Inventions 1100 to 1900

2nd millennium AD

11th century

·       11th century: Ambulance by Crusaders in Palestine and Lebanon

·       11th century: Early versions of the Bessemer process are developed in East Asia

·       1088: Movable type in Song Dynasty China: The first record of a movable type system is in the Dream Pool Essays written in 1088, which attributes the invention of the movable type to Bi Sheng. In the 13th century, Koreans invent metal-type movable printing. In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg invents the modern movable type system in Europe.

12th century

·       1119: Mariner's compass (wet compass) in Song Dynasty China: The earliest recorded use of magnetized needle for navigational purposes at sea is found in Zhu Yu's book Pingzhou Table Talks of 1119 (written from 1111 to 1117). The typical Chinese navigational compass was in the form of a magnetic needle floating in a bowl of water. The familiar mariner's dry compass which uses a pivoting needle suspended above a compass-card in a glass box is invented in medieval Europe no later than 1300.

13th century

·       13th century: Rocket for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th century China.

·       13th century: The earliest form of mechanical escapement, the verge escapement in Europe.

·       1275: Torpedo Concept by Hasan al-Rammah.

·       1277: Land mine in Song Dynasty China: Textual evidence suggests that the first use of a land mine in history is by a Song Dynasty brigadier general known as Lou Qianxia, who uses an 'enormous bomb' (huo pao) to kill Mongol soldiers invading Guangxi in 1277.

·       1286: Eyeglasses in Italy

·       13th century: Explosive bomb in Jin dynasty Manchuria: Explosive bombs are used in 1221 by the Jin dynasty against a Song Dynasty city. The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder are documented in the 13th century in China and are called "thunder-crash bombs", coined during a Jin dynasty naval battle in 1231.

·       13th century: Hand cannon in Yuan Dynasty China: The earliest hand cannon dates to the 13th century based on archaeological evidence from a Heilongjiang excavation. There is also written evidence in the Yuanshi (1370) on Li Tang, an ethnic Jurchen commander under the Yuan Dynasty who in 1288 suppresses the rebellion of the Christian prince Nayan with his "gun-soldiers" or chongzu, this being the earliest known event where this phrase is used.

14th century

·       Early to Mid 1300s: Multistage rocket in Ming Dynasty China described in Huolongjing by Jiao Yu.

·       By at least 1326: Cannon in Ming Dynasty China

·       1378: Naval artillery in Korea

·       14th century: Jacob's staff invented by Levi ben Gerson

·       14th century: Naval mine in Ming Dynasty China: Mentioned in the Huolongjing military manuscript written by Jiao Yu (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Liu Bowen(1311–1375), describing naval mines used at sea or on rivers and lakes, made of wrought iron and enclosed in an ox bladder. A later model is documented in Song Yingxing's encyclopedia written in 1637.

 

15th century

The 15th-century invention of the printing press with movable type by the German Johannes Gutenberg is widely regarded as the most influential event of the modern era.

·       15th century: Mainspring in Europe

·       15th century: Rifle in Europe

·       1420s: Brace in Flandres, Holy Roman Empire

·       1439: Printing press in Mainz, Germany: The printing press is invented in the Holy Roman Empire by Johannes Gutenberg before 1440, based on existing screw presses. The first confirmed record of a press appeared in a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg.

·       1441: Water gauge in Korea: The Joseon scientist Jang Yeong-sil invented the world's first water gauge, called the supyo.

·       Mid 15th Century: The Arquebus (also spelled Harquebus) is invented, possibly in Spain.

·       1480s: Mariner's astrolabe on Portuguese circumnavigation of Africa

·       1494: Double-entry bookkeeping system codified by Luca Pacioli

16th century

·       1551: Taqi ad-Din describes a simple steam turbine-like device used in steam jacks.

·       1560: Floating Dry Dock in Venice, Venetian Republic

·       1569: Mercator Projection map created by Gerardus Mercator

·       1577: Newspaper in Korea

·       1589: Stocking frame: Invented by William Lee.

·       1594: Backstaff: Invented by Captain John Davis.

·       By at least 1597: Revolver: Invented by Hans Stopler.

