras.
Cotton Gin
The cotton gin is a machine that cleans cotton, removing its many seeds. This device revolutionized the cotton industry. Previously, this tedious job had been done by hand, using two combs. Eli Whitney (1765‑1825) was an American inventor and engineer who invented the cotton gin; he patented the cotton gin on March 14, 1794. The cotton gin made much of the southern United States very rich, but cotton plantation owners rarely paid Whitney for the use of his invention, and Whitney went out of business.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706‑April 17, 1790) was an American statesman, writer, printer, and inventor. Franklin experimented extensively with electricity. In 1752, his experiments with a kite in a thunderstorm (never do this, many people have died trying it!) led to the development of the lightning rod. Franklin started the first circulating library in the colonies in 1731. He also invented bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove. The idea of time zones was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784.
Guillotine
Many, many people were being executed during the French Revolution, and Dr. Joseph‑Ignace Guillotin (1738‑1821) suggested that decapitation would be a more humane method for execution. Experiments with cadavers (dead people) were done. The device that we call the guillotine was invented; it is a tall wooden framework with a hole to keep a person's head still and a large falling blade. Although he did not invent the machine we call the guillotine, Guillotin's name is forever attached to it. The guillotine was first was used on April 25, 1792 at the Place de Gr è ve (the victim was a highway man). The most famous victims of the guillotine include the deposed French King Louis XVI and his extravagant wife Queen Marie Antoinette, who were beheaded on January 21, 1793. The guillotine was used in France until 1981, when capital punishment was abolished.
John H. Hadley
John Hadley (1682‑1744) was an English mathematician and inventor who built the first reflecting telescope and invented an improved quadrant (known as Hadley's quadrant). Hadley Rille, a long valley on the surface of the moon, was named for Hadley.
James Hargreaves
James Hargreaves (1720? ‑ April 22, 1778) was an English weaver and spinner (he spun wool thread using a spinning wheel). He invented the spinning jenny, a hand‑ powered multiple spinning machine.
The spinning jenny was much more efficient than the spinning wheel. With a spinning wheel, a person could produce only one yarn thread at a time. With Hargreaves' spinning jenny, a person could produce up to eight threads at once (it used one spinning wheel and 8 spindles on which threads were wound). The thread that the spinning jenny produced was coarse, and was only suited for filling material, but it was still quite a useful invention, and led the way to even better spinning devices.
Hargreaves is said to have gotten the idea for his remarkable invention after his young daughter (named Jenny) overturned his spinning wheel. When it was upturned, it continued to spin, and Hargreaves realized that many spinning wheels could be positioned like this, creating a multiple‑wheeled spinning machine.
Hargreaves began selling spinning jenny's from his home, near Blackburn, Lancashire, England. After hearing of his invention, local spinners became fearful of losing their jobs and broke into Hargreaves' house, destroying his spinning jennies. He then moved to Nottingham, England (in 1768).
Thomas James became Hargreaves' partner and they began a spinning mill which used spinning jennies (which could now produce even more threads per machine). Hargreaves patented the spinning jenny on July 12, 1770.
Hot-Air Balloon
A hot‑air balloon is a balloon that is filled with hot air; it rises because hot air is less dense (lighter) than the rest of the air. Joseph and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier were two French bothers who made the first successful hot‑air balloon. Their first balloon was launched in December, 1782, and ascended to an altitude of 985 ft (300 m). This type of hot‑air balloon was called the Montgolfi é re; it was made of paper and used air heated by burning wool and moist straw. The first passengers in a hot‑air balloon were a rooster, a sheep, and a duck, whom the Montgolfier brothers sent up to an altitude of 1,640 ft (500 m) on September 19, 1783 (the trip lasted for 8 minutes); the animals survived the landing. This event was observed by King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France.
Interchangeable Parts
Clock makers used the idea of interchangeable parts since the early 1700's. In 1790, the French gunsmith Honor é Blanc demonstrated his muskets entirely made from interchangeable parts; the French government didn't like the process (since with this process, anyone could manufacture items, and the government lost control), so it was stopped. The idea of interchangeable parts was introduced to American gun manufacturing by Eli Whitney (1765‑1825) in 1798. The concept of interchangeable manufacturing parts helped modernize the musket industry (and mass production in general). Whitney made paper templates for each separate part of the musket (an early gun). The workers then used a paper template when chiseling the part. Whitney was an American inventor and engineer who also invented the cotton gin.
Light Bulb
The first electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc.
Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828‑1914) was determined to devise a practical, long‑lasting electric light. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.
In 1877, the American Charles Francis Brush manufactured some carbon arcs to light a public square in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. These arcs were used on a few streets, in a few large office buildings, and even some stores. Electric lights were only used by a few people.
The inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long‑lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen‑free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours.
In 1903, Willis R. Whitney invented a treatment for the filament so that it wouldn't darken the inside of the bulb as it glowed. In 1910, William David Coolidge (1873‑1975) invented a tungsten filament which lasted even longer than the older filaments. The incandescent bulb revolutionized the world.
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise was invented in France hundreds of years ago, probably in 1756 by the French chef working for the Duke de Richelieu, The first ready‑made mayonnaise was sold in the US in 1905 at Richard Hellman's deli in New York. Hellman sold his wife's mayonnaise in open wooden boats. In 1912, he sold the mayonnaise in large glass bottles; the type he called "Hellman's Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise" was very popular and is still sold today (it is now owned by Best Foods).
Meter (and the Metric System)
The metric system was invented in France. In 1790, the French National Assembly directed the Academy of Sciences of Paris to standardize the units of measurement. A committee from the Academy used a decimal system and defined the meter to be one 10‑millionths of the distance from the equator to the Earth's Pole (that is, the Earth's circumference would be equal to 40 million meters). The committee consisted of the mathematicians Jean Charles de Borda (1733‑1799), Joseph‑Louis Comte de Lagrange (1736‑1813), Pierre‑Simon Laplace (1749‑1827), Gaspard Monge (1746 ‑1818), and Marie Jean Antoine Nicholas Caritat, the Marquis de Condorcet (1743‑1794)
The word meter comes from the Greek word metron, which means measure. The centimeter was defined as one‑hundredth of a meter; the kilometer was defined as 1000 meters. The metric system was passed by law in France on August 1, 1793. In 1960, the definition of the meter changed to 1,650,763.73 wavelengths of the orange‑red radiation of krypton 86. In 1983, the meter was redefined as 1/299,792,458 of the distance that light travels in one second in a vacuum.
