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STEAM MACHINE
Thomas Newcomen invented the first machine that could be used as a pump thanks to steam.
This machine, simple to build but that consumed a lot of fuel, was first used in coal mines to pump water.
A steam engine is a piece of equipment suitable to transform, through steam, thermal energy into mechanical energy.
The steam engine generated not only that the whole industry could advance, but it is still really important in our lives today. -
PIANO
Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano at the Florentine Medici court. Cristofori was dissatisfied with the lack of control musicians had over the volume level of the harpsichord.
First, the keyboard was shorter and lacked pedals to generate tonal contrasts. Instead, the extension comprises three different registers: deep, warm and sonorous tones; half octaves, more dynamic; and high tones, with a short and bright sound. The piano became an important source of music in the home. -
MERCURY THERMOMETER
Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer that allowed higher temperatures to be measured and its use became widespread because mercury is a liquid metal that responds very quickly and reliably to changes in temperature. Fahrenheit had the idea of replacing the alcohol with mercury. Since then there have been few improvements to make it more efficient.
The thermometer is an instrument used to measure the temperature, with the help of a thermometric property. -
LIGHTNING ROD
Benjamin Franklin created the lightning rod.
The lightning rod is a metal bar with a pointed end, where there is a copper or platinum ball, and it is placed vertically on top of buildings. At its end it has a conductor cable connected directly to the ground.
Once the lightning strikes the lightning rod, the electricity that it carries will go through the conductive cable towards the ground discharging itself on the ground and thus protecting the building and everything close to it. -
BIFOCAL LENS
Benjamin Franklin created the first multifocal eyeglass lens, bifocals can allow a person to see clearly across the room and up close, but vision at arm's length (the range needed to clearly see a desktop or laptop screen, for example) may remain blurred. -
HOT AIR BALLON
The Montgolfier brothers, are the inventors of the hot air balloon. The hot air balloon made its first trip, two kilometers long and lasting 10 minutes, in the presence of a group of dignitaries of the Particular States in Annonay. The next step was to build a prototype large enough large enough for one person to travel. Then the first flight with people was made, in a balloon piloted by de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, an army officer. -
MECHANICAL LOOM
Invented by Edmund Cartwright, the power loom allowed manufacturers to create textiles much more quickly than hand looms. This improvement helped the power loom become one of the defining machines of the industrial revolution. While power looms are mechanized looms, the power source that allows them to operate varies. Originally these looms were powered by water, but after a while that was transformed into steam power and eventually air and electric looms were created. -
STEAMBOAT
John Fitch worked as a surveyor and explored the Ohio Valley, buying and surveying land. He had the idea of building a steamboat, capable of sailing regardless of the weather and the tide. Fitch continued to refine his models and the initial ones were followed by others, one powered by a propeller, but the loss of one of his ships during a storm, combined with constant mechanical problems and uncertain financial backing, caused his venture to fail. -
SEWING MACHINE
In 1790, an English-born cabinetmaker, Thomas Saint, created a chain-stitch sewing machine that could sew pieces of leather and ship's sails. He would be the first to use a commercial patent. But that data was not reached until 1874 -
SMALLPOX VACCINE
Edward Jenner, probably the scientist who has saved the most lives in history. In 1796, this Montagu compatriot doctor decided to inoculate James Phipps, an 8-year-old son of his gardener, with the scrapings of the virus from a cow named Blossom. The little boy had a fever for a couple of days, but did not develop any serious infection or show any symptoms of smallpox. He helped eradicate one of the viruses that has killed the most people in the world.