17th century

A 1609 title page of the German Relation, the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605)

·       1605: Newspaper (Relation): Johann Carolus in Strassburg, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (see also List of the oldest newspapers)

·       1608: Telescope: Patent applied for by Hans Lippershey in the Netherlands. Actual inventor unknown since it seemed to already be a common item being offered by the spectacle makers in the Netherlands with Jacob Metius also applying for patent and the son of Zacharias Janssen making a claim 47 years later that his father invented it.

·       c1620: Compound microscopes, which combine an objective lens with an eyepiece to view a real image, first appear in Europe. Apparently derived from the telescope, actual inventor unknown, variously attributed to Zacharias Janssen (his son claiming it was invented in 1590), Cornelis Drebbel, and Galileo Galilei.

·       1630: Slide rule: invented by William Oughtred

·       1642: Mechanical calculator. The Pascaline is built by Blaise Pascal

·       1643: Barometer: invented by Evangelista Torricelli, or possibly up to three years earlier by Gasparo Berti.

·       1650: Vacuum pump: Invented by Otto von Guericke.

·       1656: Pendulum clock: Invented by Christiaan Huygens. It was first conceptualized in 1637 by Galileo Galilei but he was unable to create a working model.

·       1663: Friction machine: Invented by Otto von Guericke.

·       1680: Christiaan Huygens provides the first known description of a piston engine.

 

18th century

1700s

·       c. 1700: Bartolomeo Cristofori crafts the first piano.

·       1709: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol thermometer.

1710s

·       1712: Thomas Newcomen builds the first commercial steam engine to pump water out of mines. Newcomen's engine, unlike Thomas Savery's, uses a piston.

1730s

·       c. 1730: Thomas Godfrey and John Hadley independently develop the octant

·       1733: John Kay enables one person to operate a loom with the flying shuttle

·       1736: John Harrison tests his first Sea Clock, H1.

·       1738: Lewis Paul and John Wyatt invent the first mechanized cotton spinning machine.

1740s

·       1745: Musschenbroek and Kleist independently develop the Leyden jar, an early form of capacitor.

·       1746: John Roebuck invents the lead chamber process.

1750s

·       1755: William Cullen invents the first artificial refrigeration machine.

1760s

·       1764: James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny.

·       1765: James Watt invents the improved steam engine utilizing a separate condenser.

·       1767: Joseph Priestley invents a method for the production of carbonated water.

·       1769: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot invents the first steam-powered vehicle capable of carrying passengers, an early car.

1770s

·       1770: Richard Salter invents the earliest known design for a weighing scale.

·       1774: John Wilkinson invents his boring machine, considered by some to be the first machine tool.

·       1775: Jesse Ramsden invents the modern screw-cutting lathe.

·       1776: John Wilkinson invents a mechanical air compressor that would become the prototype for all later mechanical compressors.

1780s

·       1783: Claude de Jouffroy builds the first steamboat.

·       1783: Joseph-Ralf and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier build the first manned hot air balloon.

·       1785: Martinus van Marum is the first to use the electrolysis technique.

·       1786: Andrew Meikle invents the threshing machine.

·       1789: Edmund Cartwright invents the power loom.

1790s

·       1790: Thomas Saint invents the sewing machine.

·       1792: Claude Chappe invents the modern semaphore telegraph.

·       1793: Eli Whitney invents the modern cotton gin.

·       1796: Alois Senefelder invents the lithography printing technique.

·       1795: Joseph Bramah invents the hydraulic press.

·       1798: Edward Jenner develops the first successful vaccine, the smallpox vaccine.

·       1799: George Medhurst invents the first motorized air compressor.

·       1799: The first paper machine is invented by Louis-Nicolas Robert.

 

19th century

1800s

·       1800: Alessandro Volta invents the Voltaic pile, an early form of battery in Italy, based on previous works by Luigi Galvani.

·       1802: Humphry Davy invents the Arc lamp (exact date unclear; not practical as a light source until the invention of efficient electric generators).

·       1804: Friedrich Sertürner discovers Morphine as the first active alkaloid extracted from the opium poppy plant in December 1804.

·       1804: Richard Trevithick invents the steam locomotive.