For the metric unit of weight, the gram was defined as the weight of one cubic centimeter of pure water at a given temperature.
Parachute
A parachute is a device for slowing down one's descent while falling to the ground. Parachutes are used to skydive from airplanes, to jump from very high places, and to help slow down the descent of spacecraft. Parachutes are also used to slow down some race cars. The early parachutes were made from canvas (a strong cotton cloth). Light‑ weight (but very strong) silk cloth was then introduced for parachutes. Modern‑day parachutes use nylon fabric.
The idea of using a parachute to fall gently to the ground was written about by Leonardo da Vinci (1452‑1519). The first parachute was demonstrated by Louis‑S é bastien Lenormand in 1783 of France ‑ he jumped from a very tall tree carrying two parasols (umbrellas). A few years later, some adventurous people jumped from hot‑air balloons using primitive parachutes. The first person to jump from a flying airplane (and survive the fall) was Captain Albert Berry, who jumped from a U.S. Army plane in 1912. Parachutes were first used in war towards the end of World War 1.
Piano
The modern piano (the pianoforte) was developed from the harpsichord around 1720, by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy. His new instrument had a delicate pianissimo (very soft sound), a strong fortissimo (a very loud, forceful sound), and every level in between.
The first upright piano was made around 1780 by Johann Schmidt of Salzburg, Austria. Thomas Loud of London developed an upright piano whose strings ran diagonally (in 1802), saving even more space.
Sandwich
The sandwich was invented by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718‑1792). About 1762, he is reputed to have been too busy to have a formal meal, and instructed his cook to pack his meat inside the bread to save him time ‑ and the sandwich was invented.
Sextant
The sextant is an astronomical instrument that is used to determine latitude for navigation. It does this by measuring angular distances, like the altitude of the sun, moon and stars. The sextant was invented independently in both England and America in 1731. The sextant replaced the astrolabe. The word sextant comes from the Latin word meaning "one sixth."
Time Zones
The Earth is divided into 24 time zones so that everyone in the world can be on roughly similar schedules (like noon being roughly when the sun is highest in the sky). The idea of time zones was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 in an essay called "An Economical Project," which he wrote during a trip to France.
Battery
Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (Feb. 18, 1745‑ March 5, 1827) was an Italian physicist who invented the chemical battery (also called the voltaic pile) in 1800. This invention provided the first generator of continuous electrical current. Volta also discovered (and isolated) methane gas, CH4 (in 1778). He had earlier invented the electrophorus, a device that generated static electricity charges (in 1775). The volt, the unit of electrical potential, was named for Volta in 1881.
Steam Engine
James Watt (1736‑1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer. In 1765, Watt revolutionized the steam engine, redesigning it so that it was much more efficient and four times as powerful as the old Newcomen steam engines. Watt's engines did not waste steam (heat), and had a separate condenser. Watt partnered with the businessman and factory owner Matthew Boulton in 1772, helping to promote Watt's ideas commercially. Watt also invented a method for converting the up‑and‑down piston movement into rotary motion (the "sun‑and‑planet" gear), allowing a greater number of applications for the engine. Watt produced this rotary‑motion steam engine in 1781; it was used for many applications, including draining mines, powering looms in textile factories, powering bellows, paper mills, etc. It helped power the Industrial Revolution. Watt coined the term "horsepower," which he used to convey the power of his engines; Watt calculated how many horses it would take to do the work of each engine. One horsepower equals 33,000 foot‑pounds of work per minute; it is the power required to lift a total of 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. Parliament granted Watt a patent on his steam engine in 1755, making Watt a very wealthy man. In 1882 (long after Watt's death), the British Association named the unit of electrical power the "watt."
Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney (1765‑1825) was an American inventor and engineer. Whitney invented the cotton gin and the idea of interchangeable parts. He patented the cotton gin, which revolutionized the cotton industry on March 14, 1794. The cotton gin is a machine that cleans cotton, removing its many seeds. Previously, this tedious job had been done by hand, using two combs. The cotton gin made much of the southern United States very rich, but cotton plantation owners rarely paid Whitney for the use of his invention, and Whitney went out of business. He never patented his later inventions (like his milling machine). Whitney also helped modernize the musket industry (and mass production in general) by introducing the idea of interchangeable parts in a manufacturing system.
Steamboat
Henry Bell (1767‑1830) was a Scottish engineer and inventor who built a steam‑powered boat in 1812. His 12‑foot (3.5‑meter) steamboat, called the Comet, was the first commercially successful steamship in Europe. This boat regularly sailed between Greenock and Glasgow (Scotland) along the River Clyde. The Comet was the beginning of a revolution in navigation.
Braille
Louis Braille (1809‑1852) invented a coded system of raised dots that are used by the blind to read. He was blinded as a child, and invented his extraordinary system in his early teens. In 1829, Braille published "The Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Song by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged by Them." His method, called Braille, is still in use around the world today. Louis Braille is buried in the Pantheon in Paris, as a French national hero.
Can and Can Opener
A metal can (or canister) for preserving food was invented in 1810 by a Peter Durand, of London, England. Metal cans (also called tins) could preserve food for a long period of time. To open a can, a person had to use a hammer and chisel; the can opener wasn't invented for another 50 years.
The can opener was invented in 1858 by Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. Warner's device used a lever and chisel. Until then, cans were opened using a hammer and chisel; the can opener was invented 50 years after the metal can was invented.
The can opener was improved in 1870 by William Lyman of West Meridian, Connecticut, USA. Lyman's device used a rotating wheel and a sharp edge. His can opener only fit one size of can, and first had to pierce the center of the can.
The modern‑day type of can opener (using a serrated wheel) was invented in 1925.
Electric Streetcar
Thomas Davenport (July 9, 1802 ‑July 6, 1851) was an American blacksmith and inventor who established the first commercially successful electric streetcar. Davenport, from Vermont, invented an electric motor in 1834 and began a small electric railway in 1835. He patented a device for "Improvements in propelling machinery by magnetism and electromagnetism" in 1837 (his electric railway). Davenport later started a workshop in New York City, New York, and published a journal on electromagnetism (it was printed on a press that was powered by motors which he devised).
