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Jan 1, 1200
The Spinning Wheel
The spinning wheel was most likely invented in India in the early 1200s, and was brought to Europe by Middle Eastern traders. It replaced the earlier method of hand spinning, which was much harder and took a lot longer. -
Jan 1, 1290
Eyeglasses
Glasses came about in the late 13th century. By the time the Gutenberg printing press was invented in 1456, most people with sight problems had glasses -
Jan 1, 1300
Clocks
Clocks allowed people to tell the time correctly. Clocks were invented in the early 1300s -
Jan 1, 1346
Gunpowder
Gunpowder was actually invented in 850 AD by the Chinese. But it came around in Europe during the Battle of Crécy in 1346. -
Jan 1, 1436
Printing Press
Printing Press- The printing press was invented in 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg. The printing press made books more widely available to the public. -
Jan 1, 1496
Wallpaper
Wallpaper was invented when the first paper mill came into England in 1496. For the next 200 years England was a large producer of wallpaper for Europe. -
Flush Toilet
The first flush toilet was invented in 1596 by John Harrington. It was later reinvented two hundred years later by Alexander Cummings. -
Microscope and Telescope lenses
The first useful microscope was invented in the Netherlands somewhere between 1590 and 1608. In 1668 Isaac Newton made what is closest to the telescopes we have today, by adding mirrors instead of lenses. -
Artillery
To improve the accuracy of rockets, an engineer named William Congreve made launching tubes. The ‘howitzer’, invented in the 17th century, was an artillery machine that was used to hit targets at steep angles. -
Submarine
The first submarine invented by Leonard de Vinci, however, he never told anyone because they would have been used for war. Later, in 1620, a working submarine was made by Cornelius Drebbel, even though it could only go underwater for a couple of hours. -
