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Lightning
The lightning rod, created by Benjamin Franklin, would be placed at the apex of buildings to attract the lightning to the rod, so that the lightning harmlessly stuck the ground. Franklin created this to stop prominent buildings from being destroyed by lightning strikes. -
Cotton Gin
Created by Eli Whitney in 1794. Eli Whitney patents his machine to comb and deseed bolls of cotton. His invention makes possible a revolution in the cotton industry and the rise of "King Cotton" as the main cash crop in the South. -
Interchangeable Parts
Eli Whitney manufactured 10,000 muskets for the U.S. Army. At the time, an entire musket would be made by a single person, without standardized measurements. Whitney divided the labor into several discrete steps and standardized parts to make them interchangeable. This idea and invention revolutionized the manufacturing business. -
Coffee Pot
Benajmin Thompson invented a new coffee pot with a metal sieve built in which allowed people to drink coffe without the grounds in it. This coffe pot did not simply just improve the taste, but changed the American economy by making coffe a much more desired import. -
Plough
In places other than the fertile farmland in the South, where the rocky soil was not ideal for farming it was hard to farm with wooden tip ploughs.With the new cast iron tip ploughs it made farming much easier and more effecient in places such as New England. -
Threshing Machine
The new threshing machine seperated grain from chaff very productivley. This replaced the former tedious laborious process, and allowed farming to become much easier. -
Repeating Rifle
The repeating rifle was invented by B. Tyler Henry. It became extremely beneficial, as it allowed for rapid fire shooting, and eliminated the reloading time. -
Sewing Machine
The sewing machine made the production of clothes and other sewn items too be processed much quicker and eliminated tedious hand sewing. Because of the sewing machine, clothes could be manufactured cheaper, and it would enlarge the American wardrobe. -
Bessemer Process
English inventor Henry Bessemer introduced a new process or converting iron into steel. In this process, he shot a blast of air through the molten iron to burn off carbon and impurities, later creating steel. This process revolutionized the steel industry by making prices lower. -
Spring-Tooth Harrow
This invention allowed farmers to break up dense praire soil much more effectively. The spring-tooth harrow, as well as inventions such as the steel plow, grain binders, etc. made farming life easier and more effective. -
Barbed Wire
Developed in 1874, barbed wire was a type of fence that prevented intruders. It allowed farmers to keep livestock away from their crops, and fence off their land from others. -
Light Bulb
Thomas Edison found that a carbon filament would glow dependably in a vacuum, thus creating the standard light bulb. This light bulb was much cheaper and more convenient than kerosene or natural gas lighting. The light bulb allowed factories and homes to be illuminated at night allowing for recreational and industrial purposes. -
Porcelain Toilet
These toilets were designed for easy cleaning and had a built in gas trap. The gas trap, a U-shaped joint, prevented gas from seeping back into the bathroom. The toilet was a big step up from former smelly outhouses, which lacked sewage systems. -
Amusement Parks
Amusement parks provided a physical escape from the working classes hard and tiring jobs. Places such as New York's Coney Island evolved where people could have fun with friends and family through rollercoasters, watching dancers, or eating food. -
Photographic Film
George Eastman created a paper-based photographic film which was easier and more convenient to use than the previous bulky, fragile glass plates that were used. This made developing pictures that were taken much easier. -
Ragtime
A jazz type of music orignated from a black type of music, and was very popular in the working class. Ragtime was inventive, playful, and had catchy syncopatience. The middle and upper classes looked down on this type of music. Scott Joplin was a famous conposer. -
Professional Sports
Boxing, Basketball, and Baseball became large, public events for the working class to attend. They were cheap and entertaining, and a physical escape from the tough jobs. People could follow and become attached to their favorite teams. These events were mostly for the working class, but larger events like the Kentucky Derby served for the same purpose for the upper class. -
Praire School Houses
Frank Lloyd Wright, in the suburbs of Chicago, came up with an alternative housing style to the previous Victorian valued houses. His design was spread through America with broad-sheltering roofs, low silhouettes, and inter-connected rooms to create a sense of openness. -
Photoengraving
A way of printing of pictures by changing images into a series of lines and dots. Allowed images to capture the scale of pictures. Jacob Riis used this to publish his book, "How the Other Half Lives." -
Phonograph
The victrola phonorgraph was invented in 1906. It was a handsome, cabinet styled phonograph and became a popular way for Americans to listen to music. Victorla, unlike previous phonographs, concealed the horn inside the cabinet, which made the phonograph more attractive. -
Poisonous Gas Used in War
The first recorded gas attack was by the French in August of 1916. Gas was used in the new style of trench warfare to poison and kill enemy soldiers. It became extremely effective and resulted in thousands of deaths. -
Influenza Vaccines
During the great Influenza Pandemic following World War 1, doctors invented new vaccines to treat the influenza disease. One doctor invented a new vaccine to target the multiple bacterial aspects of the patient. He aimed to raise the immunity against the bacteria, which was the common cause of death. Many vaccines sought to treat the temporary symptoms, while others attempted to help get rid of the disease all together. -
Assembly Line