Electric Light
Sir Humphry Davy (1778‑1829) was an English scientist who invented the first electric light in 1800. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires from his battery to two pieces of carbon, electricity arced between the carbon pieces, producing an intense, hot, and short‑lived light. This is called an electric arc. Davy also invented a miner's safety helmet and a process to desalinate sea water. Davy discovered the elements boron, sodium, aluminum (whose name he later changed to aluminium), and potassium.
Dishwasher
The first dishwasher was patented in 1850 by, Joel Houghton; his machine was a hand‑turned wheel that splashed water on dishes ‑ unfortunately, it wasn't very effective at washing dishes. The first working automatic dishwasher was invented by Mrs. Josephine Garis (W. A.) Cochran, of Shelbyville, Illinois, in 1889. Her dishwasher was a wooden tub with a wire basket in it ‑ the dishes went in the basket, and rollers rotated the dishes. As a handle on the tub was turned, hot, soapy water was sprayed into the tub, cleaning the dishes. Cochran's machine was first shown at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. At first, her machine was only bought by some restaurants and hotels. Cochran's small company was eventually associated with the Kitchen Aid company. The dishwasher didn't become widespread as a labor‑saving machine until the 1960's.
Kindergarten
Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (also written Fr ö bel) (1782‑1852) was a German educator and educational reformer who invented the kindergarten (which means "garden of children"). He opened the first kindergarten in Bad Blankenburg (near Keilhau) in 1837. Froebel founded a kindergarten training school at Liebenstein, Germany in 1849. After some conflicts and mistaken charges of treason, the German government banned the establishment of kindergartens in 1851. In 1860, the government repealed the ban, and kindergartens re‑opened (unfortunately, this was after Froebel's death). Froebel's kindergartens included pleasant surroundings, self‑motivated activity, play, music, and the physical training of the child.
Sewing Machine
Elias Howe (1819‑1867) was American inventor who patented an improved sewing machine in 1846. His revolutionary machine used two separate threads, one threaded through the needle, and one in a shuttle; it was powered by a hand crank. A sideways‑moving needle with its eye at one end would pierce the fabric, creating a loop of thread on the other side; a shuttle would then push thread through the loop, creating a tight lock stitch. Earlier sewing machines used only one thread and a chain stitch that could unravel. Howe's business did not thrive. Others, like Isaac Singer made slight modifications in the machine and built successful businesses. Howe sued those who had infringed on his patent and won royalties on all machines sold (he was paid $5.00 for each sewing machine sold). Howe died the year his patent expired.
Incandescent Light Bulb
The first incandescent electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc.
Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828‑1914) was determined to devise a practical, long‑lasting electric light. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.
The inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long‑lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen‑free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. The incandescent bulb revolutionized the world.
Lawn Mower
The first lawn mower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding. Budding (1795‑1846) was an engineer from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. His reel mower was a set of blades set in a cylinder on two wheels. When you push the lawn mower, the cylinder rotates, and the blades cut the grass. Budding patented his lawn mower on August 31, 1830. Before his invention, a scythe was used (or sheep or other grazing animals were allowed to graze on the grass). The first reel lawn mower patent in the US (January 12, 1868) was granted to Amariah M. Hills, who formed the Archimedean Lawn Mower Co.
Mechanical Reaper
Cyrus Hall McCormick (February 15, 1809 ‑ May 13, 1884) was an American inventor (of Irish descent) who developed the mechanical reaper. His new machine combined many of the steps involved in harvesting crops, greatly increased crop yields, decreased the number of field hands needed for the harvest, lowered costs, and revolutionized farming.
Morse Code
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791‑1872) was an American inventor and painter. After a successful career painting in oils (first painting historical scenes and then portraits), Morse built the first American telegraph around 1835 (the telegraph was also being developed independently in Europe).
A telegraph sends electrical signals over a long distance, through wires. Morse patented this telegraph machine in 1837, with help from his business partners Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail. Morse used a dots‑and‑ spaces code for the letters of the alphabet and the numbers (Morse Code was later improved to use dots, dashes and spaces: for example E is dot, T is dash, A is dot‑dash, N is dash‑dot, O is dash‑dash, I is dot‑dot, S is dot‑dot‑dot, etc.). By 1838, Morse could send 10 words per minute. Congress provided funds for building a telegraph line between Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, in 1843 Morse sent the first telegraphic message (from Washington D.C. to Baltimore) on May 24, 1844; the message was: "What hath God wrought?" The telegraph revolutionized long‑distance communications.
Penicillin
Louis Pasteur (1822‑1895) was a French chemist and inventor. Pasteur studied the process of fermentation, and postulated that fermentation was produced by microscopic organisms (other than yeast), which Pasteur called germs. He hypothesized that these germs might be responsible for some diseases. Pasteur disproved the notion of "spontaneous generation " which stated that organisms could spring from nothing; Pasteur showed that organisms came form other, pre‑existing organisms. Applying his theories to foods and drinks, Pasteur invented a heating process (now called pasteurization) which sterilizes food, killing micro‑organisms that contaminate it.
Rubber Band
The first rubber band was made in 1845 by Stephen Perry of the rubber manufacturing company Messers Perry and Co., in London, England. This rubber band was made of vulcanized rubber. Perry invented the rubber band to hold papers or envelopes together.
Safety Pin
The safety pin was invented by Walter Hunt in 1849. Hunt 1795‑1859) patented the safety pin on April 10, 1849 (patent No. 6,281). Hunt's pin was made by twisting a length of wire. Hunt invented the safety pin in order to pay a debt of $15; he eventually sold the rights to his patent for $400.
Saxophone
Antoine‑Joseph (Adolphe) Sax (1814 ‑ Feb. 4, 1894) was Belgian musical instrument manufacturer and musician (he played the clarinet) who invented the saxophone. Sax first exhibited his newly‑invented woodwind instrument at the 1841 Brussels Exhibition, and patented it in 1846. Sax also invented the saxhorn (a family of bugles with 3 or 4 valves), which he first exhibited in 1844.
