Key Inventions That Shaped History

1. Inventors and Inventions

2. Vulcanized Rubber • Charles Goodyear • 1844 • Process of refining rubber and other polymers into a useable form • Made it retain elasticity and withstand lower temperatures

3. Bessemer Steel Making Process • Henry Bessemer • 1855(56) • First inexpensive industrial process for refining and mass producing steel • Pig iron must be refined before it is strong enough to be of use • The Bessemer process removes impurities

4. Dynamite • Alfred Nobel • 1867 • Discovered a way to combine nitroglycerin with a stabilizing agent- made it into a paste- gave the previously volatile substance industrial applications • Nobel left his vast fortune to sponsor awards for advances in the sciences • Nobel peace prizes

5. Induction Motor and Alternating Current • Nikola Tesla • 1888 • Originally worked with Edison but broke off to follow his own lines of experimentation • Induction motor enabled the mass production of machinery

6. Steam Engine • James Watt • 1769 • Did not create the steam engine- but saw the inefficiency • Improved condensing chamber so as to lose less energy

7. Steam Boat • Robert Fulton • 1807 • Did not create the first steam boat, but perfected it for commercial uses • The Clermont- 150 miles in 32 hours

8. Bicycle • Baron von Drais • 1817 • Invented to help him get around the royal German gardens faster • Pushed with your feet • Followed by the Velocipide had pedals • Became a practical, inexpensive method of transportation

9. Dirigible • Henri Giffard • 1852 • French engineer • Connected a small steam powered engine to a large propeller, topped at 5 mph

10. Elevator • Elisha Otis • 1853 • Did not invent the first elevator • First freight elevator and braking system that eventually made skyscrapers possible

11. Airplane • Orville and Wilber Wright • Dec. 17, 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina • 12 second flight • First powered, controlled flight

12. Ford’s Model T • Henry Ford • 1909 • Did not invent the automobile or the assembly line, but created cars affordable to the masses • First gasoline engine 1885 Karl Benz

13. Telegraph • Samuel Morse • 1837 • Developed from crude, earlier models- submitting electrical current over wire • Morse code in 1838

14. Photography • Louis Daugerre • 1839 • Captured images by exposing plates to mercury and silver nitrate- decreased exposure time from previous attempts

15. Typewriter • Christopher Sholes • 1868 • Wisconsin newspaper man • Improved after initial patent and manufactured starting in 1871 • Easier for mass production of media- magazines, newspapers, etc.

16. Phonograph • Thomas Alva Edison • 1878 • Came from his work with the telegraph and telephone • Recorded sound waves onto a metal cylinder

17. Telephone • Alexander Graham Bell • 1876 • Vast potential far exceeded that of the telegraph

18. Wireless Telegraph • Guglielmo Marconi • 1897 • Goal was to use radio waves to transmit Morse code signal as used for conventional wired telegraphs • Received a Nobel prize in 1909

19. Canning Process • Nicholas Appert • 1810 • Won the French prize for discovering a new method for preserving food

20. Sewing Machine • Elias Howe • 1846 • New apparatus made stitches uniform and increased output- industrialized textile industry

21. Light Bulb/Electric Light • Thomas Alva Edison • 1879 • Tested 3,000 different methods for developing an incandescent light bulb

22. Kinetescope • Thomas Alva Edison • 1891 • Ribbon of pictures run at speed through a camera opening • One of many attempts at moving pictures of the day

23. Discussion • What do you think is meant by the phrase “Necessity is the Mother of Invention?” • Why do you think these inventions came about at these specific times?