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Heroes [Solved] Timeline of United States discoveries and American inventions

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Eighteenth century

1747 Charge conservation

In physics, charge conservation is the principle that electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed. The quantity of electric charge, the amount of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge in the universe, is always conserved. As part of his groundbreaking work in electricity, Benjamin Franklin around the year 1747 discovered the principle of charge conservation when he came to the conclusion that the two states of electricity, positive and negative, the charge is never created or destroyed but instead transferable from one place to another.

1796 Johnston Atoll

Johnston Atoll, a territory of the United States, a Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and a part of the wider United States Minor Outlying Islands, is a 50-square-mile (130 km2) atoll in the North Pacific Ocean about 750 miles (1,400 kilometers) west of the U.S. state of Hawaii. There are four islands located on the coral reef platform, two natural islands, Johnston Island and Sand Island, which have been expanded by coral dredging, as well as North Island (Akau) and East Island (Hikina), an additional two artificial islands formed by coral dredging. The sovereignty of Johnston Atoll was disputed and claimed by the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning in 1858 until Hawaii itself was eventually annexed by the United States as the Hawaii Territory in 1898. Johnston Atoll is now administered and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the United States Department of Interior. In 1796, Johnston Atoll was discovered accidentally by U.S. Captain Joseph Pierpoint when his ship, the American brig Sally, ran aground.


1798 Tabuaeran

Tabuaeran, also known as Fanning Island or Fanning Atoll (both Gilbertese and English names are recognized) is one of the Line Islands located in the central Pacific Ocean. With a population of approximately 2,500, much of the island's economy relies upon the cruise industry. Formerly under British rule, Tabuaeran now is a part of the Republic of Kiribati. Tabuaeran was discovered on June 11, 1798 by U.S. Captain Edmund Fanning, at 3 a.m., while on a voyage to China aboard his ship, Betsy.

1798 Teraina

Teraina, also known as Washington Island, is an inhabited coral atoll located in the central Pacific Ocean that is 282 nautical miles (522 km) north of the equator, 75 miles (121 km) northwest of Tabuaeran, 238 miles (383 km) northwest of Christmas Island, and 120 miles (190 km) southeast of the U.S. territory of Palmyra Atoll. Formerly under British rule, Teraina is now a part of the Republic of Kiribati. Obsolete names of Teraina are Prospect Island and New York Island. The island consists of nine Polynesian villages. Teraina was discovered by U.S. Captain Edmund Fanning, in the American ship Betsy, on June 12, 1798.

1798 Palmyra Atoll

Palmyra Atoll, a territory of the United States, a Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and a part of the wider United States Minor Outlying Islands, is a 4.6 sq mi (12 km2) atoll located in the North Pacific Ocean almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly halfway between the U.S. state of Hawaii and the U.S. territory of American Samoa. The atoll consists of an extensive reef, two shallow lagoons, and some 50 sand and reef-rock islets and bars covered with lush, tropical vegetation. The islets of the atoll are all connected, except Sand Island and the two Home Islets in the west and Barren Island in the east. The largest island is Cooper Island in the north, followed by Kaula Island in the south. Cooper Island is privately owned by The Nature Conservancy and managed as a nature reserve. The rest of the atoll is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and is directly administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, an agency of the United States Department of Interior. Palmyra Atoll's history is long and colorful. It was first sighted on June 14, 1798, by Captain Edmund Fanning and officially discovered in 1802 by Captain Sawle of the American ship Palmyra.

1798 Kingman Reef

Kingman Reef, a territory of the United States, a Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and a part of the wider United States Minor Outlying Islands, is a largely submerged, uninhabited triangular shaped reef, 9.5 nautical miles (18 kilometers) east-west and 5 nautical miles (9 kilometers) north-south, located in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly half way between the Hawaiian Islands and the U.S. territory of American Samoa. It is the northernmost of the Northern Line Islands and lies 36 nautical miles (67 kilometers) northwest of the next closest island, the U.S. territory of Palmyra Atoll, and 930 nautical miles (1,720 kilometers) south of Honolulu, Hawaii. Kingman Reef is now administered and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the United States Department of Interior. First known as "Dangerous Reef", Kingman Reef was discovered on June 14, 1798 by U.S. Captain Edmund Fanning.

Nineteenth century

1821 South Orkney Islands

The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 375 miles (604 km) northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. As part of the British Antarctic Territory, the islands have a total area of about 240 square miles (620 km2). In December 1821, Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer as commander of the James Monroe, along with British sealer George Powell, co-discovered the South Orkney Islands.

1822 Howland Island

Howland Island, a territory of the United States and a part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands, is an uninhabited coral island located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean, about 1,700 nautical miles (3,100 km) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. The island lies almost halfway between the U. S state of Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Baker Island, 37 nautical miles (68 kilometers) to the south. Now known as a National Wildlife Refuge, Howland Island is an insular area administered and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. First known as "Worth Island", Howland Island as it later was named, was discovered by U.S. Captain George B. Worth aboard the whaler Oena in 1822.

1825 Baker Island

Baker Island, a territory of the United States and a part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands, is an uninhabited atoll located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean about 1,700 miles (3,100 kilometers) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. The island lies almost halfway between the U.S. state of Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Howland Island, 37 nautical miles (68 kilometers) to the north. Now known as a National Wildlife Refuge, Baker Island is an insular area administered and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. According to an article in Pacfici Magazine dated in 2000, Baker island was reportedly first sighted in 1825 by U.S. Captain Obed Starbuck in the ship Lopez. The newly discovered island was named New Nantucket (and also as Phoebe). It was in 1832 that U.S. Captain Michael Baker, after whom the island is now named, also came to the island aboard the whaler Gideon Howard.

1831 Chloroform

Chloroform is a chemical compound known as trihalomethanes that does not undergo combustion in air, although it will burn when mixed with more flammable substances. Chloroform was first discovered in July 1831 by American physician Samuel Guthrie, independently a few months later by French chemist Eugène Soubeiran and then by German chemist Justus von Liebig.

1858 Hadrosaurus foulki

Hadrosaurus was a dubious genus of a hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived near what is now the coast of New Jersey in the late Cretaceous, around 80 million years ago. It was likely bipedal for the purposes of running, but could use its forelegs to support itself while grazing. Like all hadrosaurids, Hadrosaurus was herbivorous. Its teeth suggest it ate twigs and leaves. In the summer of 1858 while vacationing in Haddonfield, New Jersey, William Parker Foulke discovered the world's first nearly-complete skeleton of any species of dinosaur, the Hadrosaurus (named by Joseph Leidy), an event that would rock the scientific world and forever change our view of natural history. To this day, Haddonfield, New Jersey is considered to be "ground zero" of dinosaur paleontology.

1859 Midway Atoll

Midway Atoll, better known as Midway Island or collectively as the Midway islands, is a territory of the United States and a part of the wider United States Minor Outlying Islands that is located in the North Pacific Ocean near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian Islands. As a 2.4-square-mile (6.2 km²) atoll, Midway Atoll is one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii and Tokyo, Japan, approximately 140 nautical miles (259 kilometers) east of the International Date Line, about 2,800 nautical miles (5,200 kilometers) west of San Francisco, California, and 2,200 nautical miles (4,100 kilometers) east of Tokyo, Japan. Midway Atoll consists of a ring-shaped barrier reef and several sand islets. The two significant pieces of land, Sand Island and Eastern Island, provide habitat for millions of seabirds. Because of the importance of marine and biological environment, Midway Atoll is an insular area known as the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge that is administered and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the United States Department of Interior. Midway Atoll is perhaps best known as the site of the Battle of Midway, fought in World War II on June 4–6, 1942 and the decisive turning point of the Pacific War when the United States Navy defeated an attack by the Empire of Japan. First known as "Middlebrooks Islands", Midway Atoll was discovered by U.S. Captain N.C. Brooks aboard his ship, Gambia, on July 8, 1859.

1859 Petroleum jelly

Petroleum jelly, petrolatum or soft paraffin is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons originally promoted as a topical ointment for its healing properties. The raw material for petroleum jelly was discovered in 1859 by Robert Chesebrough, a chemist from New York. In 1870, this product was branded as Vaseline Petroleum Jelly.

1873 Chemical potential

In thermodynamics, physics, and chemistry, chemical potential, symbolized by μ, is a term introduced by the American engineer, chemist, and mathematical physicist Josiah Gibbs in his 1873 paper A Method of Geometrical Representation of the Thermodynamic Properties of Substances by Means of Surfaces.

1875 Red Delicious

The Red Delicious is a clone of apple cultigen, now comprising more than 50 cultivars. The Red Delicious apple was disvoered in 1875 by Jesse Hiatt on his farm in Peru, Iowa. Believing that the seedling was nothing more than nuisance. After chopping down the tree three times, Hiatt decided to let the tree grow and eventually, it produced an unknown and new harvest of red apples. Hiatt would eventually sell the rights to this type of apple to the Stark Brothers Nurseries and Orchards who renamed it the Red Delicious.

1877 Deimos

Deimos is the smaller and outer of Mars’ two moons. It was discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877.

1877 Phobos

Phobos is the larger and closer of Mars' two small moons. It was discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877.

1888 Cliff Palace

The Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region. The cliff dwelling and park are in the southwestern corner of Colorado, in the Southwestern United States. The ancient ruins of Cliff Palace were co-discovered during a snowstorm in December 1888 by Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason who were searching for stray cattle on Chapin Mesa.

1889 Torosaurus

Torosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period about 70 million years ago in what is now North America. Torosaurus had an enormous head that measured 8 feet (2.5 m) in length. Its skull is one of the largest know up to date, no other land animal has ever had a skull larger than Torosaurus. Torosaurus frill made up about one-half the total skull length. The first fossils of Torosaurus were discovered in 1889, in Wyoming by John Bell Hatcher. The American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh would later name the specimen Torosaurus latus, in recognition of the bull-like size of its skull and its large eyebrow horns. Ever since, the specimen has been in display at the Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut.

1891 Thescelosaurus

Thescelosaurus was a bipedal dinosaur with a sturdy build, small wide hands, and a long pointed snout from the Late Cretaceous Period, approximately 65.5 million years ago. As a herbivore, Thescelosaurus was not a tall dinosaur and probably browsed the ground selectively to find food. Its leg structure and proportionally heavy build suggests that it was not a fast runner like other dinosaurs. The first fossils of Thescelosaurus were co-discovered in 1891 by John Bell Hatcher and William H. Utterback, in Wyoming. However, this discovery remained stored until Charles W. Gilmore named the dinosaur in 1913.

1892 Amalthea

Amalthea is the third moon of Jupiter in order of distance from the planet. It was discovered on September 9, 1892, by Edward Emerson Barnard.

1899 Phoebe

Phoebe is an irregular satellite of Saturn. It was discovered by William Henry Pickering on March 17, 1899 from photographic plates that had been taken starting on August 16, 1898 at Arequipa, Peru by DeLisle Stewart.

Twentieth century

1902 Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus, a bipedal carnivore, is a genus of theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex, commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the last two million years of the Cretaceous Period, 67 to 65.5 million years ago. It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event. In 1902, the first skeleton of Tyrannosaurus was discovered in Hell Creek, Montana by American paleontologist Barnum Brown. In 1908, Brown discovered a better preserved skeleton of Tyrannosaurus.

1908 Seyfert galaxies

Seyfert galaxies are a class of galaxies with nuclei that produce spectral line emission from highly ionized gas, named after Carl Keenan Seyfert, the astronomer who first identified the class in 1943 although they were first discovered by Edward A. Fath in 1908 while he was at the Lick Observatory.

1909 Burgess shale

The formation of Burgess shale — located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia — is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. It is 505 million years (Middle Cambrian) old, one of the earliest soft-parts fossil beds. The rock unit is a black shale, and crops out at a number of localities near the town of Field, British Columbia in the Yoho National Park. The Burgess Shale was discovered by American palaeontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1909, towards the end of the season's fieldwork. He returned in 1910 with his sons, establishing a quarry on the flanks of Fossil Ridge. The significance of soft-bodied preservation, and the range of organisms he recognized as new to science, led him to return to the quarry almost every year until 1924. At this point, aged 74, he had amassed over 65,000 specimens. Describing the fossils was a vast task, pursued by Walcott until his death in 1927.

1910 Propane

Propane is a three-carbon alkane, normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. It is derived from other petroleum products during oil or natural gas processing. It is commonly used as a fuel for engines, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central heating. Propane was first identified as a volatile component in gasoline by Dr. Walter O. Snelling of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1910.

1912 Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious is a large, yellow skinned cultivar of apple and very sweet to the taste. The original Golden Delicious tree is thought to have been discovered by Anderson Mullins on a hill near Porter Creek in Clay County, West Virginia. The Stark Brothers Nursery soon purchased the tree which spawned a leading cultivar in the United States and abroad. The Golden Delicious is the state fruit of West Virginia.

1912 Smoking-cancer link

Dr. Isaac Adler was the first to strongly suggest that lung cancer is related to smoking in 1912.

1914 Sinope

Sinope is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson at Lick Observatory in 1914.

1915 Zener diodes

A Zener diode is a type of diode that permits current in the forward direction like a normal diode, but also in the reverse direction if the voltage is larger than the breakdown voltage known as "Zener knee voltage" or "Zener voltage". The device was named after Clarence Zener, who discovered this electrical property.

1916 Barnard's Star

Barnard's Star is a very low-mass red dwarf star. At a distance of about 1.8 parsecs from the Solar System, or just under six light-years, Barnard's Star is the nearest known star in the constellation Ophiuchus, and the fourth-closest known individual star to the Sun, after the three components of the Alpha Centauri system. In 1916, Barnard's Star was discovered by American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard, whom the star was named after.

1916 Covalent bonding

The idea of covalent bonding can be traced several years to Gilbert N. Lewis, who in 1916 described the sharing of electron pairs between atoms. He introduced the so-called Lewis notation or electron dot notation or The Lewis Dot Structure in which valence electrons are represented as dots around the atomic symbols.

1916 Heparin

Heparin, a highly-sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is widely used as an injectable anticoagulant and has the highest negative charge density of any known biological molecule. It can also be used to form an inner anticoagulant surface on various experimental and medical devices such as test tubes and renal dialysis machines. It was discovered by Jay McLean and William Henry Howell in 1916.

1917 Vitamin A

Vitamin A, a bi-polar molecule formed with bi-polar covalent bonds between carbon and hydrogen, is linked to a family of similarly shaped molecules, the retinoids, which complete the remainder of the vitamin sequence. Its important part is the retinyl group, which can be found in several forms. In foods of animal origin, the major form of vitamin A is an ester, primarily retinyl palmitate, which is converted to an alcohol in the small intestine. Vitamin A can also exist as an aldehyde, or as an acid. The discovery of vitamin A stemmed from research dating back to 1906, indicating that factors other than carbohydrates, proteins, and fats were necessary to keep cattle healthy. By 1917 one of these substances was independently discovered by Elmer McCollum at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Lafayette Mendel and Thomas Osborne at Yale University.

1923 Oviraptor

Oviraptor is a genus of small Mongolian theropod dinosaur that lived during the late Campanian stage about 75 million years ago. In 1923, Roy Chapman Andrews discovered the first and so far the only fossils of Oviraptor to ever be found at the Djadochta Formation in Inner Mongolia. This species of dinosaur was named and described by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924.

1924 Uncle Sam Diamond

Uncle Sam is a 40.23-carat white diamond, the largest diamond ever found in North America. Discovered in 1924 at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, the diamond was named after its discoverer, Wesley Oley Basham, who went by the nickname "Uncle Sam". Over the years, the Uncle Sam diamond was cut twice with the second cutting resulting in a 12.42-carat, emerald-cut gem.

1925 Cepheid variables

Extragalactic astronomy is the branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside the Milky Way Galaxy. In other words, it is the study of all astronomical objects which are not covered by galactic astronomy. It was started by Edwin Hubble when, in 1925, he discovered the existence of Cepheid variables in the Andromeda Galaxy. This discovery proved the existence of a galaxy over one million light-years away and thus extragalactic astronomy was created.

1927 Electron diffraction

Electron diffraction is a collective scattering phenomenon with electrons being scattered by atoms in a regular crystal array. This can be understood in analogy to the Huygens principle for the diffraction of light. The incoming plane electron wave interacts with the atoms, and secondary waves are generated which interfere with each other. In 1927, two Americans named Clinton Davisson and Lester Germer had proven de Broglie's theory by discovering electron diffraction. This confirmation of the wavelike nature of an electron was discovered independently of Englishman George Paget Thomson.

1928 Jones Diamond

The Jones Diamond is a bluish-white diamond weighing 34.48 carats (6.896 g), measuring 5/8 of an inch (15.8 mm) across, and possessing 12 diamond-shaped faces. It is considered to be the largest alluvial diamond from North America. The Jones Diamond was discovered by William P. "Punch" Jones and his father Grover while pitching horseshoes in 1928. They thought the stone was a piece of quartz which was common in the area. Keeping it in a cigar box in their tool shed for 14 years, the Jones's sent the gem to the geology department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1942 where they were informed that it was an alluvial diamond and not a quartz crytal. The diamond was then sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. for safekeeping until 1964, when it returned to the Jones family who kept it for another 20 years in a safe deposit box at their local bank in Virginia. In 1984, the Jones family finally sold the diamond at Sotheby's auction in New York City to a private collector of jewelry.

1930 Pluto

Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century but culminated at the start of the 20th century with a quest for Planet X. Percival Lowell proposed the Planet X hypothesis to explain apparent discrepancies in the orbits of the gas giants, particularly Uranus and Neptune, speculating that the gravity of a large unseen planet could have perturbed Uranus enough to account for the irregularities. The discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 initially appeared to validate Lowell's hypothesis, and Pluto was considered the ninth planet until 2006.

1931 Heavy hydrogen

Heavy hydrogen is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of Earth of approximately one atom in 6500 of hydrogen (~154 PPM). It was first predicted in 1926 by Walter Russell and later discovered in 1931 by Harold Urey.

1931 Cosmic radio waves

Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. While trying to track down a source of electrical interference on telephone transmissions, Karl Guthe Jansky of Bell Telephone Laboratories discovered radio waves emanating from stars in outer space while investigating static that interfered with short wave transatlantic voice transmissions. Thus, the field of radio astronomy was born.

1932 Positrons

The existence of positrons was first postulated in 1928 by Paul Dirac as a consequence of the Dirac equation and later discovered in 1932 by Carl D. Anderson, who gave the positron its name.

1932 Homeostasis

Homeostasis is the property of a system, either open or closed, that regulates its internal environment so as to maintain a stable, constant condition. It was first proposed and coined by Walter Bradford Cannon, a former professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School, and popularized it in his book The Wisdom of the Body.

1933 Heavy water

Harold Urey discovered the isotope deuterium in 1931 and was later able to concentrate it in water. Urey's mentor Gilbert Newton Lewis isolated the first sample of pure heavy water by electrolysis in 1933.


1933 Polyvinylidene chloride

Polyvinylidene chloride is a polymer derived from vinylidene chloride. Its use can be found in water-based coating, the production of household items and industrial products. Ralph Wiley, a Dow Chemical lab worker, accidentally discovered polyvinylidene chloride in 1933.

1936 Elliptical galaxies

An elliptical galaxy is a galaxy having an approximately elliptical shape and a smooth, nearly featureless brightness profile. They range in shape from nearly spherical to highly flattened and in size from hundreds of millions to over one trillion stars. It was originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work “The Realm of the Nebulae”

1936 Muons

The muon is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with negative electric charge and a spin of 1⁄2. It was discovered by Carl D. Anderson and Seth Henry Neddermeyer in 1936 while they studied cosmic radiation.

1936 Vitamin E

Tocopherol, a class of chemical compounds of which many have vitamin E activity, describes a series of organic compounds consisting of various methylated phenols. During feeding experiments with rats Herbert McLean Evans concluded in 1922 that besides vitamins B and C, an unknown vitamin existed. Although every other nutrition was present, the rats were not fertile. This condition could be changed by additional feeding with wheat germ. It took several years until 1936 when the substance was isolated from wheat germ and the formula C29H50O2 was determined by Herbert McLean Evans and K.S. Bishop. The structure was determined shortly thereafter in 1938.

1936 Sodium thiopental

Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal, thiopentone sodium, or trapanal, is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate. It was discovered in the early 1936 by Ernest H. Volwiler and Donalee L. Tabern while working for Abbott Laboratories.

1937 Niacin

Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is a water-soluble vitamin which prevents the deficiency disease pellagra. Niacin was extracted from livers by Conrad Elvehjem who later discovered the active ingredient, then referred to as the "pellagra-preventing factor" and the "anti-blacktongue factor."

1937 Electron capture

Electron capture is a decay mode for isotopes that will occur when there are too many protons in the nucleus of an atom and insufficient energy to emit a positron. However, it continues to be a viable decay mode for radioactive isotopes that can decay by positron emission. K-electron capture was discovered by Luis Alvarez, who demonstrated it in 1937 and reported it in The Physical Review in April 1938.

1938 Fluropolymers

A fluoropolymer is a fluorocarbon based polymer with multiple strong carbon–fluorine bonds. It is characterized by a high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases. Fluoropolymers were discovered in 1938 by Dr. Roy Plunkett when he accidentally polymerized tetrafluoroethylene to form polytetrafluoroethylene.

1938 Animal echolocation

Echolocation, also called biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several animals such as dolphins, shrews, bats, and whales. The term was coined by Donald Griffin and Robert Galambos, who discovered its use by bats in 1938.

1938 Carme

Carme is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson at Mount Wilson Observatory in California in July 1938.

1938 Lysithea

Lysithea is a prograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson in 1938 at Mount Wilson Observatory.

1940 Plutonium

Plutonium is a synthetic transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. Plutonium was co-discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, A.C. Wahl, and J.W. Kennedy in 1940.

1942 Cyanoacrylate

Cyanoacrylates are a class of fast-acting adhesives and glues. Better known under the brand name "Super Glue," cyanoacrylates are used to assemble prototype electronics (see wire wrap), flying model aircraft, and as retention dressings for nuts and bolts. Their effectiveness in bonding metal and general versatility have also made them popular for use in simple woodworking, industrial binding, and appliance repair. The history of cyanoacrylates is one of accidental discovery when researchers under Dr. Harry Coover conducted experiments on adhesive chemicals in order to devise a clear plastic that could be used for precision gunsights for soldiers fighting in World War II. Failing in their experimentations, the practical usefulness of cyanoarcrylates did not materialize until much later when in 1951, Coover, who was then working at Eastman Kodak, came to the realization that the sticky adhesives had unique properties in that they required no heat or pressure to permanently bond two items together.[62][63] In light of his invention of "Super Glue," Coover filed U.S. patent #2,768,109 on June 2, 1954 and it was issued to him on October 23, 1956.

1943 Streptomycin

Streptomycin is an antibiotic drug, the first of a class of drugs called aminoglycosides to be discovered, and was the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis. Streptomycin cannot be given orally as it must be administered by regular intramuscular injection. In 1943, Albert Schatz discovered Streptomycin.

1944 Americium

Americium is a synthetic element that has the symbol Am and atomic number 95. A radioactive metallic element, americium is an actinide that is used in commercial ionization chamber smoke detectors, as well as in neutron sources and industrial gauges. Americium was co-discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph James, L. Morgan, and Albert Ghiorso during their work on the Manhattan Project in 1944.

1944 Curium

Curium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Cm and atomic number 96. A radioactive metallic transuranic element of the actinide series, curium is produced by bombarding plutonium with alpha particles (helium ions) and was named after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie. Curium was co-discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso at the University of California at Bekeley in 1944.

1945 Promethium

Promethium is a chemical element whose existence was first predicted by Bohuslav Brauner in 1902. It was first discovered and proven to exist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 1945 by Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin, and Charles D. Coryell by separation and analysis of the fission products of uranium fuel irradiated in the Graphite Reactor.

1946 Cloud seeding

Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud. The usual intent is to increase precipitation but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports. The method's use has ranged from increasing precipitation in areas experiencing drought to removing radioactive particles from clouds. Cloud seeding was discovered by Vincent Schaefer in 1946.

1948 Warfarin

Warfarin is an anticoagulant and pesticide. It was initially used as a pesticide but was later found to be effective and relatively safe for preventing thrombosis and embolism in many disorders and is currently the most widely used anticoagulant worldwide. It was discovered by Karl Paul Link and chemists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

1948 Miranda

Miranda is the smallest and innermost of Uranus' five major moons. It was discovered by Gerard Kuiper on February 2, 1948 at McDonald Observatory.

1948 Serotonin

Seratonin is a monoamine neurotransmitter synthesized in serotonergic neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) and enterochromaffin cells in the gastrointestinal tract of animals including humans. It was isolated and named in 1948 by Maurice M. Rapport, Arda Green, and Irvine Page of the Cleveland Clinic.

1948 Tetracycline

Tetracycline is a broad-spectrum polyketide antibiotic indicated for use against many bacterial infections. It is commonly used to treat acne today, and played a historical role in stamping out cholera in the developed world. It was discovered by Benjamin Minge Duggar in 1948.

1949 Nereid

Nereid, also known as Neptune II, is a moon of Neptune. Nereid was discovered on May 1, 1949 by Gerard Kuiper, who proposed the name in the report of his discovery. It is named after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology.

1949 Berkelium

Berkelium is a synthetic element with the symbol Bk and atomic number 97. A radioactive metallic element in the actinide series, berkelium was first synthesized by bombarding americium with alpha particles (helium ions) and was named for the University of California at Berkeley. Berkelium was co-discovered in December 1949 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson, and Albert Ghiorso.


1950 Californium

Californium is a radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Cf and atomic number 98. The element was first produced by bombarding curium with alpha particles (helium ions) at the University of California, Berkeley. It was the sixth transuranic element to be synthesized. Californium is one of the highest atomic mass elements to have been produced in weighable amounts. It is named for the U.S. state of California and the University of California. Californium was co-discovered by Stanley G. Thompson, Albert Ghiorso, and Glenn T. Seaborg in 1950.

1951 Barium stars

Barium stars are G to K class giants, whose spectra indicate an overabundance of s-process elements by the presence of singly ionized barium, Ba II, at λ 455.4 nm. Barium stars also show enhanced spectral features of carbon, the bands of the molecules CH, CN and C2. The class was originally recognized and defined by William Bidelman and Philip Keenan.

1951 Ananke

Ananke is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson at Mount Wilson Observatory in 1951.

1952 Polio vaccine

Vaccination works by priming the immune system with an 'immunogen'. Stimulating immune response, via use of an infectious agent, is known as immunization. The development of immunity to polio efficiently blocks person-to-person transmission of wild poliovirus, thereby protecting both individual vaccine recipients and the wider community. In 1952, Dr. Jonas Salk announced his discovery of a trial vaccine for Polio, or poliomyelitis. Salk's vaccine was composed of "killed" polio virus, which retained the ability to immunize without the risk of infecting the patient. In 1954, Salk published his findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and nationwide testing was carried out. In 1955, Salk's polio vaccine was made public.

1952 Einsteinium

Einsteinium is a metallic synthetic element. On the periodic table, it is represented by the symbol Es and atomic number 99. It is the seventh transuranic element, and an actinide. It was named in honor of Albert Einstein. Einsteinium was discovered by Albert Ghioirso in December 1952.

1952 Rapid eye movement

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. REM sleep is classified into two categories: tonic and phasic. The phenomenon of REM sleep and its association with dreaming was discovered by Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman with assistance from William C. Dement, a medical student at the time, in 1952 during their tenures at the University of Chicago. Kleitman and Aserinsky's seminal article was published September 10, 1953.

1953 DNA structure

In 1953, based on X-ray diffraction images and the information that the bases were paired, James D. Watson along with Francis Crick co-discovered what is now widely accepted as the first accurate double-helix model of DNA structure.

1955 Mendelevium

Mendelevium is a synthetic element with the symbol Md (formerly Mv) and the atomic number 101. A metallic radioactive transuranic element of the actinides, mendelevium is usually synthesized by bombarding einsteinium with alpha particles and was named after the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who was responsible for the Periodic Table. Mendelevium was co-discovered by Albert Ghiorso, Bernard G. Harvey, Gregory R. Choppin, Stanley G. Thompson, and Glenn T. Seaborg in 1955.

1955 Antiproton

The antiproton is the antiparticle of the proton. It was discovered by University of California, Berkeley physicists Thomas Ypsilantis, Emilio Segrè, Clyde Wiegand, and Owen Chamberlain in 1955.

1956 Porous silicon

Porous silicon (pSi) is a form of the chemical element silicon which has an introduced nanoporous holes in its microstructure, rendering a large surface to volume ratio in the order of 500m2/cm3. It was first discovered by accident in 1956 at Bell Labs by Arthur Uhlir Jr. and Ingeborg Uhlir.

1956 Kaon

A kaon is any one of a group of four mesons distinguished by the fact that they carry a quantum number called strangeness. It was first discovered by Leon Lederman and a group of scientists from Columbia University at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

1956 Antineutron

The antineutron is the antiparticle of the neutron. An antineutron has the same mass as a neutron, and no net electric charge. However, it is different from a neutron by being composed of anti-quarks, rather than quarks. It was discovered by Bruce Cork, William Wenzell, Glenn Lambertson, and Oreste Piccioni in 1956.

1956 Neutrino

Neutrinos are elementary particles that travel close to the speed of light, lack an electric charge, are able to pass through ordinary matter almost undisturbed, and are thus extremely difficult to detect. The neutrino was first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli and later discovered in 1956 by Clyde Cowan, Frederick Reines, F. B. Harrison, H. W. Kruse, and A. D. McGuire.

1956 Nucleic acid hybridization

Hybridization, discovered by Alexander Rich and David R. Davies in 1956, is the process of combining complementary, single-stranded nucleic acids into a single molecule.

1958 Van Allen radiation belt

The Van Allen radiation belt is a torus of energy charged particles around Earth, held in place by Earth's magnetic field. On the sun side, it is compressed because of the solar wind and on the other side, it is elongated to around three earth radii. This creates a cavity called the Chapman Ferraro Cavity, in which the Van Allen radiation belts reside. The existence of the belt was confirmed by the Explorer 1 and Explorer 3 missions in early 1958, under Dr. James Van Allen at the University of Iowa.

1959 Antiproton

The antiproton is the antiparticle of the proton. It was discovered in 1955 by University of California, Berkeley physicists Owen Chamberlain and Emilio Segrè for which they earned the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1960 Seafloor spreading

Seafloor spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge. Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. It was first proposed by Harry Hammond Hess and Robert Sinclair Dietz in 1960.

1961 Eta meson

The eta meson is a meson made of a mix of up quark, down quark, strange quark, quarks, and anti-quarks. It was discovered by a team at the University of California, Berkeley using the Bevatron.

1964 Xi baryon

In particle physics, subatomic particle (Xi) is a name given to a range of baryons with one up or down quark and two heavier quarks. They are sometimes called the cascade particles because of their unstable state, they decay rapidly into lighter particles through a chain of decays. The first discovery of the Xi particle was at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1964.

1964 Cosmic microwave background radiation

In cosmology, the cosmic microwave background radiation CMB is a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the universe. The CMB's discovery in 1964 by astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s, earning them a Nobel Prize in 1978.

1964 Quark

A quark is a type of elementary particle found in nucleons and other subatomic particles. They are a major constituent of matter, along with leptons. The quark model was first postulated independently by physicist Murray Gell-Mann in 1964.

1964 1930 Lucifer

1930 Lucifer was a main-belt asteroid discovered at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS) in Flagstaff, Arizona on October 29, 1964 by American astronomer Elizabeth Roemer.

1964 Hepatitis B virus

The Hepatitis B virus was discovered in 1965 by Baruch Blumberg, while working at the National Institutes of Health.

1965 Aspartame

Aspartame is the name for an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener, aspartyl-phenylalanine-1-methyl ester; that is, a methyl ester of the dipeptide of the amino acidsaspartic acid and phenylalanine. Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter, a chemist working for G.D. Searle & Company. Schlatter had synthesized aspartame in the course of producing an anti-ulcer drug candidate.

1965 Pulsating white dwarves

A pulsating white dwarf is a white dwarf star whose luminosity varies due to non-radial gravity wave pulsations within itself. The first pulsating white dwarf was discovered by Arlo U. Landolt when he observed in 1965 and 1966 that the luminosity of HL Tau 76 varied with a period of approximately 12.5 minutes.

1968 Up quark

The up quark is a first-generation quark with a charge of +(2/3)e. The existence of up quarks was first postulated when Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig developed the quark model in 1964, and the first evidence for them was found in deep inelastic scattering experiments in 1968.

1968 Down quark

The down quark is a first-generation quark with a charge of −1⁄3. It is the second-lightest of all the six of quarks, the lightest being the up quark. Down quarks are most commonly found in nucleons. Its protons contains one down quark and two up quarks, while neutrons contain two down quarks and one up quark. Down quarks were theorized by Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig when they discovered the quark model in 1968.

1969 Mosher's acid

Mosher's acid, or α-methoxytrifluorophenylacetic acid, discovered by Harry S. Mosher in 1969, is a carboxylic acid which was first used as a chiral derivitizing agent.

1969 Interstellar formaldehyde

Interstellar formaldehyde was first discovered in 1969 by Lewis Snyder, David Buhl, B. Zuckerman and Patrick Palmer using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Formaldehyde was detected by means of the 111 - 110 ground state rotational transition at 4830 MHz.

1970 Reverse transcriptase

In biochemistry, a reverse transcriptase, also known as RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, is a DNA polymerase enzyme that transcribes single-stranded RNA into double-stranded DNA. It was discovered by Howard Temin at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and independently by David Baltimore in 1970 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

1972 Opiate receptors

Opioid receptors are a group of G protein-coupled receptors with opioids as ligands. The endogenous opioids are dynorphins, enkephalins, endorphins, endomorphins, and nociceptin. The opioid receptors are ~40% identical to somatostatin receptors (SSTRs). Opiate receptors were discovered in 1972 by the American neuroscientist and pharmacologist named Candace Pert.

1974 Australopithecus "Lucy"

Lucy is the common name of AL 288-1, several hundred pieces of bone representing about 40% of the skeleton of an individual Australopithecus afarensis. Lucy is reckoned to have lived 3.2 million years ago. This hominid was significant as the skeleton shows evidence of small skull capacity akin to that of apes and of bipedal upright walk akin to that of humans, providing further evidence that bipedalism preceded increase in brain size in human evolution. While working in collaboration with a joint French-British-American team, Lucy was discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia on November 24, 1974, when American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, coaxed away from his paperwork by graduate student Tom Gray for a spur-of-the-moment survey, caught the glint of a white fossilized bone out of the corner of his eye, and recognized it as hominid. Later described as the first known member of Australopithecus afarensis. Dr. Johanson's girlfriend suggested she be named "Lucy" after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" which was played repeatedly during the night of the discovery.

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1974 J/ψ mesons

The J/ψ is a subatomic particle, a flavor-neutral meson consisting of a charm quark and a charm anti-quark. Mesons formed by a bound state of a charm quark and a charm anti-quark are generally known as "charmonium". Its discovery was made independently by two research groups, one at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, headed by Burton Richter, and one at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, headed by Samuel Ting at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They accidentally discovered they had found the same particle, and both announced their discoveries on November 11, 1974.

1974 Charm quark

The charm quark is a second-generation quark with an electric charge of +2⁄3 e. It is the third most massive of the quarks, at about 1.5 GeV/c2 and roughly one and a half times the mass of the proton. It was predicted in 1964 by Sheldon Lee Glashow and James Bjorken and first observed in November 1974, with the simultaneous discovery of the J/ψ|J/ψ meson charm particle at Stanford Linear Accererator Center by a group led by Burton Richter and at Brookhaven National Laboratory by a group led by Samuel C. C. Ting.


1974 Binary pulsars

A binary pulsar is a pulsar with a binary companion, often another pulsar, white dwarf or neutron star. The first binary pulsar, PSR 1913+16 or the "Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar" was discovered in 1974 at Arecibo by Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. and Russell Hulse, for which they won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1974 Leda

Leda is a prograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Charles T. Kowal at the Palomar Observatory on September 14, 1974.

1974 Seaborgium

Seaborgium is a chemical element with the symbol Sg and atomic number 106. Seaborgium is a synthetic element whose most stable isotope 271Sg has a half-life of 1.9 minutes. Chemistry experiments with seaborgium have firmly placed it in group 6 as a heavier homologue to tungsten. Seaborgium was named in honor of the American chemist Glenn T. Seaborg and discovered in 1974 by Albert Ghiorso.

1975 1983 Bok

1983 Bok is a minor planet discovered on June 9, 1975 by American astronomer Elizabeth Roemer at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. As a minor planet, 1983 Bok was named in honor of Bart J. and Priscilla Fairfield Bok.

1975 Themisto

Themisto is a small prograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Charles T. Kowal and Elizabeth Roemer in 1975.


1975 Amarillo Starlight

The Amarillo Starlight is a 16.37-carat white diamond that was discovered in 1975 by W. W. Johnson of Amarillo, Texas while vacationing at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. The Amarillo Starlight was later cut into a 7.54-carat marquise shape.

1976 D mesons

D mesons are the lightest particle containing charm quarks. They are often studied to gain knowledge on the weak interaction. Since the D meson is the lightest meson containing a charm quark, it must change the charm quark into another quark to decay. D mesons were discovered in 1976 during the Mark I experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

1976 Hepatitis B virus vaccine

After Baruch Samuel Blumberg discovered the Hepatitis B virus in 1964, he later developed a diagnostic test and vaccine for the Hepatitis B virus in 1976.

1977 Tau lepton

The tau lepton is a negatively charged elementary particle with a lifetime of 2.9×10−13 s and a mass of 1,777 MeV/c2. It was detected in a series of experiments between 1974 and 1977 by Martin Lewis Perl with his colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

1977 Rings of Uranus

The planet Uranus has a system of rings intermediate in complexity between the more extensive set around Saturn and the simpler systems around Jupiter and Neptune. The rings of Uranus were discovered on March 10, 1977, by James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Douglas J. Mink. More than 200 years ago, William Herschel also reported observing rings, but modern astronomers are skeptical that he could actually have noticed them, as they are very dark and faint.

1977 Upsilon mesons

The upsilon meson is a flavorless meson formed from a bottom quark and its antiparticle. It was discovered by the E288 collaboration, headed by Leon Lederman,[116] at Fermilab in 1977, and was the first particle containing a bottom quark to be discovered because it is the lightest that can be produced without additional massive particles. It has a mean lifetime of 1.21×10−20 second and a mass about 10 GeV.

1977 Bottom quark

The bottom quark is a third-generation quark with a charge of −1⁄3e. The bottom quark was discovered by the E288 experiment at Fermilab in 1977 when collisions produced bottomonium.

1978 Restriction endonucleases

A restriction enzyme is an enzyme that cuts double-stranded or single stranded DNA at specific recognition nucleotide sequences known as restriction sites. Such enzymes, found in bacteria and archaea, are thought to have evolved to provide a defense mechanism against invading viruses. Inside a bacterial host, the restriction enzymes selectively cut up foreign DNA in a process called restriction; host DNA is methylated by a modification enzyme to protect it from the restriction enzyme’s activity. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded, in 1978, to Daniel Nathans, Werner Arber, and Hamilton O. Smith for the discovery of restriction endonucleases.

1978 Charon

Charon, discovered by James W. Christy on June 22, 1978 while working at the United States Naval Observatory, is the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto.

1979 Metis

Metis is the innermost moon of Jupiter. It was discovered in 1979 by Stephen Synnott in images taken by Voyager 1.

1979 Thebe

Thebe is the fourth of Jupiter's moons by distance from the planet. It was discovered by Stephen Synnott in images from the Voyager 1 space probe taken on March 5, 1979 while orbiting around Jupiter.

1979 Rings of Jupiter

The planet Jupiter has a system of rings, known as the rings of Jupiter or the Jovian ring system. It was the third ring system to be discovered in the Solar System, after those of Saturn and Uranus and was first observed in 1979 by the Voyager 1 space probe.

1980 Oncogene

An oncogene is a gene that is mutated or expressed at high levels, and thus helps turn a normal cell into a tumor cell. In the late 1970s, Robert Weinberg and his team of researchers began the search for a human oncogene. Using gene transfer techniques, researchers in his lab inserted DNA from human bladder tumor cells into normal animal cells. When the animal cells turned cancerous, Dr. Weinberg's associates began inserting smaller pieces of DNA into the normal cell. By 1980, they found a single fragment that turned the normal cell cancerous. This gene was found to belong to a sub-family of related genes, called ras, that was later discovered to play a role in causing bladder, lung, and colon cancer in both rats and humans. More results emerged in 1982 when Dr. Weinberg's laboratory discovered that a single, subtle genetic glitch in this oncogene topples the delicate balance between a bladder cell's normal and cancerous states.

1980 Pandora

Pandora is an inner satellite of Saturn. It was discovered in 1980 from photos taken by Voyager 1, and was provisionally designated S/1980 S 26.

1980 Prometheus

Prometheus is an inner satellite of Saturn that was discovered in 1980 from photos taken by Voyager 1. It was provisionally designated S/1980 S 27.

1980 Atlas

Atlas is a moon of Saturn that was discovered by Richard Terrile in 1980 from Voyager photos and was designated S/1980 S 28.

1981 Larissa

Larissa, also known as Neptune VII, is the fifth closest inner satellite of Neptune. It was first discovered by Harold J. Reitsema, William B. Hubbard, Larry A. Lebofsky, and David J. Tholen based on fortuitous ground-based stellar occultation observations on May 24, 1981, and given the temporary designation S/1981 N 1, being announced on May 29, 1981.

1983 Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine

Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, also known as Pneumovax, is a vaccine used to prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae infections such as pneumonia and septicaemia. It was discovered by American scientists at Merck & Co. in 1983.

1984 Whydah wreckage

First launched in 1715 from London, England, the Whydah was a three-masted ship of galley-style design measuring 105 feet (32 m) in length, rated at 300 tons burden, and could travel at speeds up to 14.95 mph (24.06 km/h). Christened Whydah after the West African slave trading kingdom of Ouidah, the vessel was configured as a heavily-armed trading and transport ship for use in the Atlantic slave trade, carrying goods from England to exchange for slaves in West Africa. It would then travel to the Caribbean to trade the slaves for precious metals, sugar, indigo, and medicinal ingredients, which would then be transported back to England. Captained by the English pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy, the Whydah, on April 26, 1717, sailed into a violent storm dangerously close to Cape Cod and was eventually driven onto the shoals at Wellfleet, Massachusetts. At midnight she hit a sandbar in 16 feet (4.9 m) of water some 500 feet (150 m) from the coast of what is now Marconi Beach. Pummelled by 70-mile (110 km)-an-hour winds and 30 to 40-foot (12 m) waves, the main mast snapped, pulling the ship into some 30 feet (9.1 m) of water where she violently capsized, taking Bellamy, all but two of his 145 men, and over 4.5 tons of gold, silver and jewels with it. After years of exhaustive searching, it was in 1984 that world headlines were made when American archeological explorer Barry Clifford found the only solidly-identified pirate shipwreck ever discovered, the Whydah. Two-hundred thousand artifacts and sunken treasures were discovered in the shipwreck as well.

1985 Puck

Puck is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered in December 1985 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

1985 RMS Titanic wreckage

The RMS Titanic was an Olympic class passenger liner owned by the White Star Line and was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, in what is now Northern Ireland. At the time of her construction, she was the largest passenger steamship in the world. Shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912, four days into the ship's maiden voyage, Titanic struck an iceberg and sank two hours and forty minutes later, early on April 15, 1912. The sinking resulted in the deaths of 1,517 of the 2,223 people on board, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. After nearly 74 years of being lost at sea on the bottom of the ocean floor, a joint Franco-American expedition led by American oceanographer Dr. Robert D. Ballard, discovered the wreckage of the RMS Titanic two miles (3 km) beneath the waves of the North Atlantic on September 1, 1985. Ballard was then forced to wait a year for weather conditions favorable to a manned mission to view the wreck at close range. In 1986, Ballard and his two-man crew, in the ALVIN submersible, made the first two and-a-half hour descent to the ocean floor to view the wreck first-hand. Over the next few days, they descended again and again and, using the Jason Jr. remote camera, recorded the first scenes of the ruined interior of the luxury liner.

1986 Portia

Portia is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 3, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 1.

1986 Juliet

Juliet is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 3, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 2.

1986 Cressida

Cressida is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 9, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 3.


1986 Rosalind

Rosalind is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 13, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 4.

1986 Belinda

Belinda is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 13, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 5.

1986 Desdemona

Desdemona is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 13, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 6.

1986 Cordelia

Cordelia is the inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 20, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 7.

1986 Ophelia

Ophelia is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 20, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 8.

1986 Bianca

Bianca is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 23, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 9.


1986 Tumor suppressor gene

A tumor suppressor gene, or anti-oncogene, is a gene that protects a cell from one step on the path to cancer. When this gene is mutated to cause a loss or reduction in its function, the cell can progress to cancer, usually in combination with other genetic changes. In 1986, Robert Weinberg and a team of researchers working under his direction made a seminal discovery when they isolated Rb, or the retinoblastoma protein, the first known growth-suppressor gene.


1989 Rings of Neptune

The rings of Neptune were discovered in 1989 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

1989 Proteus

Proteus, also known as Neptune VIII, is Neptune's largest inner satellite. Proteus was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 during the Neptune flyby in 1989.

1989 Despina

Despina, also known as Neptune V, is the third closest inner satellite of Neptune. Despina was discovered in late July 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2. It was given the temporary designation S/1989 N 3.

1989 Galatea

Galatea, also known as Neptune VI, is the fourth closest inner satellite of Neptune. Galatea was discovered in late July 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2. It was given the temporary designation S/1989 N 4.

1989 Thalassa

Thalassa, also known as Neptune IV, is the second inner satellite of Neptune. It was discovered sometime before mid-September 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2. It was given the temporary designation S/1989 N 5.

1989 Naiad

Naiad, also known as Neptune III, is the inner satellite of Neptune. It was discovered sometime before mid-September 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2. The last moon to be discovered during the flyby, it was designated S/1989 N 6.

1989 Bismarck wreckage

The German battleship Bismarck was one of the most famous warships of World War II. As the lead ship of the Bismarck class, and named after the 19th century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Bismarck displaced more than 50,000 tonnes fully loaded and was the largest warship then commissioned. Fleet Air Arm Swordfish biplanes launched from the carrier HMS Ark Royal torpedoed the ship and jammed her rudder, allowing Royal Navy units to catch up with her. In the ensuing battle on the morning of May 27, 1941, Bismarck was heavily attacked for almost two hours before sinking. After the discovery of the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in 1985, Dr. Robert D. Ballard's next goal was to find and film the wreck of the Bismarck. The search for the wreck began in July 1988, but his first expedition brought no success. A second expedition was mounted in late May 1989, and on June 8, 1989, after combing an area of some 200 square miles (520 km2), Ballard and his team finally found Bismarck's remains. The wreck lies in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean some 600 miles (970 km) west of Brest, France at a depth of 4,790 meters (15,700 ft).

1990 Strawn-Wagner Diamond

The Strawn-Wagner Diamond is a rare 3.03 carat diamond that is certified by the American Gem Society (AGS) as the world's most perfect diamond in terms of its cut and the highest grade possible, the "Triple Zero". The Strawn-Wagner Diamond was discovered in 1990 at the Crater of Diamonds State Park by Shirley Strawn of Murfreesboro, Arkansas.

1993 Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a comet that broke apart and collided with Jupiter in July 1994, providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects. The collision provided new information about Jupiter and highlighted its role in reducing space debris in the inner solar system. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was co-discovered photographically by the husband and wife scientific team of Carolyn S. Shoemaker and Eugene M. Shoemaker along with Canadian-born astronomer David H. Levy on March 24, 1993, using the 0.46-m (18-in.) Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. Its discovery was a serendipitous product of their continuing search for "near-Earth objects", and the "9" indicates that it was the ninth short-period comet (period less than 200 years) discovered by this team.

1995 Top quark

The top quark is the third-generation up-type quark with a charge of +(2/3)e. It was discovered in 1995 by the CDF and D0 experiments at Fermilab and is the most massive of known elementary particles.

1995 Comet Hale-Bopp

Comet Hale-Bopp was arguably the most widely observed comet of the 20th century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades and it was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months when it passed near planet Earth. Hale-Bopp was discovered by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp on July 23, 1995 at a great distance from the Sun, raising expectations that the comet would brighten considerably by the time it passed close to Earth. Although predicting the brightness of comets with any degree of accuracy is very difficult, Hale-Bopp met or exceeded most predictions when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997.

1998 USS Yorktown (CV-5) wreckage

The third USS Yorktown in the United States Navy, lead ship of the Yorktown class of aircraft carriers, was laid down on May 21, 1934 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. Yorktown was launched on April 4, 1936, sponsored by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on September 30, 1937 with Captain Ernest D. McWhorter in command. Yorktown was hit by air-launched torpedoes during the Battle of Midway on June 6, 1942. Hiryū, the sole surviving Japanese aircraft carrier, wasted little time in counter-attacking. The first wave of Japanese dive bombers badly damaged Yorktown with three bomb hits that snuffed out her boilers, immobilizing her, yet her damage control teams patched her up so effectively that the second wave's torpedo bombers mistook her for an undamaged carrier. Despite Japanese hopes to even the odds by eliminating two carriers with two strikes, Yorktown absorbed both Japanese attacks, the second wave mistakenly believing Yorktown had already been sunk and they were attacking Enterprise. After two torpedo hits, Yorktown lost power and developed a 26° list to port, which put her out of action and forced Admiral Frank J. Fletcher to move his command staff to the heavy cruiser Astoria. The second attempt at salvage, however, would never be made. Throughout the night of June 6 and into the morning of June 7, Yorktown remained stubbornly afloat. By 0530 on June 7, however, the men in the ships nearby noted that the carrier's list was rapidly increasing to port. At 0701, the ship turned over on her port side and sank in 3,000 fathoms (5,500 m) of water, her battle flags still flying. On May 19, 1998, the wreck of the Yorktown was discovered by Dr. Robert D. Ballard, American oceanographer and discoverer of the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The wreck of the Yorktown was found 3 miles (4.8 km) beneath the surface and was photographed.

1998 Embryonic stem cell lines

A breakthrough in human embryonic stem cell research came in November 1998 when a group led by Dr. James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin–Madison first discovered a technique in order to isolate and grow cells which derived from human blastocysts, could one day lead to major medical advancements in organ transplantation as well as gene therapy and treatment of maladies such as paralysis, diabetes, cancer, and AIDS.

Twenty-first century

2001 Interstellar vinyl alcohol

Between May and June 2001, astronomers A. J. Apponi and Barry Turner co-discovered vinyl alcohol in the molecular cloud Sagittarius B using the National Science Foundation's 12-meter radio telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.

2003 Sedna

90377 Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object and a likely dwarf planet. For most of its orbit Sedna is farther from the Sun than any other known dwarf planet candidate. In 2003, Sedna was co-discovered by Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory.

2003 Psamathe

Psamathe, also known as Neptune X, is a retrograde irregular satellite of Neptune. Psamathe was co-discovered by Scott S. Sheppard and David C. Jewitt in 2003.


2003 Mab

Mab is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was co-discovered by Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer in 2003 using the Hubble Space Telescope.

2003 Perdita

Perdita is an inner satellite of Uranus. Perdita's discovery was complicated. The first photographs of Perdita were taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, but it was not recognized from the photographs for more than a decade. In 1999, the moon was noticed by Erich Karkoschka and reported. Because no further pictures could be taken to confirm its existence, it was officially demoted in 2001. However, in 2003, pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope managed to pick up an object where Perdita was supposed to be, finally confirming its existence.

2003 Cupid

Cupid is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was co-discovered by Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer in 2003 using the Hubble Space Telescope.

2004 Orcus

90482 Orcus is a large Kuiper Belt object (KBO) with a large companion and is likely a dwarf planet. Orcus was co-discovered by Chad Trujillo, Michael E. Brown, and David Rabinowitz in 2004.

2005 Makemake

Makemake, formally designated (136472) Makemake, is the third-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System and one of the two largest Kuiper belt objects (KBO). Its diameter is roughly three-quarters that of Pluto. Makemake has no known satellites, which makes it unique among the largest KBOs. Makemake was first co-discovered in March 2005 by American astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz at the Palomar Observatory.

2005 Eris

Eris, formal designation 136199 Eris, is the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the ninth-largest body known to orbit the Sun directly. It is approximately 2,500 kilometres in diameter and 27% more massive than the dwarf planet Pluto. Eris was discovered in 2005 at W. M. Keck Observatory by American astronomer Michael E. Brown.

2005 Dysnomia

Dysnomia, officially (136199) Eris I Dysnomia, is the only known moon of the dwarf planet Eris. In conjunction of finding Eris, American astronomer Michael E. Brown discovered Eris' satellite, Dysnomia, at W. M. Keck Observatory in 2005.

2005 Hydra

Hydra is the outer-most natural satellite of Pluto. It was discovered along with Nix in June 2005 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Pluto Companion Search Team, which is composed of Hal A. Weaver, Alan Stern, Max J. Mutchler, Andrew J. Steffl, Marc W. Buie, William J. Merline, John R. Spencer, Eliot F. Young, and Leslie A. Young.

2005 Nix

Nix is a natural satellite of Pluto. It was discovered along with Hydra in June 2005 by the Hubble Space Telescope's Pluto Companion Search Team, composed of Hal A. Weaver, Alan Stern, Max J. Mutchler, Andrew J. Steffl, Marc W. Buie, William J. Merline, John R. Spencer, Eliot F. Young, and Leslie A. Young.

2005 KV63 at the Valley of the Kings

KV63 is the most recently opened chamber in Egypt's Valley of the Kings pharaonic necropolis. Initially believed to be a royal tomb, it is now believed to have been an ancient storage chamber for the mummification process. The 2005 discovery of KV63, located about 50 feet (15 m) away from King Tut's tomb, is credited to American Egyptologist Dr. Otto Schaden and his team from the University of Memphis.

2007 Human genome and variation mapping

The human genome is the genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 23 chromosome pairs. Whereas a genome sequence lists the order of every DNA base in a genome, a genome map identifies the landmarks. A genome map is less detailed than a genome sequence and aids in navigating around the genome. While working at the National Institute of Health, Craig Venter discovered a technique for rapidly identifying all of the mRNAs present in a cell, and began to use it to identify human brain genes. The short cDNA sequence fragments discovered by this method are called expressed sequence tags. Through his scientific research of bringing the world one step closer to personalized medicine, Craig Venter was listed on Time Magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

2007 Di-positronium

The di-positronium is a molecule consisting of two atoms of positronium. It was predicted to exist in 1946 by John Archibald Wheeler and subsequently studied theoretically, but was not observed until 2007 in an experiment done by David Cassidy and Allen Mills at the University of California, Riverside.

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American invantions

Colonial Period (1500s–1775)

1717 Swim fins

Swim fins, also known as swimfins, fins, or flippers, are blade-shaped extensions worn on feet or hands for use in water. They aid movement in aquatic sports such as swimming, surfing, and underwater diving. Swim fins are typically made of rubber or plastic. Benjamin Franklin invented wooden swim fins in 1717. His original design consisted of 10-inch-long (250 mm) and 6-inch-wide (150 mm) palettes. Contrary to today's version of rubberized swim fins worn on the feet, Franklin's swim fins were originally intended for use on a person's hands. Shaped like lily pads or an artist's paint palette, they helped attain greater speed with each stroke. Franklin has since been posthumously honored by being inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

1730 Octant

An octant, also called "reflecting quadrant", is a measuring instrument used primarily in navigation. It is a type of reflecting instrument that uses mirrors to reflect the path of light to the observer and, in doing so, doubles the angle measured. This allows the instrument to use a one-eighth circle arc to measure a quarter circle or quadrant. The octant was invented in 1730 by Thomas Godfrey, a glazier in Philadelphia, and independently at the same time in England by the mathematician John Hadley, who began work on a similar version of the octant. Both men have an equal and legitimate claim to the invention of the octant. Originally this instrument was referred to as "Hadley's quadrant," after the English inventor. These days it is now known as an octant, the name given to it by its American inventor, Thomas Godfrey.

1742 Franklin stove

The Franklin Stove, also known as the circulating stove, is a metal-lined fireplace with baffles in the rear to improve the airflow, providing more heat and less smoke than an ordinary open fireplace. The stove became very popular throughout the Thirteen Colonies and gradually replaced open fireplaces. The Franklin stove was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1742.

1744 Mail order

A mail-order catalog is a publication containing a list of general merchandise from a company. Those who publish and operate mail-order catalogs are referred to as catalogers within the industry, who also buy or manufacture goods and then market those goods to prospective customers. Mail ordering uses the postal system for soliciting and delivering goods. According to The National Mail Order Association, Benjamin Franklin invented and conceptualized mail order cataloging in 1744.

1749 Lightning rod

A lightning rod is one component in a lightning protection system. In addition to rods placed at regular intervals on the highest portions of a structure, a lightning protection system typically includes a rooftop network of conductors, multiple conductive paths from the roof to the ground, bonding connections to metallic objects within the structure and a grounding network. Individual lightning rods are sometimes called finials, air terminals or strike termination devices. In 1749 or 1750, the pointed lightning rod conductor, also called a "lightning attractor" or "Franklin rod," is generally thought to have been conceived when Benjamin Franklin came to the conclusion that electricity and lightning were identical and of the same. By building lightning rods originally intended to be adorned atop church steeples, Franklin set about trying to prove their usefulness of shielding people and buildings from lightning. By 1752, Dr. Franklin tied the string of his "electrical kite" to an insulating silk ribbon for the knuckles of his hand. The kite in turn was attached to a metal key. During a storm, witnessed by his son William Franklin, Dr. Franklin had finally proven that lightning was a form of electricity when the metal key received an electrical charge from a bolt of lightning. Thus, the practical use of lightning rods, attributed to the inventor Benjamin Franklin, was confirmed.

1752 Flexible urinary catheter

In medicine, a catheter is a tube that can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel. Catheters thereby allow drainage, injection of fluids, or access by surgical instruments. Prior to the mid 18th-century, catheters were made of wood or stiffened animal skins which were not conducive to navigating the anatomical curvature of the human urethra. Extending his inventiveness to his family's medical problems, Benjamin Franklin invented the flexible catheter in 1752 when his brother John suffered from bladder stones. Dr. Franklin's flexible catheter was made of metal with segments hinged together in order for a wire enclosed inside to increase rigidity during insertion.

1761 Armonica

Also known as the glass harmonica or glass armonica, Benjamin Franklin invented a musical instrument in 1761, an arrangement of glasses after seeing water-filled wine glasses played by Edmund Delaval in Cambridge, England. Dr. Franklin, who called his invention the "armonica" after the Italian word for harmony, worked with London glassblower Charles James to build one, and it had its world première in early 1762, played by Marianne Davies. In this version, 37 bowls were mounted horizontally nested on an iron spindle. The whole spindle turned by means of a foot-operated treadle. The sound was produced by touching the rims of the bowls with moistened fingers. Rims were painted different colors according to the pitch of the note.

Independence and the Federalist Era (1776–1801)

1776 Swivel chair

A swivel or revolving chair is a chair with a single central leg that allows the seat to spin around. Swivel chairs can have wheels on the base allowing the user to move the chair around their work area without getting up. This type is common in modern offices and is often also referred to as office chairs. Using an English-style Windsor chair of which was possibly made and purchased from Francis Trumble or Philadelphia cabinet-maker Benjamin Randolph, Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair in 1776. Jefferson heavily modified the Windsor chair and incorporated top and bottom parts connected by a central iron spindle, enabling the top half known as the seat, to swivel on casters of the type used in rope-hung windows. When the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Jefferson's swivel chair is purported to be where he drafted the United States Declaration of Independence. Jefferson later had the swivel chair sent to his Virginia plantation, Monticello, where he later built a "writing paddle" onto its side in 1791. Since 1836, the chair has been in the possession of the American Philosophical Society located in Philadelphia.

1782 Flatboat

A flatboat is a rectangular boat with a flat bottom and square ends generally used for freight and passengers on inland waterways. After serving in the Pennsylvania Line during the American Revolutionary War, Jacob Yoder invented and built a large boat at the Redstone Old Fort on the Monongahela River, which he freighted with flour and carried to New Orleans in May 1782. This was the first attempt to navigate the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for commercial purposes.

1784 Bifocals

Bifocals are eyeglasses whose corrective lenses contain regions with two distinct optical powers. Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of the first pair of bifocals in the early 1760s, though according to the Library Company of Philadelphia, the first indication of Dr. Franklin wearing his double spectacles comes from a political cartoon printed in 1764. Many publications from that period onward refer to Dr. Franklin's double spectacles, including his first reference to them in a letter written in Paris, France on August 21, 1784 that was addressed to his personal friend, English philanthropist George Whatley.

1785 Artificial diffraction grating

In optics, a diffraction grating is an optical component with a regular pattern, which diffracts light into several beams. The first man-made diffraction grating was invented around 1785 in Philadelphia by David Rittenhouse who strung 50 hairs between two finely threaded screws with an approximate spacing of about 100 lines per inch.

1787 Automatic flour mill

Classical mill designs were generally powered by water or air. In water-powered mills, a sluice gate opens a channel, starts the water flowing, and a water wheel turning. In 1787, American inventor Oliver Evans revolutionized this labor-intensive process by building the first fully automatic mill using bucket elevators, screw conveyors, and the hopper boy to spread, cool, and dry the meal between grinding and bolting. This was the first time that anyone had conceived and executed a system of continuous, fully automatic production.

1792 Cracker

A cracker is a type of biscuit that developed from military hardtack and nautical ship biscuits. Crackers are now usually eaten with soup, or topped with cheese, caviar, or other delicacies. The holes in crackers are called "docking" holes as a means to stop air pockets from forming in the cracker while baking. Crackers trace their origin to the year 1792 when John Pearson of Newburyport, Massachusetts invented a cracker-like bread product from just flour and water that he called "pilot bread." An immediate success with sailors because of its shelf life, it also became distinctly known as a hardtack or sea biscuit for long voyages away from home while at sea.

1793 Cotton gin

The cotton gin is a machine that separates cotton fibers from seedpods and sometimes sticky seeds, a job previously done by hand. These seeds are either used again to grow more cotton or, if badly damaged, disposed of. The cotton gin uses a combination of a wire screen and small wire hooks to pull the cotton through the screen, while brushes continuously remove the loose cotton lint to prevent jams. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and later received a patent on March 14, 1794. Whitney's cotton gin could have possibly ignited a revolution in the cotton industry and the rise of "King Cotton" as the main cash crop in the South. However, it never made him rich. Instead of buying his machine, farmers built inferior versions of their own which led to the increasing need for African-American slave labor.


1795 Wheel cypher

The Jefferson disk, or wheel cypher, is a cipher system for encrypting messages and used as a deterrent for codebreaking. Using 26 wheels, each with the letters of the alphabet arranged randomly around them, Thomas Jefferson invented the wheel cypher in 1795. Falling in and out of use and obscurity, the wheel cypher was "re-invented" twice: first by a French government official around 1890, and then just prior to World War I by an officer in the United States Army. Designated as M-94, the latter version was used by the United States Army and other military services from 1922 to the beginning of World War II.


1796 Rumford fireplace

The Rumford fireplace created a sensation in 1796 when Benjamin Thompson Rumford introduced the idea of restricting the chimney opening to increase the updraught. Rumford fireplaces were common from 1796, when Benjamin Rumford first wrote about them, until about 1850. Thomas Jefferson had them built at Monticello, and Henry David Thoreau listed them among the modern conveniences that everyone took for granted. Rumford and his workers changed fireplaces by inserting bricks into the hearth to make the side walls angled and added a choke to the chimney to increase the speed of air going up the flue. It produced a streamlined air flow, reducing turbulence so the smoke would go up into the chimney rather than choking the residents. Rumford fireplaces are appreciated for their tall classic elegance and heating efficiency. This simple alteration in the design of fireplaces were copied everywhere in an age when fires were the principal source of heat. The Rumford fireplace is still used in the 21st century.

1796 Cupcake

A cupcake, fairy cake, patty cake or cup cake is a small cake designed to serve one person, frequently baked in a small, thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are common on cupcakes. The earliest reference of cupcakes can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of "a cake to be baked in small cups" was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simms. However, the first use of the term "cupcake" was in Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's Receipts cookbook where it referred to the use of a cup for measuring the ingredients.

1801 Suspension bridge

A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck, the load-bearing portion, is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders that carry the weight of the deck below, upon which traffic crosses. Primitive in their earliest form, the ancestor to what is now considered a suspension bridge, the simple suspension bridge, was developed sometime around 2000 B.C. in China and India, relying upon ropes thrown across a narrow gorge or river, from which people could hang as they crawled across. With the extreme dangers of swinging back and forth, these simple suspension bridges were deemed impractical as horses as well as carriages later found it difficult to maneuver across their wooden planks. The world's first suspension bridge in a modern sense, the Jacob's Creek Bridge at approximately 70 feet in length, was invented by James Finley of Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1801, who designed vertical towers to elevate the curved iron cables and to stiffen trusses in order to make the deck of bridges architecturally sound for passing travelers. Nowadays, suspension bridges use steel cables. However, the suspension bridge and its basic, fundamental design of which Finley is duly accredited to inventing, is still evident today in suspension bridges found throughout the world.

1801 Fire hydrant

A fire hydrant is an active fire protection measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighters to tap into the municipal water supply to assist in extinguishing a fire. Before the existence of fire hydrants, a primitive fire suppression system known as "fire plugs" consisted of burying a wooden water pipe (often no more than a hollowed out log) along the streets for teams of bucket brigades to form and fight fires. Wooden pegs would then need to be hammerred over fire plugs in order to stop the flow of water. The invention of a post or pillar type fire hydrant is generally credited to Frederick Graff Sr., Chief Engineer of the Philadelphia Water Works around the year 1801. It had a combination hose/faucet outlet and was of "wet barrel" design with the valve in the top. It is said that Graff held the first patent for a fire hydrant, but this cannot be verified due to the fact that the patent office in Washington D.C. was burned to the ground in 1836 where all patent records from that time period were destroyed in the process. In 1863, Birdsill Holly invented the modern version of the fire hydrant. While Holly was only one of many involved in the development of the fire hydrant, innovations he introduced are largely responsible for the fire hydrant taken for granted today. In 1869, Holly was issued U.S. patent #94749, for an "improved fire hydrant".

Manifest Destiny (1802–1860)


1802 Banjo clock

A banjo clock is a wall clock with an inverted banjo-shaped case. The banjo clock normally lacks a striking mechanism and indicates time only by its hands and dial, for which reason some horologists may insist upon calling it a timepiece rather than a true clock. The clock is usually adorned with a finial on the top. Known as his "patent timepiece," the banjo clock was invented by renowned American clockmaker Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and patented on February 8, 1802.

1804 Burr Truss

The Burr Arch Truss, Burr Truss, or the Burr Arch, is a combination of an arch and a multiple kingpost truss design typically implemented in the construction of covered bridges. The design principle behind the Burr arch truss was that the arch should be capable of holding the entire load on the bridge while the truss was used to keep the bridge rigid. In 1804, American architect Theodore Burr, a cousin of then Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr, designed and built the first Burr Truss on a bridge over the Hudson River in Watertown, New York.

1805 Amphibious vehicle

An amphibious vehicle is one which can be used on land or water. The self-propelled variant was invented by Oliver Evans who named it the "Orukter Amphibolos". Its steam-powered engine drove either wooden wheels or a paddle wheel used as a means of transport, on land and in water. Evans demonstrated his machine in Philadelphia's Center Square in 1805, built on commission from the Philadelphia Board of Health. Evans' steam engine differed fundamentally from later models, operating at a high pressure, 25 or 30 pounds. Many years later, Evans' invention would be sold off for parts. On July 16, 2005, Philadelphia celebrated the 200th anniversary of Oliver Evans’s Orukter Amphibolos. Many historians describe Oliver Evans' invention as the United States' first land and water transporter.

1805 Vapor-compression refrigeration

Refrigeration is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space, or from a substance, and moving it to a place where it is unobjectionable. The primary purpose of refrigeration is lowering the temperature of the enclosed space or substance and then maintaining that lower temperature. The American inventor Oliver Evans, acclaimed as the "father of refrigeration," invented the vapor-compression refrigeration machine in 1805. Heat would be removed from the environment by recycling vaporized refrigerant, where it would move through a compressor and condenser, where it would eventually revert back to a liquid form in order to repeat the refrigeration process over again. However, no such refrigeration unit was built by Evans. In 1834, Jacob Perkins modified Evans' original design, building the world's first refrigerator and filing the first legal patent for refrigeration using vapor-compression. John Gorrie, an American doctor from Florida, invented the first mechanical refrigeration unit in 1841, based on Evans' original invention to make ice in order to cool the air for yellow fever patients. Gorrie's mechanical refrigeration unit was issued a patent in 1851. American professor Alexander C. Twining of Cleveland, Ohio patented an early vapor-compression refrigerator in 1853 that was fully capable of producing a ton of ice per day. In 1913, refrigerators for home and domestic use were invented by Fred W. Wolf of Fort Wayne, Indiana with models consisting of a unit that was mounted on top of an ice box. A self-contained refrigerator, with a compressor on the bottom of the cabinet was invented by Alfred Mellowes in 1916. Mellowes produced this refrigerator commercially but was bought out by William C. Durant in 1918, who started the Frigidaire Company in order to begin the first mass-production of refrigerators.

1806 Coffee percolator

A coffee percolator is a type of pot used to brew coffee. In the case of coffee-brewing the solvent is water, the permeable substance is the coffee grounds, and the soluble constituents are the chemical compounds that give coffee its color, taste, and aroma. In 1806, Benjamin Thompson Rumford invented the percolating coffee pot with a metal sieve to strain away the grounds.

1808 Lobster trap

A lobster trap is a portable trap which traps crustaceans such as lobsters or crayfish and is used in the industry of lobster fishing. A lobster trap can catch multiple lobsters at once. The lobster trap was invented in 1808 by Ebenezer Thorndike of Swampscott, Massachusetts.

1812 Columbiad

The Columbiad was a large caliber, smoothbore, muzzle loading cannon able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low trajectories. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid shot or shell to long ranges, making it an excellent seacoast defense weapon for its day. Used as an artillery piece during the War of 1812 by the United States against the British, the Columbiad was invented around the year 1812 by George Bomford, a colonel in the United States Army.

1813 Circular saw

The circular saw is a metal disc or blade with saw teeth on the edge as well as the machine that causes the disk to spin. It may cut wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. Tabitha Babbitt is credited with inventing the first circular saw used in a saw mill in 1813.


1815 Dental floss

Dental floss is either a bundle of thin nylon filaments or a plastic ribbon used to remove food and dental plaque from teeth. Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist from New Orleans, is credited with inventing the first form of dental floss. He had been recommending that people should clean their teeth with silk floss since 1815.

1816 Milling machine

A milling machine is a machine tool used for the shaping of metal and other solid materials. In contrast to drilling, where the drill is moved exclusively along its axis, the milling operation uses movement of the rotating cutter sideways as well as 'in and out'. Simeon North is generally credited for inventing and building the earliest, though primitive, milling machine to replace filing operations by about 1816 or even earlier.

1818 Profile lathe

A lathe is an adjustable horizontal metal rail and a tool rest, between the material and the operator which accommodates the positioning of shaping tools. With wood, it is common practice to press and slide sandpaper against the still-spinning object after shaping it to smooth the surface. As the first of its kind, Thomas Blanchard of Middlebury, Connecticut, invented the profile lathe in 1818, intended for the mass duplication of woodworking.

1827 Detachable collar

A detachable collar is a collar separate from the shirt, fastened to the shirt by studs. Hannah Lord Montague invented the detachable collar in Troy, New York in 1827, after she snipped the collar off one of her husband's shirts to wash it, and then sewed it back on.

1829 Graham cracker

A graham cracker is cookie or digestive biscuit made with graham flour, a combination of fine-ground white flour and coarse-ground wheat bran and germ. Graham crackers are often used for making s'mores and pie crusts. Graham bread was invented by a Presbyterian minister, Reverend Sylvester Graham in 1829, for his vegetarian diet. The Graham bread was high in fiber, made with non-sifted whole wheat flour and cut into little squares now known as graham crackers.


1830 Platform scale

Also known as the Fairbanks Scale, the platform scale is a benched scale for measuring the counterbalance weight of loaded objects at ground level, thus eliminating the use of a hoist. After a series of trial and error in his designs, Thaddeus Fairbanks patented his invention in 1830. E & T Fairbanks & Company, a business partnership between Thaddeus and his brother, Erastus Fairbanks, exported their famous scales around the world to exotic locations such as England, China, Cuba, Russia, and India due to the high demand.

1831 Flanged T rail

The flanged T rail is an all-iron railway rail that has a flat bottom and requires no chair to hold the rails upright. The flanged "tee" rail was invented in May 1831 by an American named Robert L. Stevens of the Camden & Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company, which he conceived while crossing the Atlantic en route to buy an English locomotive. The first 500 T-rails were installed in Philadelphia. They would go on to be employed by railroads across the United States and are still seen today.

1831 Multiple coil magnet

A multiple coil magnet is an electromagnet that has several coils of wire connected in parallel. This increases the total electric current in the electromagnet and therefore generates a stronger magnetic field. It was invented by American scientist Joseph Henry in 1831.


1831 Doorbell (electric)

A doorbell is a signaling device commonly found near a door. It commonly emits a ringing sound to alert the occupant of the building to a visitor's presence. The electric doorbell was invented by Joseph Henry in 1831.


1832 Morse code

Morse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation, and special characters of a given message. After many years of development, an electrical telegraph came to exclusively refer to a signaling telegram, as an operator makes and breaks an electrical contact with a telegraph key, resulting in an audible signal at the other end produced by a telegraph sounder which is interpreted and transcribed by an operator. The short and long elements are formed by sounds, marks, or pulses, in on off keying and are commonly known as "dots" and "dashes" or "dits" and "dahs". In 1832, Alfred Vail in collaboration with Samuel Morse, began the process of co-inventing the Morse code signalling alphabet. After a few minor changes, including the development of International Morse code which is distinct from the original encoding system, American Morse code, Morse code was standardized in 1865 by the International Telegraphy Congress in Paris, France and later made the norm by the International Telecommunication Union. After 160 years of continuous use, international regulations beginning on January 31, 1999, no longer required ships at sea to call for help in an emergency using Morse code or the famous SOS signal.

1833 Sewing machine (lock-stitch)

Most modern sewing machines use the lockstitch technique of sewing invented by Walter Hunt, which consists of two threads, an upper and a lower. The upper thread runs from a spool kept on a spindle on top of or next to the machine, through a tension mechanism, a take-up arm, and finally through the hole in the needle. The lower thread is wound onto a bobbin, which is inserted into a case in the lower section of the machine. Walter Hunt invented the first lock-stitch sewing machine in 1833. Hunt lost interest and did not patent his invention. In 1846, Elias Howe secured a patent on an original lock-stitch machine, and failed to manufacture and market it. Isaac Singer infringed on Howe's patent to make his own machine, making him wealthy. Elias Howe filed a lawsuit, alleging patent infringement. On July 1, 1854, a federal commission ruled in favor of Howe, ordering Isaac Singer as well as all sewing machine makers to pay Elias Howe royalties.


1834 Combine harvester

The combine harvester, or combine, or thresher, is a machine that combines the tasks of harvesting, threshing, and cleaning grain crops. The objective is to complete these three processes, which used to be distinct, in one pass of the machine over a particular part of the field. The waste straw left behind on the field is the remaining dried stems and leaves of the crop with limited nutrients which is either chopped or spread on the field, or baled for livestock feed. The first combine harvester was invented by Hiram Moore in 1834.

1835 Steam shovel

A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil, typically in the mining industry. The steam shovel is composed of a bucket, boom and 'dipper stick', boiler, water tank and coal bunker, a steam engine, and a winch. The steam shovel was invented in 1835 by William Otis, later receiving a patent for his invention on February 24, 1839.

1835 Wrench

The wrench or spanner is a tool used to provide a mechanical advantage in applying torque to turn bolts, nuts or other items designed to interface with a wrench. The first wrench was patented in 1835 by Solymon Merrick, who was issued U.S. patent #38 on May 7, 1842.


1835 Solar compass

A solar compass is a railroad compass with a solar attachment that allows surveyors to determine the north direction by reference to the sun rather than by reference to the magnetic needle. It consists of three arcs: one for setting the latitude of the land to be surveyed; one for setting the declination of the sun; and one for setting the hour of the day. In 1835, the solar compass was invented by William Austin Burt, a U.S. Deputy Surveyor who began surveying government lands in the Michigan Territory earlier in 1833. While experiecing great difficulty in using his standard vernier compass in order to detect deposits of iron ore in the Northwest Territory (present-day Wisconsin), Burt devised the solar compass so that garbled readings of the Earth's magnetic field and north-south survey lines would be easier to find. A patent was issued to Burt on February 25, 1836.

1835 Relay

A relay is an electrical switch that opens and closes under the control of another electrical circuit. In the original form, the switch is operated by an electromagnet to open or close one or many sets of contacts. The relay was invented by the renowned American scientist, Joseph Henry in 1835.

1836 Gridiron (cooking)

A gridiron is a metal grate with parallel bars typically used for grilling meat, fish, vegetables, or combinations of such foods. It may also be two such grids, hinged to fold together, to securely hold food while grilling over an open flame. Gridironing is often performed outdoors, using charcoal (real wood or preformed briquettes), wood, or propane gas. The earliest gridiron was a combination hinged gridiron and spider co-invented in 1836 by Amasa and George Sizer of Meriden, Connecticut. U.S. Patent #78 was issued to them jointly on November 14, 1836.[85] The next advancement in the gridiron was a steel wire one was invented and patented in 1889 in New Haven, Connecticut, by William C. Perkins, of the New Haven Wire Goods Company, who received U.S. Patent #408,136 on July 30, 1889 for a hinged gridiron that would hold the meat in place while broiling.

1836 Circuit breaker

A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household appliance up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city. Inspired by the works of American scientist Joseph Henry and English scientist Michael Faraday, the circuit breaker was invented by an American, Charles Grafton Page.

1837 Self-polishing cast steel plow

The plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture. In modern use, a plowed field is typically left to dry out, and is harrowed before planting. An American agricultural pioneer named John Deere modernized the plow by shaping steel from an old sawmill blade and joining it to a wrought iron moldboard. Deere polished both parts smooth so the damp soil would no longer stick. After patenting the device in 1837, it became an instant success and a necessity on American farms.

1839 Corn sheller

A corn sheller or maize sheller, is a machine used to shell or shuck ears of sweet corn of their silk. By feeding ears of sweet corn into a concentric cylindrical rest, they are parallel to the axis of the shelling cylinder in a hopper fixed on one side of the machine. As the cylindrical rest revolves, an ear falls into each space between staves, and is kept in contact with the shelling cylinder by the pressure of the segment concave. The grain shelled falls beneath the machine and the ear of sweet corn is delivered at the side opposite to the hopper, after having been in contact with the cylinder during approximately four or five revolutions. The corn sheller was invented by Lester E. Denison of Sayville, Connecticut who received a patent on August 12, 1839.

1839 Sleeping car

The sleeping car or sleeper is a railroad passenger car that can accommodate passengers in beds, primarily to make nighttime travel more restful. The first such cars saw sporadic use on American railroads in the 1830s and could be configured for coach seating during the day. The pioneer of this new mode of traveling transcontinental was the Cumberland Valley Railroad which introduced service of the first sleeping car in the spring of 1939. The sleeping car did not become commercially practical until 1857 when George Pullman invented the Pullman sleeping car.

1839 Vulcanized rubber

Vulcanization refers to a specific curing process of rubber involving high heat and the addition of sulfur or other equivalent curatives. It is a chemical process in which polymer molecules are linked to other polymer molecules by atomic bridges composed of sulfur atoms or carbon to carbon bonds. A vast array of products are made with vulcanized rubber including ice hockey pucks, tires, shoe soles, hoses and many more. When "rubber fever" struck Boston in the 1830s, there was a large consumer demand for products made of rubber- aprons, life preservers, hats, carriage tops, and, by 1836, waterproof shoes. But in the heat of summer, rubber goods turned into a gooey, foul-smelling mess; in the winter, they froze stiff. In 1839, Charles Goodyear had a breakthrough when he mixed liquid latex with sulfur and heating it in the sun or over a stove top. The leather-like form of the stretchable substance resulted in the first vulcanized rubber. Goodyear received a patent on June 15, 1844.

1839 Babbitt (metal)

Babbitt, also called Babbitt metal or bearing metal, is any of several alloys characterized by its resistance to galling. Babbitt is most commonly used as a thin surface layer in a complex, multi-metal structure, but its original use was as a cast-in-place bulk bearing material. Babbitt metal was invented in 1839 for use in steam engines by American goldsmith Isaac Babbitt in Taunton, Massachusetts.


1840 Howe truss

A Howe truss is a specialized design of a trussed bridge whereby the vertical trusses are in tension and the diagonal trusses are compressed. Howe trusses slope upwards and towards the center of the bridge. The Howe truss was patented in 1840 by William Howe.

1842 Inhalational anaesthetic

Crawford Long, of Jefferson, Georgia, performed the first operation using his development of ether-based anesthesia, when he removed a tumor from the neck of Mr. James Venable. Long did not reveal the practicality of using ether anesthesia until 1849.

1842 Grain elevator

Grain elevators are buildings or complexes of buildings for storage and shipment of grain. They were invented in 1842 in Buffalo, New York, by Joseph Dart, who first developed a steam-powered mechanism, called a marine leg, for scooping grain out of the hulls of ships directly into storage silos.

1843 Ice cream maker (hand-cranked)

An ice cream maker is a machine used to make small quantities of ice cream at home. Ice cream makers may stir the mixture by hand-cranking or with an electric motor, and may chill the ice cream by using a freezing mixture, by pre-cooling the machine in a freezer, or by the machine itself refrigerating the mixture. An ice cream maker must freeze the mixture, and must simultaneously stir or churn it to prevent the formation of ice crystals and aerate it to produce smooth and creamy ice cream. In 1843, New England housewife Nancy Johnson invented the hand-cranked ice cream churn. She patented her invention but lacked the resources to make and market the churn herself. Johnson sold the patent for $200 to a Philadelphia kitchen wholesaler who, by 1847, made enough ice cream makers to satisfy the high demand. From 1847 to 1877, more than 70 improvements to ice cream makers were patented.

1843 Multiple-effect evaporator

A multiple-effect evaporator, as defined in chemical engineering, is an apparatus for efficiently using the heat from steam to evaporate water. In 1843, Norbert Rillieux invented and patented the multiple-effect evaporator where its first installation and use was in a Louisiana sugar factory.

1843 Rotary printing press

A rotary printing press is a printing press in which the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. In 1843, Richard Hoe invented a revolution in printing by rolling a cylinder over stationary plates of inked type and using the cylinder to make an impression on paper. This eliminated the need for making impressions directly from the type plates themselves, which were heavy and difficult to maneuver.

1844 Pratt truss

A Pratt truss is a specialized design of a trussed bridge whereby the vertical trusses are compressed and the diagonal trusses are in tension. Sloping downwards and towards the center of the bridge, Pratt trusses therefore create Y and K-shaped patterns. As the exact opposite of the Howe truss design, the Pratt truss was co-invented and co-patented in 1844 by Thomas and Caleb Pratt.

1845 Pressure sensitive tape

Pressure sensitive tape, PSA tape, adhesive tape, self-stick tape, or sticky tape consists of a pressure sensitive adhesive coated onto a backing material such as paper, plastic film, cloth, or metal foil. The first pressure sensitive tape took the form of surgical tape, invented by Dr. Horace Day in 1845.

1845 Maynard tape primer

The Maynard tape primer is a system designed to allow for more rapid reloading of muskets which previously relied on small copped caps that were filled with mercury fulminate. Dr. Edward Maynard, a dentist with an interest in firearms, embedded tiny pellets of priming material in thin strips of paper, then glued a second strip of paper on top of the first, creating a "tape" of primer. The tape could be manufactured quickly and cheaply, since paper was much less expensive than copper. In 1845, Edward Maynard patented his new firearm invention which in later years, would be widely used in the American Civil War.

1845 Baseball

As the United States' de facto national sport and pastime, baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. Many historians attribute baseball's origins to the English sports of stoolball and rounders as well as to the 18th and 19th century North American sports of Old Cat and Town ball, all early precursors to baseball. However, the bat-and-ball sports played in the United States, Europe, or elsewhere in the world prior to 1845 did not resemble the standard of modern day rules as to which baseball has continuously used ever since the mid-19th century. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright wrote the official and codified set of regulated rules of baseball formally known as the Knickerbocker Rules. Cartwright's original 14 rules were somewhat similar to but not identical to rounders. Three exceptions devised by Cartwright included the stipulations that the playing field had to be laid out in a diamond shape rather than a square used in rounders, foul territories were to be introduced for the first time, and the practice of retiring a runner by hitting him with a thrown ball was forbidden. On June 19, 1846, the Knickerbocker Rules were instituted for the first time when Cartwright's New York Knickerbockers competed against the New York Nine, in what is considered by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York as "the first modern base ball game."[102] With the myth of Abner Doubleday inventing baseball debunked and 46 years after his death, Cartwright in 1938, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the executive category. On June 3, 1953, the 83rd United States Congress unanimously credited Cartwright with inventing the modern sport of baseball.

1846 Transverse shuttle

The transverse shuttle is a method to drive a bobbin on a sewing machine so as to create the lockstitch technique. Transverse shuttles carry the bobbin in a boat-shaped shuttle, and reciprocate the shuttle along a straight horizontal shaft. As the earliest of bobbin drivers, the transverse shuttle was patented by Elias Howe on September 10, 1846.

1846 Printing telegraph

The printing telegraph is a derivative of the electrical telegraph which links two 28-key piano-style keyboards by electrical wire representing a letter of the alphabet and when pressed causing the corresponding letter to print at the receiving end. The receiver would then receive the instantly readable text of the message on a paper strip. This is in contrast to the electrical telegraphs that used Morse Code 'dots' and 'dashes' which needed to be converted into readable text. After 1850, the printing telegraph was in common use, namely along the United States east coast and in France. The printing telegraph was invented in 1846 by Royal Earl House of Rockland, Vermont.

1847 Gas mask

A gas mask is a mask worn over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling "airborne pollutants" and toxic gasses. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. The gas mask was invented in 1847 by Lewis Haslett, a device that contained elements that allowed breathing through a nose and mouthpiece, inhalation of air through a bulb-shaped filter, and a vent to exhale air back into the atmosphere. According to First Facts, it states that the "gas mask resembling the modern type was patented by Lewis Phectic Haslett of Louisville, Kentucky who received a patent on June 12, 1849." U.S. patent #6,529 issued to Haslett, described the first "Inhaler or Lung Protector" that filtered dust from the air.

1847 Doughnut (ring-shaped)

A doughnut or donut, is a type of fried dough food popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet (or occasionally savory) snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets. They are usually sweet, deep-fried from a flour dough, and shaped in rings or flattened spheres that sometimes contain fillings. The doughnut has a long history, supposedly a Dutch creation exported to New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) in the 1600s under the Dutch name of olykoeks--"oily cakes." However, the ring-shaped doughnut with a "hole" in the center is thought to be an American creation, supposedly invented in 1847 by Captain Hanson Gregory of Clam Cove, Maine.

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1848 Pin tumbler lock

The pin tumbler lock is a lock mechanism that uses pins of varying lengths to prevent the lock from opening without the correct key. Pin tumblers are most commonly employed in cylinder locks, but may also be found in tubular or radial locks. The earliest pin-tumble locks were made over 4,000 years ago by the Egyptians. But due to their large, cumbersome size and since they were made of wood, the locks were not practical to use. In 1848, Linus Yale, Sr. invented the modern pin-tumbler lock. In 1861, Linus Yale, Jr. was inspired by the original 1840s cylindrical lock designed by his father, thus inventing and patenting a smaller flat key with serrated edges as well as pins of varying lengths within the lock itself, the same design of the pin-tumbler lock which still remains in use today.


1849 Jackhammer

A jackhammer, also known as a pneumatic hammer, is a portable percussive drill powered by compressed air. It is used to drill rock and break up concrete pavement, among other applications. It jabs with its bit, not rotating it. A jackhammer operates by driving an internal hammer up and down. The hammer is first driven down to strike the back of the bit and then back up to return the hammer to the original position to repeat the cycle. The bit usually recovers from the stroke by means of a spring. The earliest form of a jackhammer, a "percussion drill" was invented in 1848 and patented in 1849 by Jonathan J. Couch of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In this drill, the drill bit passed through the piston of a steam engine. The piston snagged the drill bit and hurled it against the rock face. It was an experimental model.

1849 Safety pin

The safety pin is a fastening device, a variation of the regular pin which includes a simple spring mechanism and a clasp. The clasp serves two purposes, to form a closed loop thereby properly fastening the pin to whatever it is applied to, and to cover the end of the pin to protect the user from the sharp point. The safety pin was invented by Walter Hunt, and patented in April 1849. The rights to the invention were sold for $400.

1850 Dishwasher

The dishwasher cleans dishes, glassware, and eating utensils. The first dishwasher was a wooden one whereby a person would turn a handle to splash water on the dishware. It was invented in 1850 by Joel Houghton of Ogden, New York. The device was a failure. Houghton received U.S. patent #7,365 on May 14, 1850. The first successful and practical dishwasher was invented in 1886 by Josephine Cochrane. The motorized device turned a wheel while soapy water squirted up and rained down on the dishware. Cochran received U.S. patent #355139 for the "Dish-Washing Machine" on December 28, 1886.

1850 Feed dogs

Feed dogs are the critical component of a "drop feed" sewing machine. A set of feed dogs typically resembles two or three short, thin metal bars, crosscut with diagonal teeth, which move back and forth in slots in a sewing machine's needle plate. Their purpose is to pull ("feed") the fabric through the machine, in discrete steps, in-between stitches. Allen B. Wilson invented it during the time period 1850 to 1854. U.S. patent #12116 was issued on December 18, 1854.


1850 Vibrating shuttle

A vibrating shuttle is a bobbin driver design used in home lockstitch sewing machines during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. It supplanted the earlier transverse shuttle design invented by Elias Howe in 1846, but was itself supplanted by the rotary hook later on. American cabinetmaker Allen B. Wilson of Willet, New York invented the vibrating shuttle design in 1850. The owners of the 1848 Bradshaw patent claimed infringement by Wilson. However, it was without justication. In order to avoid a lawsuit, Wilson relinquished his interest in U.S. Patent #7,776 that was issued to him on November 12, 1850. A.P. Kline and Edward Lee took ownership.


1850 Inverted microscope

An inverted microscope is a microscope with its light source and condenser on the top, above the stage pointing down, while the objectives and turret are below the stage pointing up. The inverted microscope was invented in 1850 by J. Lawrence Smith, a faculty member of Tulane University and the Medical College of Louisiana.

1851 Rotary hook

A rotary hook is a bobbin driver design used in lockstitch sewing machines of the 19th and 20th century and beyond. It triumphed over competing designs because it could run at higher speeds with less vibration. Rotary hook machines hold their bobbin stationary, and continuously rotate the thread hook around it. The rotary hook was co-invented by American cabinetmaker Allen B. Wilson and Nathaniel Wheeler in 1851. U.S. Patent # 8,296 was issued to Wilson on August 12, 1851.

1851 Fire alarm box

A fire alarm box is an outdoor device used for notifying a fire department of a fire. Early boxes used the telegraph system and were the main method of calling the fire department to a neighborhood in the days before people had telephones. When the box is triggered, a spring-loaded wheel spins and taps out a signal onto the fire alarm telegraph wire, indicating the box number. The receiver at a fire station then can match the number to the neighborhood. The municipal fire alarm system got its start in Massachusetts. It was invented by Moses G. Farmer, an engineer, and Dr. William Channing, a Harvard-educated Bostonian. Their revolutionary creation was installed in 1851 and consisted of 40 miles of wire and 45 boxes in Boston.

1852 Elevator brake

An elevator or lift is a vertical transport vehicle that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building. In 1852, Elisha Graves Otis invented the first safety brake for elevators which prevents an elevator from spiralling into a free fall between numerous floors inside a building.


1853 Burglar alarm

A burglar alarm contains sensors which are connected to a control unit via a low-voltage hardwire or narrowband RF signal which is used to interact with a response device. The alarm was patented (U.S. patent #9,802) on June 21, 1853 by the Reverend Augustus Russell Pope of Somerville, Massachusetts. As the first person to commercialize Pope's invention, Edwin Holmes acquired Pope's patent rights in 1857 for US$1,500.

1853 Potato chips

Potato chips, also known as crisps in British English, are thin slices of potato that are deep fried or baked until crispy. Potato chips serve as an appetizer, side dish, or snack. The basic chips are cooked and salted, and additional varieties are manufactured using various flavorings and ingredients including seasonings, herbs, spices, cheeses, and artificial additives. The original potato chip recipe was invented by chef George Crum at Moon's Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York, on August 24, 1853. Fed up with a customer who continued to send his fried potatoes back complaining that they were too thick and soggy, Crum decided to slice the potatoes so thin that they could not be eaten with a fork. As they could not be fried normally in a pan, he decided to stir-fry the potato slices. Against Crum's expectation, the guest was ecstatic about the new chips and they soon became a regular item on the lodge's menu, and were known as "Saratoga chips."

1853 Clothespin

A clothespin is a fastener with a lever action used to hang up clothes for drying, usually on a clothes line. Clothespins often come in many different designs. Although wooden clothes pegs for a few decades already, the "spring-clamp" for clotheslines was patented by David M. Smith of Springfield, Vermont, in 1853.


1854 Breast pump

A breast pump is a mechanical device that extracts milk from the breasts of a lactating woman. Breast pumps may be manual devices powered by hand or foot movements or electrical devices powered by mains electricity or batteries. The first breast pump was patented by O.H. Needham on June 20, 1854.

1855 Calliope

Also known as a steam organ or steam piano, a calliope is a musical instrument that produces sound by sending a gas, originally steam or more recently compressed air, through large whistles, originally locomotive whistles. It was often played on riverboats and in circuses, where it was sometimes mounted on a carved, painted and gilded horse-drawn wagon in a circus parade. The calliope was invented in 1855 by Joshua C. Stoddard of Worcester, Massachusetts. U.S. patent #13,668 was issued to Stoddard on October 9, 1855.

1856 Egg beater

An egg beater is a hand-cranked mixing device for whipping, beating, and folding food ingredients. It typically consists of a handle mounted over a piston, which drives one or two beaters. The beaters are immersed in the food to be mixed. In 1856, American tinner Ralph Collier of Baltimore, Maryland, invented and patented the first rotary egg beater with rotating parts. Collier was issued U.S. patent #16,267 on December 23, 1856.


1856 Condensed milk

Condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product that can last for years without refrigeration if unopened. Gail Borden invented condensed milk in 1856 and was later used by soldiers during the American Civil War.

1856 Equatorial sextant

The equatorial sextant is a navigational instrument that is used to get an accurate bearing and position of a ship at sea, and to take azimuths, altitude, time and declination while making observations.[140] Also known as an altitude Instrument, the equatoral sextant was first invented and made by William Austin Burt. He patented it on November 4, 1856 in the United States as U.S. patent #16,002.

1857 Toilet paper (mass-produced and rolled)

Toilet paper is a soft paper product (tissue paper) used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. However, it can also be used for other purposes such as absorbing spillages or craft projects. Toilet paper in different forms has been used for centuries, namely in China. The ancient Greeks used clay and stone; the Romans, sponges and salt water. But according to a CNN article, the idea of a commercial product designed solely to wipe a person's buttocks was by New York City entrepreneur Joseph Gayetty, who in 1857, invented aloe-infused sheets of manila hemp dispensed from Kleenex-like boxes. However, Gayetty's toilet paper was a failure for several reasons. Americans soon grew accustomed to wiping with the Sears Roebuck catalog, they saw no need to spend money on toilet paper when catalogs for their use came in the mail for free, and because during the 19th century, it was a social taboo to openly discuss bathroom hygiene with others. Toilet paper took its next leap forward in 1890, when two brothers named Clarence and E. Irvin Scott of the Scott Paper Company co-invented rolled toilet paper.


1857 Pink lemonade

Pink lemonade is a variant of lemonade that uses artificial flavors and colors as well as natural sources of juices (such as grenadine, cherry juice, red grapefruit juice, grape juice, cranberry juice, strawberry juice, and pomegranate) to give it a "pink" coloration. The earliest reference to the invention of pink lemonade according to historian Joe Nickell, was that Pete Conklin invented the drink in 1857 when he used water dyed pink from a horse rider's red tights to make his lemonade.

1857 Brown Truss

A Brown truss is a type of bridge truss, used in covered bridges. It is noted for its economical use of materials, taking the form of a box truss. There may be vertical or almost vertical tension members, but there are no vertical members in compression. In practice, when used in a covered bridge, the most common application, the truss is protected with outside sheathing. The Brown Truss was invented and patented by Josiah Brown Jr. in 1857.

1858 Pepper shaker

Salt and pepper shakers are typically placed on tabletops in restaurants and in home kitchens. Used as condiment holders in Western culture, salt and pepper shakers are designed to store and dispense edible salt and ground peppercorns. The first pepper shaker with screw-on cap was invented by John Landis Mason who received a patent on November 30, 1858.

1858 Mason jar

In home canning, food is packed into a jar, and the steel lid is placed on top of the jar with the integral rubber seal resting on the rim of the jar. The band is screwed loosely over the lid, which will allow air and steam to escape. By far, though, the most popular form of seal was the screw-on zinc cap, the precursor to today's screw-on lids. The earliest glass jars were called wax sealers, because they used sealing wax, which was poured into a channel around the lip that held on a tin lid. The earliest successful application of this was discovered by John Landis Mason and patented on November 30, 1858, a date embossed on millions of jars for food preservation and pickling.

1858 Pencil eraser

A pencil eraser is an article of stationery attached to the opposite end of a graphite pencil's sharpened tip. The eraser itself is typically made out of gum-like or synthetic rubber that is used for rubbing out pencil mistakes on paper. On March 30, 1858, Hymen Lipman received the first patent for the conception and the idea of attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil. In 1862 Lipman sold his patent to Joseph Reckendorfer for $100,000, who went to sue the pencil manufacturer Faber-Castell for infringement. In 1875, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Reckendorfer declaring the patent invalid.

1858 Ironing board

An ironing board is a portable and foldable table with a heat resistant top used in the aid of removing wrinkles from clothing with an iron and spray starch. The first ironing board was co-patented on February 16, 1858 by inventors William Vandenburg and James Harvey of New York City.


1858 Twine knotter

A twine binder is a mechanical device or machine that wraps knotted twine around a bundle or sheave of grain in binded form after it has been reaped. While working at a farm in Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1857, John Appleby invented the twine knotter. Incorporating many of Jacob Behel's innovations as found in his development of the "billhook" knotter in 1864, Appleby later sold the patent around the year 1877 to William Deering who began the manufacturing and exploited the practicability of Appleby's twine knotter into a commercially profitable reaper-binder.

1858 Dustpan

A dustpan is a cleaning utensil commonly used in combination with a broom. The dustpan may appear to be a type of flat scoop. The dustpan was invented and patented (U.S. patent #20,811) by the American inventor T.E. McNeill in 1858.

1859 Electric stove

An electric stove is a large kitchen appliance that converts electricity into heat in order to cook and bake food. In addition to heated coils atop a stovetop range, glass-ceramic cooktops and induction stoves using electromagnetic induction have proven to be popular in commercial kitchens as well as for domestic use in homes. Canadian inventor Thomas Ahearn is often credited with inventing the electric cooking range in 1882. However, the first such patent for an electrical stove apparatus was awarded in the United States much earlier to George B. Simpson on September 20, 1859. Simpson's patent, US patent #25532 for an 'electro-heater' surface heated by an platinum-wire coil powered by batteries; is described in his own words to be useful to "warm rooms, boil water, cook victuals...".

1859 Escalator

An escalator is a moving staircase, a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. Commonly found and used in shopping malls, department stores, airports, an escalator consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal. The escalator was invented in 1859 by Nathan Ames of Saugus, Massachusetts for an invention that he called "Revolving Stairs". However, Ames' escalator was never built. The earliest form of a working escalator, patented in 1892 by Jesse W. Reno, was introduced as a new novelty ride at the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island, New York in 1896.

1860 Vacuum cleaner

A vacuum cleaner uses a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors. Daniel Hess of West Union, Iowa, invented the first vacuum cleaner in 1860. Calling it a carpet sweeper instead of a vacuum cleaner, his machine did, in fact, have a rotating brush like a traditional vacuum cleaner which also possessed an elaborate bellows mechanism on top of the body to generate suction of dust and dirt. Hess received a patent (U.S. patent #29,077) for his invention of the first vacuum cleaner on July 10, 1860. Despite credit usually going to English inventor Hubert Cecil Booth for inventing the first electric vacuum cleaner in 1901, his vacuum was actually predated two years by an American, John Thurman of St. Louis, Missouri, who invented the motorized vacuum cleaner in 1899. However, neither were practical or useful. The first practical and portable vacuum cleaner was built in 1907, when James Murray Spangler, a janitor from Canton, Ohio, incorporated a rotating brush, an electric fan, a box, and one of his wife's pillowcases to serve as the dust bag.

1860 Repeating rifle (lever action)

A repeating rifle is a single barreled rifle containing multiple rounds of ammunition. Benjamin Tyler Henry, chief designer for Oliver Fisher Winchester's arms company, adapted a breech-loading rifle built by Walter Hunt and invented the first practical lever action repeating rifle in 1860. First known as the Henry rifle, it became famously known as the Winchester by Union soldiers in the American Civil War.

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Civil War and the Reconstruction Era (1861–1877)

1861 Jelly bean

Jelly beans are a small bean-shaped type of confectionery with a hard candy shell and a gummy interior which come in a wide variety of flavors. The confection is primarily made of sugar. The Turkish Delight, a Middle Eastern candy made of soft jelly, covered in confectioner's powder, with roots dating to biblical days, was an early precursor to the jelly bean that inspired its gummy interior. However, it is generally thought that jelly beans first surfaced in 1861 when Boston confectioner and inventor William Schrafft urged people to send his jelly beans to soldiers during the American Civil War. It wasn't until July 5, 1905 that the mentioning of jelly beans was published in the Chicago Daily News. The advertisement publicized bulk jelly beans sold by volume for nine cents per pound, according to the book, "The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites." Today, most historians contend that in the United States, they were first linked with Easter in the 1930s.


1861 Twist drill

A twist drill is a bit with two cut grooves in opposite sides of a round bar, whereby the twisted bar produces a helical flute in order to drill holes in metal, plastic, or wood. The twist drill was invented by Stephen A. Morse in October 1861 and later patented on April 7, 1863.

1861 Kinematoscope

The kinematoscope is a device using the principles of stereoscopy in order to present the illusion of a motion picture. Viewed from inside a cabinet, the images with chronologically successive stages of action which were mounted on blades of a spinning paddle. The kinematoscope was invented by Coleman Sellers II of Philadelphia who received U.S. patent #31,357 on February 5, 1861.

1861 Postcard

A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of material, such as paper, leather or other materials, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. "Postal card" is the term used for a post card issued by a postal authority, generally with postage prepaid. The post card was invented by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia in 1861 for which he obtained the copyright later transferred to Hymen Lipman. The cards were adorned with a small border and labeled "Lipman's Postal Card, Patent Applied For." and later "COPY-RIGHT SECURED 1861." They were on the market until 1873 when the first United States issued postcards appeared.

1861 Machine gun (hand-cranked)

The machine gun is typically considered to be a fully automatic firearm, usually designed to fire rifle cartridges in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine. The Gatling gun, invented and patented in 1861 by Richard Gatling during the American Civil War, was the earliest precursor to a machine gun in the sense that it had all of the underlying features of reliable loading as well as the ability to fire sustained multiple bursts of rounds, the only drawback being, it had to be manually operated and hand-cranked unlike its 1884 successor, the Maxim gun, which was indisputably the world's first true machine gun.

1863 Breakfast cereal

Breakfast cereal is a packaged food product intended to be consumed as part of a breakfast. The first breakfast cereal, Granula was invented in the United States in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson, operator of the Jackson Sanitorium in Dansville, New York. The cereal never became popular since it was inconvenient, as the heavy bran nuggets needed soaking overnight before they were tender enough to eat.

1863 Ratchet wrench

A socket wrench, more commonly referred to as a ratchet, is a type of wrench, or tightening tool, that uses separate, removable sockets to fit many different sizes of fittings and fasteners, most commonly nuts and bolts. The ratchet wrench was invented by J.J. Richardson of Woodstock, Vermont, receiving a patent for the ratcher wrench from the Scientific American Patent Agency on June 18, 1863.

1863 Quad skates

Quad skates are four-wheeled turning roller skates set in two side-by-side pairs. In 1863, James Leonard Plimpton of Medford, Massachusetts, invented the first four-wheeled roller skates arranged in two side-by-side pairs. Before Plimpton's invention, all wheels on the bottom of roller skates were inline.

1863 Double-barreled cannon

The double-barreled cannon is an American Civil War-era experimental weapon that was intended to fire two cannon balls connected with a chain. While originally built for warfare for the Confederacy, the cannon never saw battle. The prototype is now on display and is a modern landmark located in Athens, Georgia. In 1863, John Gilleland invented the double-barreled cannon.

1864 Spar torpedo

The spar torpedo consists of a bomb placed at the end of a long pole, or spar, and attached to a boat. The weapon is used by running the end of the spar into the enemy ship. Spar torpedoes were often equipped with a barbed spear at the end, so it would stick to wooden hulls. A fuse could then be used to detonate it. The spar torpedo was invented in 1864 during the American Civil War by E. C. Singer, a private engineer who worked on secret projects for the benefit of the Confederate States of America.

1865 Cowboy hat

The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with country-western singers, and for participants in the North American rodeo circuit. It is recognized around the world as part of Old West cowboy lore. The shape of a cowboy hat's crown and brim are often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect against weather. The cowboy hat was invented in 1865 by John Batterson Stetson during a hunting trip, showing his companions how he could make fabric out of fur without weaving. Using the fur collected during the trip, his bare hands, and boiling water, Stetson made a piece of felt and then shaping it into a hat with a large brim which could protect he and his hunting party from weather elements such as rain, wind, and snow.

1865 Rotary printing press (web)

In 1865, William Bullock invented a printing press that could feed paper on a continuous roll and print both sides of the paper at once. Used first by the Philadelphia Ledger, the machine would become an American standard. It would also kill its inventor, who died when he accidentally fell into one of his presses.

1866 Urinal (restroom version)

Not to be confused with a urinal in bottle form that is used in health care, a urinal is a specialized toilet for urinating only, generally by men and boys. It has the form of being wall mounted, with drainage and automatic or manual flushing. The urinal was patented by Andrew Rankin on March 27, 1866.

1866 Chuckwagon

The chuckwagon is a wagon that carries food and cooking equipment on the prairies of the United States and Canada. They were part of a wagon train of settlers to feed nomadic workers like cowboys or loggers. While mobile kitchens had existed for generations, the invention of the chuckwagon is attributed to Texan rancher Charles Goodnight who introduced the concept in 1866.

1867 Motorcycle (steam-powered)

The motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle powered by an engine. Although the first gasoline/petrol motorcycle powered by an internal combustion engine was built in 1885 by a German named Gottlieb Daimler, his may not have been the first motorcycle. Ironically, Daimler's motorcycle used a four-stroke internal combustion engine that wasn't of his own creation, instead having to rely upon an engine built by Nicolaus August Otto which he simply mounted onto the frame of a bicycle. Furthermore, if the definition of a motorcycle is inclusive of a steam engine and not exclusive to an internal combustion engine, then the world's first motorcycle may either have been American; a coal-powered, two-cylinder, steam-driven motorcycle known as the Roper steam velocipede invented by Sylvester Howard Roper in 1867; or perhaps a French one, independently invented by a competing claim by French blacksmith Pierre Michaux and engineer Louis-Guillaume Perreaux, who invented the Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede in 1868.

1867 Paper clip

The paper clip attaches sheets of paper together, allowing them to be detached as necessary. The first patent for a bent wire paper clip was awarded to its inventor, Samuel B. Fay, in 1867.

1867 Barbed wire

Barbed wire is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property. It is also a major feature of the fortifications in trench warfare. A person or animal trying to pass through or over barbed wire will suffer discomfort and possibly injury. Barbed wire fencing requires only fence posts, wire, and fixing devices such as staples. On June 25, 1867, Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, patented barbed wire. Shortly thereafter, several other inventors, such as Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, patented inventions for similar products, but Smith patented his first, allowing him to claim that he invented barbed wire.

1867 Ticker tape

Ticker tape is a means of transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines. It consists of a paper strip which ran through a machine called a stock ticker, which printed abbreviated company symbols followed by price and volume information. Ticker tape was invented in 1867 by Edward A. Calahan, an employee of the American Telegraph Company.

1867 Water-tube boiler

A water-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Water-tube boilers are used for high-pressure boilers. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which heats up water in the steam-generating tubes. The water-tube boiler was co-invented and co-patented by George Herman Babcock and Stephen Wilcox in 1867.

1867 Refrigerator car

A refrigerator car or "reefer" is a refrigerated boxcar, designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars, neither of which are fitted with cooling apparatus. They can be ice-cooled, or use one of a variety of mechanical refrigeration systems, or utilize carbon dioxide as a cooling agent. In the 1860s, slaughtered cattle from the Great Plains were preserved in barrels of salt. Regular box cars were loaded with ice in another effort to preserve fresh meat that had limited success. Generally, it was found more economical in the early days of refrigeration to cool the cars with ice or frozen brine which was periodically replenished at icing stations along rail routes. In 1857, the first shipment of refrigerated beef was made from the Chicago stockyards to the East Coast in an ordinary box car packed with ice. Finally in 1867, the first patent (U.S. Patent #71,423) for a specialized refrigerator car was issued to its inventor, J.B. Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan.

1868 Paper bag

A bag is a non-rigid or semi-rigid container usually made of paper which is used to hold items or packages. In 1868, Margaret E. Knight while living in Springfield, Massachusetts invented a machine that folded and glued paper to form the brown paper bags familiar to what shoppers know and use today.

1868 Tape measure

A tape measure or measuring tape is a flexible form of ruler. It consists of a ribbon of cloth, plastic, fiber glass, or metal strip with linear-measurement markings. The design on which most modern spring tape measures are built was invented and patented by a New Haven, Connecticut resident named Alvin J. Fellows on July 14, 1868.

1869 Vibrator

A vibrator is a device intended to vibrate against the body and stimulate the nerves for a relaxing and pleasurable feeling. Some vibrators are designed as sex toys and are inserted inside the vagina or anus for erotic stimulation. The first vibrator was a steam-powered massager, which was invented by American physician George Taylor in 1869. Dr. Taylor recommended his vibrators for treatment of an illness known at the time as "female hysteria." Hysteria, from the Greek for "suffering uterus," involved anxiety, irritability, sexual fantasies, pelvic heaviness, and excessive vaginal lubrication—in other words, sexual arousal.

1869 American football

American football, known in the United States simply as football, is a spectator sport known for combining strategy with competitive physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. The ball can be advanced by carrying it (a running play) or by throwing it to a teammate (a passing play). Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the goal posts at the opponent's end zone, or tackling an opposing ball carrier within his end zone. The winner is the team with the most points when the time expires. The very first game of American football, a collegiate one, was held on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers University and Princeton University with a final score of Rutgers 6 Princeton 4. The first professional game of American football was held on November 12, 1892 between the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club ending in a 6–6 tie. As a descendant of rugby, the modern sport now known as American football is generally credited to its inventor, Walter Camp, who beginning in the 1880s, devised the play from scrimmage, the numerical assessment of goals and tries, the restriction of play to eleven men per side, set plays, sequences, and strategy features which led to the gradual evolution of the regulated game. Camp also was the leader of the American Football Rules Committee which devised the set of codified and regulated rules as to which American football continuously uses.

1869 Pipe wrench

The pipe wrench, or Stillson wrench, is an adjustable wrench used for turning soft iron pipes and fittings with a rounded surface. The design of the adjustable jaw allows it to rock in the frame, such that any forward pressure on the handle tends to pull the jaws tighter together. Teeth angled in the direction of turn dig into the soft pipe. The pipe wrench was invented by Daniel C. Stillson in 1869.

1869 Clothes hanger

A clothes hanger, or coat hanger, is a device in the shape of human shoulders designed to facilitate the hanging of a coat, jacket, sweater, shirt, blouse, or dress in a manner that prevents wrinkles, with a lower bar for the hanging of trousers or skirts. The shoulder-shaped wire hanger, was inspired by a coat hook invented in 1869 by O. A. North of New Britain, Connecticut.

1870 Bee smoker

A bee smoker, usually called simply a smoker, is a device used in beekeeping to calm honey bees. It is designed to generate smoke from the smouldering of various fuels, hence the name. The first bee smoker, which incorporated a bellows with a fire pot, was invented in 1870 by the renowned American beekeeper, Moses Quinby.

1870 Can opener (rotary)

The can opener is a device used to open metal cans. Most non-electrical can openers today use the hand-cranked rotary version consisting of a wheel with serated edges in order to pierce and cut the top of tin cans. The first rotary can opener with a cutting wheel was invented in 1870 by William W. Lyman, of Meriden, Connecticut, who received a U.S. Patent 105,346 on July 12, 1870. In 1925 the Star Can Opener Company of San Francisco improved on Lyman’s wheel blade by adding a second, serrated or toothed wheel, called a “feed wheel” or “turning gear” to ride below the rim of the can and rotate the can against the cutting wheel.

1870 Sandblasting

Sandblasting or bead blasting is a generic term for the process of smoothing, shaping, and cleaning a hard surface by forcing solid particles across that surface at high speeds. Sandblasting equipment typically consists of a chamber in which sand and air are mixed. The mixture travels through a hand-held nozzle to direct the particles toward the surface or workpiece. Nozzles come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. Boron carbide is a popular material for nozzles because it resists abrasive wear well. In 1870, the sandblasting process was invented and patented by Benjamin Chew Tilghman.

1870 Feather duster

A feather duster is an implement used for cleaning. It consists typically of a wooden-dowel handle and feathers that are wound onto the handle by a wrapped wire. In 1870, the original idea for the feather duster was conceived in a broom factory in Jones County, Iowa, USA. A farmer brought a bundle of turkey feathers into the factory asking if they could be used to assemble a brush. E.E. Hoag used these feathers to invent the first feather duster. Using a short broom stick and splitting the feathers with a pocket knife, the duster was found to be too stiff for use. In 1874, the Hoag Duster Company was founded, which became a pioneer of feather dusters in the U.S. state of Iowa.

1871 Rowing machine

A rowing machine or indoor rower, is a machine used to simulate the action of watercraft rowing for the purpose of exercise or training for rowing. Indoor rowing has become established as a sport in its own right. The term also refers to a participant in this sport. Rowing machines have been in use for bout 140 years. The earliest patent for such a machine was filed in the United States by William B. Curtis. Curtis was issued U.S. patent #116,417 on June 27, 1871.

1872 Railway air brake

A railway air brake is a conveyance braking system which applies the means of compressed air which modern locomotives use to this day. George Westinghouse, a pioneer of the electrical industry, invented the railroad air brake in 1872.

1872 Diner

A diner is a restaurant characterized by a wide range of foods, a casual and often nostalgic atmosphere, a counter, and late operating hours. The precursor to the fast food eatery began in 1872 when Walter Scott, a myopic pressman for the Providence Journal, became serious about selling food and refreshments in the streets. Scott had a plan. Instead of wearing out the soles of his shoes and roaming the streets of Providence, Rhode Island, he decided to buy a horse-drawn delivery van. Rolling on four wagon wheels, he would take his food to the people.

1873 Earmuffs

Earmuffs cover a person's ears for thermal protection. Earmuffs consist of a thermoplastic or metal head-band, that fits over the top of the head, and a pad at each end, to cover the external ears. Earmuffs were invented by Chester Greenwood in 1873.

1873 Silo

A silo is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store grain, see grain elevators, or fermented feed known as silage. Silos are more commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust. The first modern silo, a wooden and upright one filled with grain, was invented and built in 1873 by Fred Hatch of McHenry County, Illinois, USA.

1873 Jeans

Jeans are trousers generally made from denim. Jeans became popular among teenagers starting in the 1950s which remains as a distinct icon of American fashion. In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis co-invented and co-patented the idea of using copper rivets at the stress points of sturdy work pants. After one of Davis' customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the top of the button fly. Davis did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they both go into business together. Early Levis, called "waist overalls," came in a brown canvas duck fabric and a heavy blue denim fabric. His business became extremely successful, revolutionizing the apparel industry.

1873 Knuckle coupler

Also known as a Janney coupler and the buckeye coupler, the knuckle coupler is the derivative of a coupling device that links and connects rolling railway cars such as passenger, refrigerator, freight, and stock cars together on railroad track. The knuckle coupler have a bifurcated drawhead and a revolving hook, which, when brought in contact with another coupler, automatically interlocks with its mate. Knuckle couplers replaced the much more dangerous link-and-pin couplers and became the basis for standard coupler design for the rest of the 19th century. The knuckle coupler was invented and patented by Eli H. Janney in 1873.

1874 Fire sprinkler (automated)

A fire sprinkler is the part of a fire sprinkler system that discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a pre-determined temperature has been reached. Henry S. Parmelee of New Haven, Connecticut invented and installed the first closed-head or automated fire sprinkler in 1874.

1874 Spork

A spork or a foon is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with three or four fork tines. The spork is a portmanteau word combining spoon and fork. The spork was invented in 1874 by Samuel W. Francis. U.S. patent #147,119 was filed on January 22, 1874 and issued to Francis on February 3, 1874.

1874 Ice cream soda

An ice cream soda is a beverage that consists of one or more scoops of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water. Variations of the ice cream soda are as countless as the varieties of soda and flavors of ice cream. An example of ice cream soda is the root beer float. In 1874, the ice cream soda was invented by Robert M. Green of Philadelphia. Green's invention paved the way for the soda fountain industry to flourish and for many new spoon novelties such as ice cream sundaes to be created.

1874 Quadruplex telegraph

A quadruplex telegraph is a type of electrical telegraph which allows a total of four separate signals to be transmitted and received on a single wire at the same time. With two signals in each direction, quadruplex telegraphy thus implements a form of multiplexing. The quadruplex telegraph was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1874, which enabled Western Union to save money by greatly increasing the number of messages the company could send without building new lines. It also allowed the company to use its existing lines more efficiently to meet seasonal increases in message traffic and to lease excess capacity for private lines.

1874 Jockstrap

A jockstrap, also known as a jock, jock strap, strap, supporter, or athletic supporter, is an undergarment designed for supporting the male genitalia during sports or other vigorous physical activity. A jockstrap consists of a waistband (usually elastic) with a support pouch for the genitalia and two elastic straps affixed to the base of the pouch and to the left and right sides of the waistband at the hip. The jockstrap has been part of men’s undergarments since 1874 when it was invented by C.F. Bennett of Chicago to protect and support bicycle riders (back then they were known as “jockeys”) who were navigating the cobblestone streets common to the era.

1874 Forstner bit

Forstner bits, also known as Forstner flange bits or webfoot augers, bore precise, flat-bottomed holes in wood, in any orientation with respect to the wood grain. Forstner bits can cut on the edge of a block of wood, and can cut overlapping holes. Because of the flat bottom to the hole, they are useful for drilling through veneer already glued to add an inlay. Forstner bits were invented and patented by Benjamin Forstner in 1874.

1874 QWERTY

QWERTY is the most used modern-day keyboard layout on English-language computer and typewriter keyboards. It takes its name from the first six characters seen in the far left of the keyboard's top row of letters. The QWERTY design was invented and patented by Christopher Sholes in 1874.

1875 Biscuit cutter

A biscuit cutter a tool to cut out a biscuit from bread dough in a particular shape before they are put into an oven to bake. On May 11, 1875, Alexander P. Ashbourne filed the first patent for the biscuit cutter that consisted of a board to roll the biscuits out on and hinged to a metal plate with various biscuit cutter shapes mounted to it. It was later issued on November 30, 1875.

1875 Dental drill (electric)

A dental drill is a small, high-speed drill used in dentistry to remove decayed tooth material prior to the insertion of a dental filling. George F. Green of Kalamazoo, Michigan invented the first electric powered device to drill teeth in 1875.


1875 Mimeograph

The stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine is a low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. Once prepared, the stencil is wrapped around the ink-filled drum of the rotary machine. When a blank sheet of paper is drawn between the rotating drum and a pressure roller, ink is forced through the holes on the stencil onto the paper. Thomas Alva Edison invented the mimeograph in 1875.

1876 Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones. Synthesizers can usually produce a wide range of sounds, which may either imitate other instruments ("imitative synthesis") or generate new timbres. The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray who accidentally discovered that he could control sound from a self vibrating electromagnetic circuit and in doing so, invented a basic single note oscillator. This musical telegraph used steel reeds whose oscillations were created and transmitted, over a telephone line, by electromagnets. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device in later models consisting of a vibrating diaphragm in a magnetic field to make the oscillator audible.

1876 Airbrush

An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays various media including ink and dye, but most often paint by a process of nebulization. Spray guns developed from the airbrush and are still considered a type of airbrush. The first airbrush was invented in 1876 by Francis Edgar Stanley of Newton, Massachusetts.

1876 Tattoo machine

A tattoo machine is a hand-held device generally used to create a tattoo, a permanent marking of the skin with ink. The basic machine, which was called Stencil-Pens, was invented by Thomas Alva Edison and patented in the United States in 1876. It was originally intended to be used as an engraving device, but in 1891, Sean Casey discovered that Edison's machine could be modified and used to introduce ink into the skin, and later patented it as a tube and needle system serving as an ink reservoir.

1877 Phonograph

The phonograph, record player or gramophone is an instrument for recording, reproducing and playing back sounds. The earliest phonographs used cylinders containing an audio recording engraved on the outside surface which could be reproduced when the cylinder was played. Later, the gramophone record with modulated spiral grooves set atop a rotating turntable. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Alva Edison at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, USA. On February 8, 1878, Edison was issued the first patent (U.S. patent #200,521) for the phonograph.

1877 District heating

District heating distributes heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial heating requirements. The heat is often obtained from a cogeneration plant burning fossil fuels but increasingly biomass, although heat-only boiler stations, geothermal heating and central solar heating are also used, as well as nuclear power. The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland began steam district heating service in 1853. However, the first commercially successful district heating system was launched in Lockport, New York, in 1877 by American hydraulic engineer Birdsill Holly, considered the founder of modern district heating.

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