Vidie, Lucien
Lucien Vidie was a French scientist who invented the aneroid barometer in 1843. A barometer is a device that measures air (barometric) pressure. It measures the weight of the column of air that extends from the instrument to the top of the atmosphere. There are two types of barometers commonly used today, mercury and aneroid (meaning "fluidless"). The aneroid barometer uses a spring balance instead of a liquid; it is easy to transport and easy to construct.
Velox Photographic Paper
Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 ‑ February 23, 1944) was a Belgian‑born American chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) and Bakelite (1907), an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and very popular plastic.
Basketball
The game of basketball was invented by James Naismith (1861‑1939). Naismith was a Canadian physical education instructor who invented the game in 1891 so that his students could participate in sports during the winter. In his original game, which he developed while at the Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association), Naismith used a soccer ball which were thrown into peach baskets (with their bottoms intact). The first public basketball game was in Springfield, MA, USA, on March 11, 1892. Basketball was first played at the Olympics in Berlin Germany in 1936 (America won the gold medal, and Naismith was there).
Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland ‑ August 2, 1922, Baddek, Nova Scotia) invented the telephone (with Thomas Watson) in 1876. Bell also improved Thomas Edison's phonograph. Bell invented the multiple telegraph (1875), the hydroairplane, the photo‑sensitive selenium cell (the photophone, a wireless phone, developed with Sumner Tainter), and new techniques for teaching the deaf to speak. In 1882, Bell and his father‑in‑law, Gardiner Hubbard, bought and re‑organized the journal "Science." Bell, Hubbard and others founded the National Geographic Society in 1888; Bell was the President of the National Geographic Society from 1898 to 1903.
Blue Jeans
Levi Strauss (1829‑1902) was an entrepreneur who invented and marketed blue jeans. Trained as a tailor in Buttenheim, Bavaria, Germany, Strauss went to San Francisco, USA from New York in 1853. Strauss sold dry goods, including tents and linens to the 49ers (the people who came to the California gold rush, which began in 1849). In 1873, Strauss and Jacob Davis, a Nevada tailor, patented the idea (devised by Davis) of using copper rivets at the stress points of sturdy work pants. Early levis, called "waist overalls," came in a brown canvas duck fabric and a heavy blue denim fabric. The duck fabric pants were not very successful, so were dropped early on. His business became extremely successful (and still is), revolutionizing the apparel industry.
Braille Typewriter
The Hall Braille typewriter (also called a Braillewriter or Brailler) was invented in 1892 by Frank Haven Hall. Hall was the Superintendent of the Illinois Institution for the Blind. The Hall Braille typewriter was manufactured by the Harrison & Seifried company in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hall introduced his invention on May 27, 1892, at Jacksonville, Illinois.
Bunsen Burner
The laboratory Bunsen burner was invented by Robert Wilhelm Bunsen in 1855. Bunsen (1811‑1899) was a German chemist and teacher. He invented the Bunsen burner for his research in isolating chemical substances ‑ it has a high‑intensity, non‑luminous flame that does not interfere with the colored flame emitted by chemicals being tested.
Idaho Potato
Luther Burbank (1849‑1926) was an American plant breeder who developed over 800 new strains of plants, including many popular varieties of potato, plums, prunes, berries, trees, and flowers. One of his greatest inventions was the Russet Burbank potato (also called the Idaho potato), which he developed in 1871. This blight‑resistant potato helped Ireland recover from its devastating potato famine of 1840‑60. Burbank also developed the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Santa Rosa plum, and the Shasta daisy. Burbank was raised on a farm and only went to elementary school; he was self‑educated. Burbank applied the works of Charles Darwin to plants. Of Darwin's The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Burbank said, "It opened up a new world to me."
Cash Register
The mechanical cash register was invented (and patented) in 1879 by James Ritty (1836‑1918). Ritty was an American tavern keeper in Dayton, Ohio. He nicknamed his cash register the "Incorruptible Cashier," and started the National Manufacturing Company to sell them. When a transaction was completed, a bell rang on the cash register and the amount was noted on a large dial on the front of the machine. During each sale, a paper tape was punched with holes so that the merchant could keep track of sales (at the end of the day, the merchant could add up the holes).
John H. Patterson (1844‑1922) bought Ritty's patent and his cash register company in 1884. Patterson renamed the Dayton, Ohio, company the National Cash Register Company. Patterson improved Ritty's cash register by adding a paper tape that kept a printed record of all transactions.
In 1906, Charles F. Kettering (and employee of NCR) developed an electric cash register (Kettering later worked for General Motors and invented the electric car ignition). The National Cash Register Company was later called NCR, until the company was bought by ATT in 1991; it was given back the name NCR in 1996, when it was split off from ATT.
Coca-Cola
John Pemberton (1830‑1888) invented Coca‑Cola on May 8th, 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He had invented many syrups, medicines, and elixirs before, including a very popular drink called French Wine of Coca, which contained French Bordeux wine, cocaine, and caffeine (from the kola nut). When Atlanta banned alcohol consumption in 1885, Pemberton had to change the formula of his French Wine of Coca, omitting the French wine. He added sugar, citric acid and essential oils of many fruits to the drink, and the original Coca‑Cola was created (named for its main ingredients, cocaine and the kola nut). It quickly became a very popular soda fountain drink. Pemberton became partners with Frank Robinson and David Roe, but the partnership soon quarreled. Pemberton sold his interest in Coca‑Cola. Cocaine is no longer an ingredient of Coca‑Cola, but caffeine, sugar, citric acid, and fruit oils remain (although the formula is a closely‑guarded secret).
Cotton Candy
Cotton candy is a soft confection that is made from sugar that is heated and spun into slim threads that look like a mass of cotton. It was invented in 1897 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton, candy makers from Nashville, Tennessee.
Kodak Camera
George Eastman (1854‑1932) was an American inventor who made many improvements in photography. Eastman invented the dry plate method in 1879; this was an improvement in the wet plate process photographic process). He founded the Eastman Dry Plate company in 1881, located in Rochester, New York. Eastman and William Walker invented flexible roll film in 1882, eliminating the necessity of using cumbersome glass plates for photography. Eastman produced the first simple, all‑purpose, fixed‑focus camera in 1888, which sold for $25.00; this was the first KODAK Camera . By 1900, Eastman Kodak was producing a camera that cost only one dollar. Early cameras took round pictures. To get the film developed, the photographer had to send the entire camera to the Rochester factory. The company name was changed to Eastman Kodak Company in 1892, and is still one of the largest photographic companies in the world.
