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Period: to
The Spread of Industrial Revolution
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Henry Blair patents the seed-planter.
He is the second African American person to receive a U.S. patent. Seed-planter, which allowed farmers to plant more corn using less labor in a smaller amount of time. Henry Blair signed his patents with an "x" because he could not write. -
Samuel Colt receives U.S. patent for the revolver.
His was the first practical revolver and the first practical repeating firearm due to progress made in percussion technology. His design was a great contribution to the development of war technology, ironically personified in the name of one of his company's later innovations, the "Peacemaker". -
Samuel Morse invents the telegraph
An electrical telegraph was independently developed and patented in the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse. On 24 May 1844, he sent the message "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT" from the Capitol in Washington to Baltimore. -
Kirkpatrick Macmillan invents a mechanically-propelled bicycle
Macmillan was the first to invent the pedal-driven bicycle. He is also associated with the first recorded instance of a cycling traffic offence. -
Daniel Colladon and Jacques Babinet demonstrates the principles of fiber optics.
Optical fiber can be used as a medium for telecommunication and computer networking. Optical fiber can also be used to transmit power to convert the light into electricity. Fiber optic cables are used for transmitting voice, images and other data at close to the speed of light. -
Jean Joseph Lenoir invents an gas-fired internal combustion engine
It operated on coal gas, and was basically a two stroke engine. However the stoke did not compress the gas, so it was not very efficient. Lenoir put one of his engines in a three wheeled vehicle, which completed a 50 mile road trip at about 3 km/hr. -
Period: to
The Second Industrial Revolution: Electricity and Chemicals
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Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.
That first patent by Bell was the master patent of the telephone, from which other patents for electric telephone devices and features flowed. -
Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light bulb.
Contrary to popular belief, he didn't "invent" the lightbulb, but rather he improved upon a 50-year-old idea. In 1879, using lower current electricity, a small carbonized filament, and an improved vacuum inside the globe, he was able to produce a reliable, long-lasting source of light. -
Lumiere Brothers invent a portable motion-picture camera
Film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe. Lumiere Brothers made their first film, Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon, in 1894. The film was publicly screened at L'Eden, the world's first and oldest cinéma. The first commercial, public screening of cinematographic films happened in Paris on 28 December 1895. -
Reginald Fessenden devised the first wireless radio transmission
Upon December 23, 1900, Fessenden successively transported speech in the region of 1.6 kilometers, the earliest audio radio transmission. It practically replaced the Morse Code as a medium for communication. -
The Wright brothers invent the first gas motored airplane.
The Wright Flyer (often retrospectively referred to as Flyer I or 1903 Flyer) was the first successful powered aircraft. The Flyer cost was less than a thousand dollars that time.
