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Inventor of the seed drill. It was a device used in agriculture that sows seeds for crops by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth. This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly.
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Abraham Darby developed the coke burning blast furnace that made it possible to produce commercial grade iron cost-effectively. His work helped launch the Industrial Revolution and contributed to the development of the iron and steel industries.
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Newcomen invented the world's first successful atmospheric steam engine. The engine pumped water using a vacuum created by condensed steam. It became an important method of draining water from deep mines and was therefore a vital component in the Industrial Revolution in Britain.
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Kay invented the wheel shuttle. This meant that one person could operate a shuttle across a very wide loom, which greatly increased the rate of cloth production. The legacy of the Flying Shuttle is inestimable, it completely changed the weaving of textiles.
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In 1769 Arkwright patented the spinning frame, a machine which produced twisted threads, using wooden and metal cylinders rather than human fingers.
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The spinning mule was invented by Samuel Crompton in 1779. It revolutionised textile production by vastly increasing the amount of cotton that could be spun at any one time.
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Henry Cort discovered the puddling process for making wrought iron. The puddling process converted pig iron into wrought iron by subjecting it to heat and stirring it in a furnace, without using charcoal. It was the first method that allowed quality wrought iron to be produced on a large scale.
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Inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber.
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In 1800, as the result of a professional disagreement over the galvanic response advocated by Galvani, Volta invented the voltaic pile, an early electric battery, which produced a steady electric current. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of dissimilar metals to produce electricity was zinc and copper.
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In 1814, Stephenson constructed his first locomotive, 'Blucher', for hauling coal at Killingworth Colliery near Newcastle. In 1815, he invented a safety lamp for use in coalmines, nicknamed the 'Geordie'.
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Father of modern socialism, communism, and conflict theory. In 1848, Marx and fellow German thinker Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto,” which introduced their concept of socialism as a natural result of the conflicts inherent in the capitalist system.
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In 1854, Cyrus West Field conceived the idea of the telegraph cable and secured a charter to lay a well-insulated line across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Obtaining the aid of British and American naval ships, he made four unsuccessful attempts, beginning in 1857.