Elevator Brake
Elisha Graves Otis (1811‑1861) invented the elevator brake, which greatly improved the safety of elevators. He used a ratchet on a spring to catch the elevator in the event of an accident (like a broken cable).
In 1854, at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York, Otis demonstrated how safe his elevator was by cutting the elevator's cable with an ax, and the elevator car stayed where it was in the shaft. Otis' invention spurred the development of skyscrapers, changing the look of cities around the world forever.
Escalator
An escalator is a moving stairway that helps people move easily from floor to floor in building. The escalator was invented by the American inventor Jesse W. Reno in 1891. On his "inclined elevator," passengers rode on an wedge‑shaped supports attached to a conveyor belt at an incline of about 25 degrees. The original elevator had a stationary handrail (which was soon replaced with a moving handrail).
Horizontal steps were added to the escalator by George A. Wheeler and Charles D. Seeberger (who bought Wheeler's patent) in the late 1890's. The Otis company later bought the patents for the escalator and marketed it worldwide. The word escalator was first used at the Paris Exposition of 1900, when the Otis Company exhibited the moving stairway.
Gyroscope
Jean Bernard L é on Foucault (1819‑1868) was a French physicist who invented the gyroscope (1852) and the Foucault pendulum (1851). A gyroscope is essentially a spinning wheel set in a movable frame. When the wheel spins, it retains its spatial orientation, and it resists external forces applied to it. Gyroscopes are used in navigation instruments (for ships, planes, and rockets). Foucault was the first person to demonstrate how a pendulum could track the rotation of the Earth (the Foucault pendulum) in 1851. He also showed that light travels more slowly in water than in air (1850) and improved the mirrors of reflecting telescopes (1858).
Fountain Pen
Lewis E. Waterman was an American inventor and insurance salesman who developed a relatively leak‑proof fountain pen; he patented his new invention in 1884 and revolutionized writing. Before his fountain pen, pen tips had to be tipped into ink after every few words. Waterman put an ink reservoir in the pen up above the pen's metal nib (point). This reservoir would hold enough ink for a few pages of writing. There were many problems in developing the fountain pen, especially the difficulty of controlling the flow of the ink. Putting a sealed reservoir above the nib wouldn't let the ink flow, but if it wasn't sealed, all the ink would flow at once. Waterman used capillary action to replace the ink in the rubber sac with air so that the ink flowed smoothly but did not flow all at once. Also, the metals in the ink dissolved the steel pen nib, so Waterman used an iridium‑plated gold nib. Waterman was also the first person to place a clip on the cap of the pen.
Electric Iron
The electric iron was invented in 1882 by Henry W. Seeley, a New York inventor Seeley patented his "electric flatiron" on June 6, 1882 (patent no. 259,054). His iron weighed almost 15 pounds and took a long time to warm up.
Other electric irons had also been invented, including one from France (1882), but it used a carbon arc to heat the iron, a method which was dangerous.
Zipper
Whitcomb L. Judson was an American engineer from Chicago, Illinois, who invented the a metal zipper device with locking teeth in 1890. Judson patented his "clasp‑locker'' on Aug. 29, 1893; later in 1893, he exhibited this new invention at the Chicago World's Fair. He never succeeded in marketing his new device. The zipper was improved by the Swedish‑American engineer, Gideon Sundbach, and was named by the B.F. Goodrich company in 1923. Judson died in 1909, before his device became commonly used and well known.
Safety Matches
Safety matches were invented by Johan Edvard Lundstrom of Sweden in 1855. Lundstrom's new match was the first simple and safe way to make a fire. His new safety match could only be lit by striking the match against the specially‑prepared surface that came attached to the box. Lundstrom put red phosphorus on the rough striking paper (on the outside the match box); the other fire‑starting chemicals were on the match's head. Previous matches gave long‑time users an ailment called "phossy jaw;" this was a painful and deadly disease caused by the older matchs' yellow phosphorus that ate into the users' jaws.
Radio
Guglielmo Marconi (1874‑1937) was an Italian inventor and physicist. In 1895, Marconi invented the radio (wireless telegraphy), building machinery to transmit and receive radio waves. His first transmission across an ocean (the Atlantic Ocean) was on December 12, 1901. Marconi won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909.
The radio was actually invented by Nikola Tesla. The radio was promoted and popularized by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895. The first radio transmission across an ocean (the Atlantic Ocean) occurred on December 12, 1901.
Lubricator
Elijah McCoy (1843 or 1844‑1929) was a mechanical engineer and inventor. McCoy's high‑quality industrial inventions (especially his steam engine lubricator) were the basis for the expression "the real McCoy," meaning the real, authentic, or high‑quality thing.
Motorcycle
The earliest motorcycle was a coal‑powered, two‑ cylinder, steam‑driven motorcycle that was developed in 1867 by the American inventor Sylvester Howard Roper. A gas‑powered motorcycle was invented by the German inventor Gottlieb Daimler in 1885. His mostly wooden motorcycle had iron‑banded wheels with wooden spokes. This bone‑crunching vehicle was powered by a single‑ cylinder engine.
Dynamite
Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833‑1896) was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Nobel invented many powerful and relatively safe explosives and explosive devices, including the "Nobel patent detonator" (it detonated nitroglycerin using a strong electrical shock instead of heat, 1863), dynamite (1867), blasting gelatin (guncotton plus nitroglycerin, 1875), and almost smokeless blasting powder (1887). Nobel also made inventions in the fields of electrochemistry, optics, biology, and physiology. Nobel left much of his fortune to award prizes (the Nobel prizes) each year to people who made advancements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
Electric Brake
Elisha Graves Otis (1811‑1861) was an American mechanic and inventor. Otis invented the elevator brake, which greatly improved the safety of elevators. He used a ratchet on a spring to catch the elevator in the event of an accident (like a broken cable). In 1854, at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York, Otis demonstrated how safe his elevator was by cutting the elevator's cable with an ax, and the elevator car stayed where it was in the shaft. Otis' invention spurred the development of skyscrapers, changing the look of cities around the world forever. Otis also invented a railway safety brake and improvements to turbine engines and brass bed frames.