·       1804: Hanaoka Seishū creates tsūsensan, the first modern general anesthetic.

·       1807: Nicéphore Niépce invents the first internal combustion engine capable of doing useful work.

·       1807: François Isaac de Rivaz designs the first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen.

·       1807: Robert Fulton expands water transportation and trade with the workable steamboat.

1810s

·       1810: Nicolas Appert invents the canning process for food.

·       1811: Friedrich Koenig invents the first powered printing press which was also the first to use a cylinder.

·       1812: William Reid Clanny pioneered the invention of the safety lamp which he improved in later years. Safety lamps based on Clanny's improved design were used until the adoption of electric lamps.

·       1814: James Fox invents the modern planing machine, though Matthew Murray of Leeds and Richard Roberts of Manchester have also been credited at times with its invention.

·       1816: Francis Ronalds builds the first working electric telegraph using electrostatic means.

·       1816: Robert Stirling invents the Stirling engine.

·       1817: Baron Karl von Drais invents the dandy horse, an early velocipede and precursor to the modern bicycle.

·       1818: Marc Isambard Brunel invents the tunneling shield.

1820s

·       1822: Thomas Blanchard invented the pattern-tracing lathe (actually more like a shaper) and was completed by for the U.S. Ordnance Dept. The lathe can copy symmetrical shapes and is used for making gun stocks, and later, ax handles. The lathe's patent is in force for 42 years, the record for any U.S. patent.

·       1822: Nicéphore Niépce invented Heliography, the first photographic process.

·       1822: Charles Babbage, considered the "father of the computer", begins building the first programmable mechanical computer.

·       1824: Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse invents the bolt-action rifle.

·       1825: William Sturgeon invents the electromagnet.

·       1826: John Walker invented the friction match.

·       1828: James Beaumont Neilson develops the hot blast process.

·       1828: Patrick Bell invents the reaping machine.

·       1829: William Mann invents the compound air compressor.

1830s

·       1830: Edwin Budding invents the lawn mower.

·       1831: Michael Faraday invents a method of electromagnetic induction. It would be independently invented by Joseph Henry the following year.

·       1834: Moritz von Jacobi, a German-born Russian, invents the first practical electric motor.

·       1835: Joseph Henry invents the electromechanical relay.

·       1836: Samuel Morse invents Morse code.

·       1839: William Otis invents the steam shovel.

·       1839: James Nasmyth invents the steam hammer.

·       1839: Edmond Becquerel invents a method for the photovoltaic effect, effectively producing the first solar cell.

1840s

·       1841: Alexander Bain devises a printing telegraph.

·       1842: William Robert Grove invents the first fuel cell.

·       1842: John Bennet Lawes invents superphosphate, the first man-made fertilizer.

·       1844: Friedrich Gottlob Keller and, independently, Charles Fenerty come up with the wood pulp method of paper production.

·       1845: Isaac Charles Johnson invents Modern Portland cement.

·       1846: Henri-Joseph Maus invents the Tunnel boring machine.

·       1847: Ascanio Sobrero invents Nitroglycerin, the first explosive made that was stronger than black powder.

·       1848: Jonathan J. Couch invents the pneumatic drill.

·       1849: Walter Hunt invents the first repeating rifle to use metallic cartridges (of his own design) and a spring-fed magazine.

·       1849: James B. Francis invents the Francis turbine.

1850s

·       1850: Sir William Armstrong invents the hydraulic accumulator.

·       1852: Robert Bunsen is the first to use a chemical vapor deposition technique.

·       1852: Elisha Otis invents the safety brake elevator.

·       1852: Henri Giffard becomes the first person to make a manned, controlled and powered flight using a dirigible.

·       1853: François Coignet invents reinforced concrete.

·       1855: James Clerk Maxwell invents the first practical method for color photography, whether chemical or electronic.

·       1855: Sir. Henry Bessemer patents the Bessemer process for making steel, with improvements made by others over the following years.

·       1856: James Harrison produces the world's first practical ice making machine and refrigerator using the principle of vapour compression in Geelong, Australia.

·       1856: William Henry Perkin invents Mauveine, the first synthetic dye.

·       1857: Heinrich Geissler invents the Geissler tube.