The new assembly-line introduced by Henry Ford and used at his car plants, made it so workers would stand at one place and perform the same task throughout the day. Although the assembly line was very unpopular with the workers, it increased the per capita output by about 40 percent. -
Electric Washing Machine and Iron
These two new inventions replaced older tedious ways of washing clothes. This allowed less time doing house work and more time for leisure activities. -
Vacuum Cleaners
Vacuum cleaners allowed Americans to spend less time cleaning the house, which allowed for more leisure activities. Vacuum cleaners are much more efficient then there predecessor dust pans and brooms. -
Electric Refrigerators
The electric refrigerators replaced the old labor intensive iceboxes. These refrigerators allowed Americans to keep their food cold and preserve it for a much longer time then they were before. -
Tractor
The tractor became very popular among farmers who now could use an efficient machine instead of their traditional physical ways of reaping their fields. Even though the tractor increased productivity, farmers still experienced debt. -
Sound in Movies
First sound in movies was in the movie the Jazz Singer in 1927. Early sound technology used the Vitaphone, which was a complicated way of incorporating sound into movies, however it still worked. -
Dust Bowl Solutions
After the horrors of the Dust Bowl experienced in the Great Plains, the government sent experts to show the farmers how to plant properly. They stressed the importance of crop rotation and other techniques to prevent another catastrophe. -
Gas Chambers
In 1945, American troops discovered the horrors of the concentration camps. The Nazis had used gas chambers to murder significant amounts of people in a relatively short period of time. They really brought out the horrors of the Holocaust. -
Automation
Automation was the method of operating and controlling a process by highly automatic means, reducing human intervention to a minimum. The hours of workers reduced dramatically, and productivity increased. The United States invested over $10 billion a year throughout the 1950s on labor-saving machinery and automation. -
Atomic Bomb
The United States succesfully set off the first atominc bomb in a controlled environment in New Mexico. The U.S. had been trying to create this weapon since the beginning of World War II, and later used it to bomb Nagasaki and Hiroshima. When created, the United States was not aware of the amount of destruction the bomb could do. -
Credit Cards
Prior to the 1930s, when deprieved of cash, people signed installment contracts and charged their new items on the department store cards. However, in 1950, the Diner Club issued the first credit card. People began buying things they did not need, and credit cards helped America become prosperous once again. -
Hydrogen Bomb
In 1952, Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam came up with a new more destructive bomb for the United States. This weapon used the principle of hydrogen fusion to create even more destruction than the atomic bomb. In 1952, it was exploded at Enewetak and destroyed the entire island. -
Nuclear Powerplants
In 1954, in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, the nation's first nuclear powerplant was created. Nuclear powerplants helped control the nation militarily and in industry. In addition, they allowed atomic bombs to be produced more efficiently and effectively. -
Microwave Oven
The microwave oven was invented in 1955. It was first sold for home use during this time. The oven allowed for quick heating up and cooking of foods. The microwave oven became very popular in the rapidly growing suburbs in America. -
Computer Software and Programs
The computer changed the American economy and society to a great extent. Computers were invented prior to this time, but new softare and programs were rapidly being released. Operating instructions and programs were now being stored within the computer's memory. Computers now became extremely beneficial to scientists, the government, and many other major manufacturers. -
Sputnik
In 1957, the Soviet Union created the satellite Sputnik. This was the first satellite ever launched into Earth's orbit. The launching of Sputnik created the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted for years. -
Birth Control Pill
The birth control pill enabled the new counterculture in the 1960s to create a sexual revolution in which people could be sexually active without producing offspring. The pill contained hormones which would prevent pregnancy at a very high rate. The pill along with other contraceptives were developed in the 1960s -
Pesticides in Warfare
The U.S. used pesticides in the Vietnam War extensivley known as Agent Orange. The pesticides were designed to ruin food which would starve or poison North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. However, the pesticides wound up killing many more people than expected including South Vietnamese. -
Napalm Strikes
Napalm strikes were performed by the U.S. onto the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong in the Vietnam War. The strikes contained the chemical, Napalm which was designed to create fire which burned people and land. -
VCRs
VCRs, or videocassete recorders, enabled users to tape TV shows for later viewing. They allowed people to stay home instead of traveling to theatres, for one could rent movies on the cassette. -
The Personal Computer
Although computer technology dates back to WWII, it was not until the mid 1970s that the personal computer became available. Personal computers allowed people to accomplish work more productively, entertain themselves, and keep electronic records. The Apple 1 came out in 1976 at a price of $666.66. -
Compact Disk
CDs, or compact disks, became a much easier way for people to listen to music. The discs used laser beams to read millions of dots molded into concentric circles on the disk, producing a higher quality sound than previous ways to listen to music. -
The Internet
The Internet was invented in 1990. The Internet was extremely popular throughout America, as people were able to communicate with others and entertain themselves.