Paper Clip
The paper clip was invented in 1899 or 1890 by a Norwegian patent clerk called Johann Vaaler. His original paper clip was a thin spring‑steel wire with triangular or square ends and two "tongues." Vaaler patented his invention in Germany and later in the USA (1901).
The modern‑shaped paper clip was patented in April 27, 1899 by William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut, USA.
Pushpin
The push pin ("a pin with a handle") was invented by the Pennsylvanian inventor Edwin Moore in 1900. Moore started a company producing these useful pins in 1900. After years of growing, his company incorporated on July 19, 1904, and was called the "Moore Push‑Pin Company." The company 1912 through 1977, the Company was located in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
Rayon
Rayon is a cellulose‑based fiber that is made from wood pulp or cotton waste. Rayon is used as a substitute for silk. It was invented around 1855 by the Swiss chemist Georges Audemars; the process was refined in 1864 by the French chemist and industrialist Comte (Count) Hilaire Bernigaud de Chardonnet (1839‑1924). Rayon was first commercially produced in 1910 by Avtex Fibers Inc. in the United States ‑ it was called "artificial silk" at first, but the name was changed to rayon in 1924.
Record
Records, used to record sound, were invented in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison, who invented the first machine to record and play back sounds (the phonograph or record player). Early records were cylindrical, but flat disks soon replaced them.
Revolving Door
The revolving door was invented in 1888 by Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. in high‑rise buildings, regular doors are hard to open because there is a slight vacuum caused by air flowing upwards through stairwells, elevator shafts, and chimneys. Kannel's new type of door was easy to open in tall building (and also saved heat in the winter). Kannel patented the revolving door on August 7, 1888.
X-Ray
X‑rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen (1845‑1923). Roentgen was a German physicist who described this new form of radiation that allowed him to photograph objects that were hidden behind opaque shields. He even photographed part of his own skeleton. X‑rays were soon used as an important diagnostic tool in medicine. Roentgen called these waves "X‑radiation" because so little was known about them.
Steam-Driven Motorcycle
Sylvester Howard Roper (1823‑1896) was an American inventor from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Roper developed a coal‑powered, two‑cylinder, steam‑driven wooden motorcycle in 1867. Roper also developed a steam‑driven car. Roper died at the age of 73 while testing a new motorcycle.
Carbon Paper Filament
The first practical electric light bulb was made in 1878 simultaneously (and independently) by Joseph Wilson Swan and Thomas Alva Edison.
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828‑1914) was an English physicist who was determined to devise a practical, long‑lasting electric light. After many years of experimentation, he found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.
Telephone
The telephone (meaning "far sound") is the most widely used telecommunications device. It was invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell (with Thomas Watson). Bell patented his invention on March 1876 (patent No. 174,465). His device transmitted speech sounds over electric wires, and his idea has remained one of the most useful inventions ever made.
Tesla, Nikola
Nikola Tesla (1856‑1943) was a Serbian‑American inventor who developed the radio, fluorescent lights, the Tesla coil (an air‑core transformer that generates a huge voltage from high‑frequency alternating current), remote‑control devices, and many other inventions; Tesla held 111 patents. Tesla developed and promoted the uses of alternating current (as opposed to direct current, which was promoted fiercely by Thomas Edison and General Electric). Tesla briefly worked with Thomas Edison. The unit of magnetic induction is named for Tesla; a Tesla (abbreviated T) is equal to one weber per square meter.
Toilet Paper
Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857. His new toilet paper was composed of flat sheets. Before Gayetty's invention, people tore pages out of mail order catalogs ‑ before catalogs were common, leaves were used. Unfortunately, Gayetty's invention failed. Walter Alcock (of Great Britain) later developed toilet paper on a roll instead of in flat sheets). Again, the invention failed.
In 1867, Thomas, Edward and Clarence Scott (brothers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) were successful at marketing toilet paper that consisted of a small roll of perforated paper . They sold their new toilet paper from a push cart ‑ this was the beginning of the Scott Paper Company.
Tractor
The tractor is a high power but low‑speed vehicle that is used in farming, construction, road building, and other work projects. Some tractors move on wheels, others move on a continuous track. The first gasoline‑powered tractor was made in 1892 by John Froehlich, a blacksmith from Iowa. The first mass‑produced tractors were sold by C.W. Hart and C.H. Parr of Charles City, Iowa.
Typewriter
The first typewriter was invented in 1867 by the American printer and editor Christopher Latham Sholes (Feb. 14, 1819 ‑ Feb. 17, 1890). Sholes' prototype had the user hit a key (for each letter and number), which struck upward onto a flat plate, producing a carbon impression of the letter or number on the paper. He made the prototype using the key of an old telegraph transmitter. There was no way of spacing the letters, no carriage return, and no shift keys; these features would be added to later models.
Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soul é also worked in the Kleinstuber Machine Shop with Sholes, and they helped with his inventions. Their first patent was obtained on June 23, 1868. Sholes and Glidden sold the rights to their invention to the investor James Densmore, who eventually had the machine commercially manufactured. Their first commercial model was called the "Sholes & Glidden Type Writer," and was later called the Remington typewriter. It was produced by the gunmakers E. Remington & Sons in Ilion, NY, from 1874‑1878. The first author to submit a typed book manuscript was Mark Twain. Sholes' typewriter was the beginning of a revolution in communication.
Vacuum Cleaner
John S. Thurman invented the gasoline powered vacuum cleaner (which he called the "pneumatic carpet renovator") in 1899. His vacuum was patented on Oct. 3, 1899 (patent #634,042). It may have been the first motorized vacuum cleaner. Thurman had a run a horse drawn, door‑to‑door carpet vacuuming service in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, charging $4 per visit (which was a large amount of money at the time).
Fountain Pen
Lewis E. Waterman was an American inventor and insurance salesman who developed a relatively leak‑proof fountain pen; he patented his new invention in 1884 and revolutionized writing. Before his fountain pen, pen tips had to be tipped into ink after every few words. Waterman put an ink reservoir in the pen up above the pen's metal nib (point). This reservoir would hold enough ink for a few pages of writing. There were many problems in developing the fountain pen, especially the difficulty of controlling the flow of the ink. Putting a sealed reservoir above the nib wouldn't let the ink flow, but if it wasn't sealed, all the ink would flow at once. Waterman used capillary action to replace the ink in the rubber sac with air so that the ink flowed smoothly but did not flow all at once. Also, the metals in the ink dissolved the steel pen nib, so Waterman used an iridium‑plated gold nib. Waterman was also the first person to place a clip on the cap of the pen.
