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history of technology 1817
Overland travel in the 1800s is slow and arduous. Engineers propose a plan to supplement natural water systems by digging a 363 mile canal to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie. The "Seneca Chief" will make the inaugural run through the Erie Canal in 1825. Baron Karl de Drais de Sauerbrun of Germany invented the draisienne, the first 2-wheeled, rider-propelled machine and exhibited it in Paris in 1818. The vehicle came to be known as the “velocipede," a 2-wheeled running machine. -
history of technology 1818
Thomas Blanchard of Middlebury, Connecticut, builds a woodworking lathe that does the work of 13 men. His invention helps to lower wood prices. -
history of technology 1819
May 21, The 1st bicycles in US were introduced in NYC. May 26, The first steam-propelled vessel to attempt a trans-Atlantic crossing, the 350-ton Savannah, departed from Savannah, Ga., May 26 and arrived in Liverpool, England, Jun 20. Jun 26, The bicycle was patented by W.K. Clarkson, Jr. of New York City.Aug 25, Scotsman James Watt Aug 25, Scotsman James Watt -
history of technology 1822
Mar 9, The first patent for false teeth was requested by C. Graham of NY.Jun 14, Charles Babbage a young Cambridge mathematician, announced the invention of a machine capable of performing simple arithmetic calculations in a paper to the Astronomical Society. His 1st Difference Engine could perform up to 60 error-free calculation in 5 minutes. -
history of technology 1825
Sep 27, The Stockton and Darlington rail line opened in England. The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England. The British engineers Richard Trevithick and George Stevenson were the first innovators of the technology. -
history of technology 1827
Apr 2, Joseph Dixon began manufacturing lead pencils. Apr 7, English chemist John Walker invented wooden matches. Jul 14, Augustin-Jean Fresnel French engineer, died. He contributed significantly to the establishment of the theory of wave optics. Fresnel studied the behavior of light both theoretically and experimentally. He worked out a way to focus light using diffraction and was the first to construct a special type of lens, now called a Fresnel lens, as a substitute for mirrors. -
history of technology 1831
May 16, David Edward Hughes, inventor was born. Aug 9, 1st US steam engine train run was from Albany to Schenectady, NYAug 29, Michael Faraday, British physicist, demonstrated the 1st electric transformer. Faraday had discovered that a changing magnetic field produces an electric current in a wire, a phenomenon known as electromagnetic induction.. -
1835
Aug 2, Elisha Grey, inventor was born.Nov 23, Henry Burden invented the first machine for manufacturing horseshoes. He then made most of the horseshoes for the Union Cavalry in the Civil War. Burden patented a horseshoe manufacturing machine in Troy, NY. -
history of technology
To finance the development of his "six shooter," Samuel Colt traveled the lecture circuit, giving demonstrations of laughing gas. Colt's new weapon failed to catch on, and he went bankrupt in 1842 at age 28. He reorganized and sold his first major order to the War Department during the Mexican War in 1846, and went on to become rich. -
history oftecnology 1837
Thomas Davenport of Brandon, Vermont, is one of the first to find a practical application for the electric motor. He uses a motor he built to power shop machinery and also builds the first electric model railroad car. -
1838
John Rand invents a collapsible metal squeeze tube. The container immediately hits markets in Europe, where it is used to hold and dispense artists' pigments. -
1840
John Rand invents a collapsible metal squeeze tube. The container immediately hits markets in Europe, where it is used to hold and dispense artists' pigments. -
1842
Crawford Williamson Long, of Jefferson, Georgia, performs the first operation using an ether-based anesthesia, when he removes a tumor from the neck of Mr. James Venable. Long will not reveal his discovery until 1849. -
1843
Rubber, so named because it could erase pencil, had long been considered a waterproofing agent, but in its natural state, it melted in hot weather and froze solid in the cold. After ten years of tireless work and abject poverty, Charles Goodyear perfects his process for "vulcanizing" rubber, or combining it with sulfur to create a soft, pliable substance unaffected by temperature. -
1844
Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates his telegraph by sending a message to Baltimore from the chambers of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC. The message, "What hath God wrought?," marks the beginning of a new era in communication. -
1845
Mar 17, The rubber band was patented by Stephen Perry of London. -
1846
Nov 4, Benjamin F. Palmer of Meredith N.H. received a patent on an artificial human leg.Dec 10, Norbert Rillieux African-American engineer, received a patent for the Rillieux Process for refining sugar. He won several patents for a way to refine sugar in a process that later came to be called multiple-effect distillation. -
1848
Aug 15, M. Waldo Hanchett patented a dental chair. -
1850
Jul 14, The 1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration took place. James Harrison of Australia designed an ice-making machine. It was an improvement on one invented by Jacob Perkins in 1834. -
1849
Feb 24, A V-2 WAC-Corporal was the 1st rocket to outer space. It was fired at White Sands, NM, and reached 400 km. Mar 27, Joseph Couch patented a steam-powered percussion rock drill.
