Industrial Revolution

Jethro Tull's seed sower permits large-scale planting in rows, for easier cultivation between the rows

Jan 1, 1708

Jethro Tull's seed sower permits large-scale planting in rows, for easier cultivation between the rows

Abraham Darby uses coke to smelt iron ore, replecing wood and charcoal as fuel

Jan 1, 1709

Abraham Darby uses coke to smelt iron ore, replecing wood and charcoal as fuel

Thomas Newcomen patents the atmospheric steam engine

Jan 1, 1712

John Kay invents the flying shuttle

Jan 1, 1733

E.G. von Kleist invents the leyden jar, the first electrical capacitor

Jan 1, 1745

Benjamin Franklin invents the lightening rod

Jan 1, 1752

James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny

Jan 1, 1764

Richard Arkwright patents the spinning frame

Jul 17, 1768

James Watt invents an improved steam engine

Jul 17, 1769

Georges Louis Lesage patents the electric telegraph

Jul 17, 1774

Jacques Perrier invents a steamship

Jul 17, 1775

David Bushnell invents a submarine

Jul 17, 1776

Samuel Crompton invents the spinning mule

Jul 17, 1779

Gervinus invents the circular saw

Jul 17, 1780

Benjamin Hanks patents the self-winding clock; Englishmen, Henry Cort invents the steel roller for steel production

Jul 17, 1783

Andrew Meikle invents the threshing machine

Jul 17, 1784

Edmund Cartwright invents the power loom

Jul 17, 1785

John Fitch invents a steamboat

Jul 17, 1786

The United States issued its first patent to William Pollard of Philadelphia for a machine that roves and spins cotton

Jul 17, 1790

John Barber invents the gas turbine; Early bicycles invented in Scotland

Jul 17, 1794

Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin; Welshmen, Philip Vaughan invents ball bearings

Jul 17, 1797

– Alessandro Volta invents the battery; Louis Robert invents the Fourdrinier Machine for sheet paper making

Jul 17, 1799

Frenchmen, J.M. Jacquard invents the Jacquard Loom; Count Alessandro Volta invents the battery

Jul 17, 1800

Richard Trevithick, an English mining engineer, developed the first steam-powered locomotive

Jul 17, 1804

George Stephenson designs the first steam locomotive; Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was the first person to take a photograph

Jul 17, 1814

American, W.A. Burt invents a typewriter

Jul 17, 1829

Frenchmen, Barthelemy Thimonnier invents a sewing machine

Jul 17, 1830

Henry Blair patents a corn planter, he is the second black person to receive a U.S. patent; Jacob Perkins invents an early refrigerator type device – an ether ice machine

Jul 17, 1834

Englishmen, Henry Talbot invents calotype photography; Englishmen, Francis Pettit Smith invents the propeller; Charles Babbage invents a mechanical calculator

Jul 17, 1835

Samuel Morse invents the telegraph

Jul 17, 1837

Joel Houghton was granted the first patent for a dishwasher

Jul 17, 1850

George Cayley invents a manned glider

Jul 17, 1853

Hamilton Smith patents the rotary washing machine; Jean Lenoir invents an internal combustion engine

Jul 17, 1858

Christopher Scholes invents the first practical and modern typewriter

Jul 17, 1867

Robert Mushet invents tungsten steel; J P Knight invents traffic lights

Jul 17, 1868

– Thomas Edison invents the cylinder phonograph or tin foil phonograph; Eadweard Muybridge invents the first moving pictures

Jul 17, 1877

Alexander Graham Bell invents the first crude metal detector; David Houston patents the roll film for cameras; Edward Leveaux patents the automatic player piano

Jul 17, 1881

Harim Maxim invents the machine gun; Karl Benz invents the first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine; Gottlieb Daimler invents the first gas-engined motorcycle

Jul 17, 1885

Josephine Cochrane invents the dishwasher; Gottlieb Daimler builds the world’s first four-wheeled motor vehicle

Jul 17, 1886

Jesse W. Reno invents the escalator

Jul 17, 1891

Lumiere Brothers invent a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe. Lumiere Brothers using their Cinematographe are the first to present a projected motion picture to an audience of more that one person

Jul 17, 1895

The first radio receiver, successfully received a radio transmission

Jul 17, 1901

Bottle-making machinery invented by Michael J. Owens; The Wright brothers invent the first gas motored and manned airplane; William Coolidge invents ductile tungsten used in light bulbs

Jul 17, 1903

Leo Baekeland invents the first synthetic plastic called Bakelite; Color photography invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere; The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu

Jul 17, 1907

Motorized movie cameras invented, replaced hand-cranked cameras

Jul 17, 1912

Artificial life begins — the first robot built

Jul 17, 1921

Philo Taylor Farnsworth invents a complete electronic TV system

Jul 17, 1927

– Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine; Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver

Jul 17, 1936

Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter

Jul 17, 1939

Konrad Zuse’s Z3, the first computer controlled by software; Enrico Fermi invents the neutronic reactor

Jul 17, 1941

John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first electronic digital computer

Jul 17, 1942