Cylinder Pin-Tumbler Lock
Linus Yale Jr. (1821‑1868) was an American mechanical engineer and manufacturer who developed the cylinder pin‑tumbler lock (and other key and combination locks). Yale's father, Linus Yale, had invented an earlier pin‑tumbler lock in 1848; the son's lock used a smaller, flat key with serrated edges (like the ones we still use today). Yale patented his cylinder pin‑tumbler lock in 1861. This very secure lock is still widely in use today in car doors and the outside doors of buildings. The cylinder pin‑tumbler lock consists of (usually 5) pairs of bottom pins and top drivers, held in position by springs. When the right key is put into the lock, the bottom pins are pushed to the right position, allowing the key to turn and the lock to unlock. Yale introduced a combination lock a year later. He had opened his first lock shop in the 1840's in Shelburne, Massachusetts, specializing in bank locks. In 1868, Yale and Henry Robinson Towne founded the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company in Stamford, Connecticut, to produce cylinder locks. He dies later that year. There is no connection between Linus Yale and Yale University.
Adhesive Tape
Richard G. Drew (1886‑1956) invented masking tape and clear adhesive tape (also called cellophane tape or Scotch tape). Drew was an engineer for the 3M (Minnesota Mining) company.
Drew's first tape invention was a masking tape made for painters in 1923 (this tape was designed to help painters paint a straight border between two colors). This early masking tape was a wide paper tape with adhesive on only the edges of the tape ‑ not in the middle. Drew made an improved tape called Scotch (TM) Brand Cellulose Tape in 1930. This tape was a clear, all‑purpose adhesive tape that was soon adopted worldwide. The first tape dispenser with a built‑in cutting edge was invented in 1932 by John A. Borden, another 3M employee.
Airplane
The first working airplane was invented, designed, made, and flown by the Wright brothers, Wilbur Wright (1867‑1912) and Orville Wright (1871‑1948). Their "Wright Flyer" was a fabric‑covered biplane with a wooden frame. The power to the two propellers was supplied by a 12‑horsepower water‑cooled engine. On December 17, 1903, the "Flyer" flew for 12 seconds and for a distance of 120 feet (37 m). The flight took place at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA.
Aqualung
The aqualung is a breathing apparatus that supplied oxygen to divers and allowed them to stay underwater for several hours. It was invented in 1943 by Jacques‑Yves Cousteau (1910 ‑1997) and the French industrial gas control systems engineer Emile Gagnan. Among the innovations in their device was a mechanism that provided inhalation and exhaust valves at the same level. That summer, the new device was tested in the Mediterranean Sea down to 210 ft (68 m) by Cousteau, Philippe Tailliez, and Fr é d é rik Dumas. This safe, easy‑to‑use, and reliable device was the first modern scuba system.
Assembly Line
Primitive assembly line production was first used in 1901 by Ransome Eli Olds (1864‑1950), an early car‑maker (he manufactured the Oldsmobile, the first commercially successful American car). Henry Ford (1863‑1947) used the first conveyor belt‑based assembly‑line in his car factory in 1913‑14 in Ford's Highland Park, Michigan plant. This type of production greatly reduced the amount of time taken to put each car together (93 minutes for a Model T) from its parts, reducing production costs. Assembly lines are now used in most manufacturing processes.
Television
John Logie Baird (1888‑1946) was a Scottish inventor and engineer who was a pioneer in the development of mechanical television. In 1924, Baird televised objects in outline. In 1925, he televised human faces. In 1926, Baird was the first person to televise pictures of objects in motion. In 1930, Baird made the first public broadcast of a TV show, from his studio to the London Coliseum Cinema; the screen consisted of a 6‑ft by 3‑ft array of 2,100 tiny flashlamp bulbs. Baird developed a color television in 1928, and a stereo television in 1946. Baird's mechanical television was usurped by electronic television, which he also worked on.
Bakelite
Bakelite (also called catalin) is a plastic, a dense synthetic polymer (a phenolic resin) that was used to make jewelry, game pieces, engine parts, radio boxes, switches, and many, many other objects. Bakelite was the first industrial thermoset plastic (a material that does not change its shape after being mixed and heated). Bakelite plastic is made from carbolic acid (phenol) and formaldehyde, which are mixed, heated, and then either molded or extruded into the desired shape.
Bakelite was patented in 1907 by the Belgian‑born American chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland (November 14, 1863 ‑ February 23, 1944). The Nobel Prize winning German chemist Adolf von Baeyer had experimented with this material in 1872, but did not complete its development or see its potential.
Baekeland operated the General Bakelite Company from 1911 to 1939 (in Perth Amboy, N.J., USA), and produced up to about 200,000 tons of Bakelite annually. Bakelite replaced the very flammable celluloid plastic that had been so popular. The bracelet above is made of "butterscotch" bakelite.
Ballpoint Pen
The first non‑leaking ballpoint pen was invented in 1935 by the Hungarian brothers Lazlo and Georg Biro. Lazlo was a chemist and Georg was a newspaper editor.
A ballpoint marker had been invented much earlier (in 1888 by John Loud, an American leather tanner, who used the device for marking leather) but Loud's marker leaked, making it impractical for everyday use. A new type of ink had to be developed; this is what the Biro brothers did. The brothers patented their invention and then opened the first ballpoint manufacturing plant in Argentina, South America.
Band-Aid ®
Bandages for wounds had been around since ancient times, but an easy‑to‑use dressing with an adhesive was invented by Earle Dickson (a cotton buyer at the Johnson & Johnson company). Dickson perfected the BAND‑AID ® in 1920, making a small, sterile adhesive bandage for home use. Dickson invented the BAND‑AID ® for his wife, who had many kitchen accidents and needed an easy‑to‑use wound dressing. Dickson was rewarded by the Johnson & Johnson company by being made a vice‑president of the company.
Bar Code
Bar codes (also called Universal Product Codes or UPC's) are small, coded labels that contain information about the item they are attached to; the information is contained in a numerical code, usually containing 12 digits. UPC's are easily scanned by laser beams. UPC's are used on many things, including most items for sale in stores, library books, inventory items, many packages and pieces of luggage being shipped, railroad cars, etc. The UPC may contain coded information about the item, its manufacturer, place of origin, destination, the owner, or other data. The first "bullseye code" was invented by Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver, from work which they began in 1948. On October 20, 1949, they patented their bullseye code (a series of concentric circles that were scannable from all directions, using regular light). Woodland and Silver patented a new UPC in October 1952; the UPC was also improved and adapted by David J. Collins in the late 1950's (to track railroad cars). UPC's were first used in grocery stores in the early 1970's.
Bathysphere
A bathysphere is a pressurized metal sphere that allows people to go deep in the ocean, to depths at which diving unaided is impossible. This hollow cast iron sphere with very thick walls is lowered and raised from a ship using a steel cable. The bathysphere was invented by William Beebe and Otis Barton (around 1930). William Beebe (1877‑1962), an American naturalist and undersea explorer, tested the bathysphere in 1930, going down to 1426 feet in a 4'9" (1.45 m) diameter bathysphere. Beebe and Otis Barton descended about 3,000 ft (914 m) feet in a larger bathysphere in 1934. They descended off the coast of Nonsuch Island, Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean. During the dive, they communicated with the surface via telephone.
Blood Bank
The idea of a blood bank was pioneered by Dr. Charles Richard Drew (1904‑1950). Dr. Drew was an American medical doctor and surgeon who started the idea of a blood bank and a system for the long term preservation of blood plasma (he found that plasma kept longer than whole blood). His ideas revolutionized the medical profession and saved many, many lives. Dr. Drew set up and operated the blood plasma bank at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, NY. Drew's project was the model for the Red Cross' system of blood banks, of which he became the first director.
Bread Slicer
The automatic commercial bread slicer was invented in 1927 by Otto Frederick Rohwedder from Iowa, USA
(Rohwedder had worked on his machine since 1912). His machine both sliced and wrapped a loaf of bread. In 1928,
the bread slicer was improved by Gustav Papendick, a baker from St. Louis, Missouri.
Xerography
Chester Floyd Carlson (1906‑1968) invented xerography (which means "dry writing" in Greek) in 1938. Xerography makes paper copies without using ink (hence its name). In this process, static electricity charges a lighted plate; a plastic powder (called toner) is applied to the areas of the page to remain white.
Chester F. Carlson was born in Seattle, Washington, USA. As a teenager, Carlson supported his invalid parents by publishing a chemical journal. After attending Cal Tech in physics, Carlson worked at an electronics firm. Carlson later experimented at home to find an efficient way of copying pages. He succeeded in 1938, and marketed his revolutionary device to about 20 companies before he could interest any. The Haloid Company (later called the Xerox Corporation) marketed it, and photocopying eventually became common and inexpensive.
Cat ’ s Eye Road Reflector
The cat's eye road reflector is a simple device that has saved countless lives. These inexpensive glass and rubber reflectors are set on the roadway at regular intervals, and help motorists see where the road is at night. Each of the cat's eyes reflects oncoming light, acting like lights set into the road. This device was invented in 1933 by Percy Shaw, from Yorkshire, England. He invented it after he had been driving on a dark, winding road on a foggy night; he was saved from going off the side of the hill by a cat, whose eyes reflected his car's lights. Shaw's invention mimicked the reflectivity of a cat's eyes. Because of his invention, Shaw was awarded the Order of the British Empire ("OBE") by Queen Elizabeth of England in 1965.
Cellophane
Cellophane is a thin, transparent, waterproof, protective film that is used in many types of packaging. It was invented in 1908 by Jacques Edwin Brandenberger, a Swiss chemist. He had originally intended cellophane to be bonded onto fabric to make a waterproof textile, but the new cloth was brittle and not useful. Cellophane proved very useful all alone as a packaging material. Chemists at the Dupont company (who later bought the rights to cellophane) made cellophane waterproof in 1927.
Cellular Phone
The first automatic analog cellular phone was made in the 1960's. Commercial models were introduced in Japan by NTT on December 3, 1979. They were introduced in Scandinavia in 1981, in Chicago, USA, on October 13, 1983 (by Motorola), and in Europe in the late 1980's. Early mobile FM (frequency modulation radio was invented by Edwin H. Armstrong in 1935) radio telephones had been in use in the USA since 1946, but since the number of radio frequencies are very limited in any area, the number of phone calls was also very limited. Only a dozen or two calls could be made at the same time in an area. To solve this problem, there could be many small areas (called cells) which share the same frequencies. But when users moved from one area to another while calling, the call would have to be switched over automatically without losing the call. In this system, a small number of radio frequencies could accommodate a huge number of calls. This cellular phone concept was devised by a team of researchers at Bell Labs in 1947, but there were no computers available to do the switching. As small inexpensive computers were developed, cell phones could be produced. Motorola holds the US patents for the cell phone. Henry Taylor Sampson and George H. Miley hold a 1968 patent (#3,591,860 ) on a "gamma electric cell," one of the many components along the way to cellular phone technology.
Chocolate Chips
Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chips (and chocolate chip cookies) in 1930. Wakefield ran the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. Her new cookie invention was called the "Toll House Cookie." Her original cookies used broken‑up bars of semi‑sweet chocolate.
Crayons
Crayons were invented by Edwin Binney and Harold Smith, who owned a paint company in New York City, NY, USA. Binney and Smith invented the modern‑day crayon by combining paraffin wax with pigments (colorants). These inexpensive art supplies were an instant success since they were first marketed as Crayola crayons in 1903.
Disposable Diaper
Marion Donovan (1917‑1998) was an American mother, inventor, and architect who invented the disposable diaper in 1950. Her first leak‑proof diaper were fast‑selling "Boaters," plastic‑lined cloth diapers (diapers lined with pieces cut from a shower curtain, and later with surplus parachute nylon). Donovan then developed a completely disposable diaper. She was unsuccessful at selling this invention to established manufacturers, so she started her own company, which she later sold. Donovan produced many other consumer‑based inventions and held more than a dozen patents
common use of RIA to benefit human health.