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locomotive
The first successful locomotives were built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick. In 1804 his unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. -
radio
The idea of wireless communication predates the discovery of "radio" with experiments in "wireless telegraphy" via inductive and capacitive induction and transmission through the ground, water, and even train tracks from the 1830s on. James Clerk Maxwell showed in theoretical and mathematical form in 1864 that electromagnetic waves could propagate through free space. -
electric train
The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen. It was powered by galvanic cells. Davidson later built a larger locomotive named Galvani, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors, with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators. -
medical thermometer
Thermometers remained cumbersome to transport and use. By the mid 19th century, the medical thermometer was still a foot long (30.28 cm) and took as long as twenty minutes to take an accurate temperature reading. Between 1866-1867, Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt (1836–1925) designed a medical thermometer that was much more portable, measuring only six inches long and taking only five minutes to record a patient's temperature. -
Telegraph
Developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse (1791-1872) and other inventors, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations. In addition to helping invent the telegraph, Samuel Morse developed a code (bearing his name) that assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet and allowed for the simple transmission of complex messages across telegraph lines. -
anesthesia
Dr. Morton experimented with etherand quickly realized its value as an Anesthetic for surgery. He designed history’s first Anesthetic machine. His machine used a simple glass globe that housed an ether soaked sponge. The patient simply inhaled the vapors through the globe’s outlet to achieve the intoxicated state needed to feel no pain. -
sewing machine
A sewing machine is a machine used to stitch fabric and other materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the invention of the first working sewing machine, generally considered to have been the work of Englishman Thomas Saint in 1790 -
safety elevator
in 1852 Elisha Otis invented the first safety elevator. “He made toothed wooden guide rails to fit into opposite sides of the elevator shaft, and fitted a spring to the top of the elevator, running the hoisting cables through it. The cables still guided the elevator up and down, but if they broke, the release of tension would throw the spring mechanism outward into the notches, preventing the cabin from falling.” -
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin was a type of rigid airship named after the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the word zeppelin came to be commonly used to refer to all rigid airships -
Pasteurization
It was invented by French scientist Louis Pasteur during the nineteenth century. In 1864 Pasteur discovered that heating beer and wine was enough to kill most of the bacteria that caused spoilage, preventing these beverages from turning sour. The process achieves this by eliminating pathogenic microbes and lowering microbial numbers to prolong the quality of the beverage. -
safety bycicle
The first bicycle to be called a "safety" was designed by the English engineer Harry John Lawson in 1876, although other bicycles which fit the description had been developed earlier, such as by Thomas Humber in 1868. Unlike with penny-farthings, the rider's feet were within reach of the ground, making it easier to stop -
telephone
The invention of the telephone was the culmination of work done by many individuals, and involved an array of lawsuits founded upon the patent claims of several individuals and numerous companies. This article covers the early years from 1844 to 1898, from conception of the idea of an electric voice-transmission device, through failed attempts to use "make-and-break" current, to successful experiments with electromagnetic telephones by Antonio Meucci, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson -
typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for writing characters similar to those produced by printer's movable type. A typewriter operates by means of keys that strike a ribbon to transmit ink or carbon impressions onto paper. Typically, a single character is printed on each key press -
phonograph
The phonograph is a device invented in 1877 for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. In its later forms it is also called a gramophone. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physical deviations of a spiral groove engraved, etched, incised, or impressed into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc, called a "record". -
light bulb
he electric light, one of the everyday conveniences that most affects our lives, was not “invented” in the traditional sense in 1879 by Thomas Alva Edison, although he could be said to have created the first commercially practical incandescent light. He was neither the first nor the only person trying to invent an incandescent light bulb -
gramophone
Lateral-cut disc records were developed in the United States by Emile Berliner, who named his system the "gramophone", distinguishing it from Edison's wax cylinder "phonograph" and Columbia's wax cylinder "graphophone". -
electric iron
Before the introduction of electricity irons were heated by combustion, either in a fire or with some internal arrangement. An "electric flatiron" was invented by US inventor Henry W. Seeley and patented on June 6, 1882. It weighed almost 15 pounds and took a long time to heat. The UK Electricity Association is reported to have said that an electric iron with a carbon arc appeared in France in 1880, but this is considered doubtful. -
automobile
In 1886, Karl Benz developed a petrol or gasoline powered automobile. This is also considered to be the first "production" vehicle as Benz made several other identical copies. The automobile was powered by a single cylinder two stroke engine. At the turn of the 20th century electrically powered automobiles were a popular method of automobile propulsion -
cinematograph
The device was first invented and patented as the "Cinématographe Léon Bouly" by French inventor Léon Bouly on February 12, 1892. Bouly coined the term “cinematograph”, from the Greek for “writing in movement”. Due to a lack of money, Bouly was unable to develop his ideas properly and maintain his patent fees, so he sold his rights to the device and its name to the Lumière Brothers. In 1895, they applied the name to a device that was largely their own creation. -
airplane
The Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, recognized as "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight". They built on the works of George Cayley dating from 1799, when he set forth the concept of the modern airplane. Between 1867 and 1896, the German pioneer of human aviation Otto Lilienthal also studied heavier-than-air flight.