·       1859: Gaston Planté invents the lead acid battery, the first rechargeable battery.

1860s

·       1860: Joseph Swan produces carbon fibers.

·       1862: Alexander Parkes invents parkesine, also known as celluloid, the first man-made plastic.

·       1864: Louis Pasteur invents the pasteurization process.

·       1865: Carl Wilhelm Siemens and Pierre-Émile Martin invented the Siemens-Martin process for making steel.

·       1865: Gregor Mendel publishes 'Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden' ("Experiments on Plant Hybridization"), effectively founding the science of genetics, though the importance of his work would not be appreciated until later on.

·       1867: Alfred Nobel invents Dynamite, the first safely manageable explosive stronger than black powder.

1870s

·       1872: J.E.T. Woods and J. Clark invented Stainless steel. Harry Brearley was the first to commercialize it.

·       1873: Frederick Ransome invents the rotary kiln.

·       1873: Sir William Crookes, a chemist, invents the Crookes radiometer as the by-product of some chemical research.

·       1873: Zénobe Gramme invents the first commercial electrical generator, the Gramme machine.

·       1874: Gustave Trouvé invents the first metal detector.

·       1876: Nikolaus August Otto invents the Four-stroke cycle.

·       1876: Alexander Graham Bell has a patent granted for the telephone. However, other inventors before Bell had worked on the development of the telephone and the invention had several pioneers.

·       1877: Thomas Edison invents the first working phonograph.

·       1878: Henry Fleuss is granted a patent for the first practical rebreather.

·       1878: Lester Allan Pelton invents the Pelton wheel.

·       1879: Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison both patent a functional Incandescent light bulb. Some two dozen inventors had experimented with electric incandescent lighting over the first three-quarters of the 19th century but never came up with a practical design. Swan's, which he had been working on his since the 1860s, had a low resistance so was only suited for small installations. Edison designed a high-resistance bulb as part of a large-scale commercial electric lighting utility.

1880s

·       1881: Nikolay Benardos presents carbon arc welding, the first practical arc welding method.

·       1884: Hiram Maxim invents the recoil-operated Maxim gun, ushering in the age of semi- and fully automatic firearms.

·       1884: Paul Vieille invents Poudre B, the first smokeless powder for firearms.

·       1884: Sir Charles Parsons invents the modern steam turbine.

·       1885: John Kemp Starley invents the modern bicycle.

·       1886: Carl Gassner invents the zinc-carbon battery, the first dry cell battery, making portable electronics practical.

·       1886: Charles Martin Hall and independently Paul Héroult invent the Hall–Héroult process for economically producing aluminum in 1886.

·       1886: Karl Benz invents the first petrol or gasoline powered auto-mobile (car).

·       1887: Carl Josef Bayer invents the Bayer process for the production of alumina.

·       1887: James Blyth invents the first wind turbine used for generating electricity.

·       1887: John Stewart MacArthur, working in collaboration with brothers Dr. Robert and Dr. William Forrest develops the process of gold cyanidation.

·       1888: John J. Loud invents the ballpoint pen.

·       1888: Heinrich Hertz publishes a conclusive proof of James Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in experiments that also demonstrate the existence of radio waves. The effects of electromagnetic waves had been observed by many people before this but no usable theory explaining them existed until Maxwell.

1890s

·       1890s: Frédéric Swarts invents the first chlorofluorocarbons to be applied as refrigerant.^[236]

·       1891: Whitcomb Judson invents the zipper.

·       1892: Léon Bouly invents the cinematograph.

·       1893: Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel engine (although Herbert Akroyd Stuart had experimented with compression ignition before Diesel).

·       1895: Guglielmo Marconi invents a system of wireless communication using radio waves.

·       1895: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen invented the first radiograph (xrays).

·       1898: Hans von Pechmann synthesizes polyethylene, now the most common plastic in the world.

·       1899: Waldemar Jungner invents the nickel–cadmium battery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_historic_inventions

Comments

The period from 1100 to 1900 covers our transition into the modern age. Rapid accelerations occurred in periods of great danger and great opportunity. The brilliant work done by our inventors during this period has enabled us to thrive in comfort. All who were involved in this advance deserve the credit and should be our role models going forward.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader