Timeline: The Growth of Technology

Jul 18, 1280

Eyeglasses

One of the world’s most important inventions – spectacles. Imagine what life would be like not being able to see images clearly or sharply. Most historians believe monks or craftsmen in Pisa (or perhaps Venice), Italy produced the first form of eyeglasses around 1285-1289. The magnifying lenses for reading were set into bone, metal, or leather mountings, shaped like two small magnifying glasses with the handles riveted together to form an inverted "V" shape that could be balanced on the Bridge

Jul 18, 1510

Pocket Watch

A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist.

Jul 18, 1609

Microsscope invented by Galileo Galilei

Remarkable was the invention of the light microscope: an instrument that enables the human eye, by means of a lens or combinations of lenses, to observe enlarged images of tiny objects.

Jul 18, 1657

Gandfather Clock

The pendulum was invented by Christiaan Huygens.

Jul 18, 1710

Thermometer

The thermometer was invented by Rene Antoine Ferchanult de Reaumur. It is used to measure heat and the absence of heat of something or some place.

Jul 18, 1742

Franklin stove

Benjimin Franclin invented many things one of which is the stove. You can learn more about his inventions if you follow the link.

Jul 18, 1791

Steamboat

The steamboat was invented by John Finch

Jul 18, 1793

Hot Air Balloon

Hot air balloons are an ingenious application of basic scientific principles. Here we will show exactly how the balloon works, what makes it rise and fall and how a pilot is able to maneuver it when it is in the air.

Jul 18, 1830

Lawn mower

The lawn mower was invented by Edwin Beard Budding

Jul 18, 1834

Refridgerator

There are two things that need to be known for refrigeration. A gas cools on expansion. When you have two things that are different temperatures that touch or are near each other, the hotter surface cools and the colder surface warms up. This is a law of physics called the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Jul 18, 1843

Typewriter

The typewriter was invented by Charles ThurberA typewriter is a device which prints letters one at a time on a medium such as paper when the user presses keys on the keyboard

Jul 18, 1846

Sewing machine

In the early 1800s, clothing was made by hand, families sewed their pants, shirts, and dresses using a needle and thread. But in 1846 Elias Howe changed all that, he came up with another way to make clothes, he patented the first practical sewing machine..

Jul 18, 1877

Microphone

A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, karaoke systems, hearing aids, motion picture production.

Jul 18, 1885

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a two or three wheel motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task they are designed for, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.

Jul 18, 1891

Zipper

The Zipper was invented by Whitecomb L. Judson

Jul 18, 1898

Remote control

To help in the viewing of television,, the remote control was invented by Nikola Tesla

Jul 18, 1901

Vacuum Cleaner

The Vaccuum cleaner was invented by Hubert Booth

Jul 18, 1938

Ball point pen

The first great success for the ballpoint pen came on an October morning in 1945 when a crowd of over 5,000 people jammed the entrance of New York’s Gimbels Department Store. The day before, Gimbels had taken out a full-page ad in the New York Times promoting the first sale of ballpoints in the United States. The ad described the new pen as a "fantastic... miraculous fountain pen ... guaranteed to write for two years without refilling!" On that first day of sales, Gimbels sold out its entire stock of 10,000 pens-at $12.50 each!

Jul 18, 1946

Microwave

A microwave oven, often colloquially shorted to "microwave", is a kitchen appliance that heats food by dielectric heating accomplished with radiation used to heat polarized molecules in food. Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently because excitation is fairly uniform in the outer 25 - 38 mm of a dense (high water content) food item; food is more evenly heated throughout (except in thick, dense objects) than generally occurs in other cooking techniques

Jul 18, 1963

Computer mouse

The computer mouse was invented by Douglas Englebart

Jul 18, 1971

E-mail

In computer terms, email is short for electronic mail. It is a more up to date method of transmitting data, text files, digital photos, and audio and video files from one computer to another over the internet. This phenomenon did not become popular until 1990 and now it is a major business and personal communications.

Jul 18, 1973

The personal computer

The commodore 64 is, along with the Apple II and the Atari XL computers, the most famous home computer. According to the 2001 edition of Guinness book of records, the C64 was the most "prolific computing device ever manufactured". During its production run from 1982 to... 1993, about 30 million (!) units were sold. To put this number in perspective, that's more than all the Macintoshes in the world.