Timeline of Inventions

Significant modern inventions, arranged in chronological order

Note: Dates for inventions are often controversial. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first practical, fielded, version of the invention should be used here.

7th millennium BC

Pottery
fabric
the wedge

4th millennium BC: picto-linguistic writing

Early 3rd millennium BC

Bronze
Sumerian picto-graphic writing
tents
cultivation of grains
domestication of animals
pictograms
sledges – Scandinavia
the wheel and wheeled vehicles
levers
pure samples of carbon, copper, iron , gold, mercury , lead, silver,
sulphur tin and zinc in use
the plow

35th century BC

irrigation -Ancient Egypt
surveying

32nd century BC:

Egyptian hieroglyphics

31st century BC

Chinese ideograms
Drainage and Sewage system in India
Dams, canals, stone sculptures using inclined plane and lever in
Sumeria
Pyramids in Ancient Egypt.

23rd century BC

clay maps in Babylon

22nd century BC

Babylonian calendar modifications to account for the precession of the
stars
True astrolonomical observation – Mesopotamia
Spherical geometry in Babylon

21st century BC:

Cretan writing

19th century BC

Babylonian cuneiform
Code of Hammurabi – invention of codified municipal law

18th century BC:

Linear A – Hagia Triada

16th century BC:

Phonetic spelling developed by Phoenicians

15th century BC:

Linear B – mainland Greece or Knossus

10th century BC:

Rustproof Iron – India

7th century BC:

Coinage, Discovery of irrational numbers

460s BC

First atomic theory – Democritus

410s BC:

Heliocentric solar system with spherical Sun ,Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn – Philolaus

400s BC:

Catapults in Syracuse

350s BC:

Rotation of Earth -Hereclides

225s BC:

Measurement of Circumference of the Earth – Eratosthenes

220s BC

Archimedes
- Specific gravity
- concept of limit
- Archimedean solids
- false attribution of hydraulic screw pump as archimedes screw
- parabolic mirror
Compass – a south pointing spoonlike lodestone in Han dynasty.

150s BC:

Astrolabe – Hipparchus

100s BC:

Glass-blowing in Syria

1st century

differential gear (the antikythera mechanism

2nd century

105: paper: Ts’ai Lun

7th century

700 – Windmills in Persia

10th century

Gunpowder (in China: some ref says 8th century?)

11th century

1045 – movable type printing by Bi Sheng in China (before Gutenberg)
1050 – Crossbow in France

13th century

1249: Gunpowder formula: Roger Bacon

14th century

1346: Cannon in wide use

15th century

15th century: Rifle
1450: Moveable type: Johann Gutenberg
1480: Nautical astrolabe: Martin Behaim
1480: Parachute: Leonardo da Vinci

16th century

1593: Thermometer: Galileo Galilei
1595: Microscope: Zacharias Janssen

17th century

1608: Refracting telescope: Hans Lippershey
1609: Telescope: Galileo Galilei
1611: Telescope: Johannes Kepler
1620: Slide rule: William Oughtred
1642: Adding machine: Blaise Pascal
1643: Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli
1645: Vacuum pump: Otto von Guericke
1657: Pendulum clock: Christiaan Huygens

18th century

1705: Engine – steam piston: Thomas Newcomen
1709: Piano: Bartolomeo Cristofori
1710: Thermometer: RenŽ Antoine Ferchault de RŽaumur
1714: Mercury thermometer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
1730: Mariner’s quadrant: Thomas Godfrey
1731: Sextant: John Hadley
1733: Flying shuttle: John Kay
1742: Franklin stove: Benjamin Franklin
1750: Flatboat: Jacob Yoder
1752: Lightning rod: Benjamin Franklin
1762: Iron smelting process: Jared Eliot
1767: Spinning Jenny: James Hargreaves
1769: Steam engine: James Watt
1775: Submarine The Turtle: David Bushnell
1777: Card making machine: Oliver Evans
1777: Circular saw: Samuel Miller
1779: Spinning Mule: Samuel Crompton
1785: Power loom: Edmund Cartwright
1785: Automatic flour mill: Oliver Evans
1783: Multitubular boiler engine: John Stevens
1783: Bifocals: Benjamin Franklin
1783: Hot air balloon: Montgolfier brothers
1784: Shrapnel shell: Henry Shrapnel
1785: Parachute: Jean Pierre Blanchard
1787: Non-condensing high pressure Engine: Oliver Evans
1791: Steamboat: John Fitch
1790: Cut and head nail machine: Jacob Perkins
1793: Cotton Gin: Eli Whitney
1793: Moldboard plow: Thomas Jefferson
1793: Optical telegraph: Claude Chappe
1797: Cast iron plow: Charles Newbold
1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner
1799: Seeding machine: Eliakim Spooner

19th century

1800s

1800: Electric battery: Alessandro Volta
1802: Screw propeller steamboat Phoenix: John Stevens
1805: Torpedo: Robert Fulton
1805: Refrigerator: Oliver Evans
1807: Steamboat Clermont: Robert Fulton
1808: Band saw: William Newberry

1810s

1811: Gun- Breechloader: Thornton (?)
1816: Miner’s safety lampDavy lamp:Humphry Davy
1816: Hand printing press: George Clymer
1816: Metronome: Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (reputed)
1817: Kaleidoscope: David Brewster
1819: Breech loading flintlock: John Hall
1819: Stethoscope: Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec

1820s

1822: Artificial teeth: C.M. Graham
1823: Electromagnet: William Sturgeon
1827: Insulated wire: Joseph Henry
1827: Friction match: John Walker
1826: Photography: Joseph Nicephore Niepce
1826: internal combustion engine: Samuel Morey

1830s

1830: Locomotive in U.S., Tom Thumb: Peter Cooper
1831: Multiple coil magnet: Joseph Henry
1831: Magnetic acoustic telegraph: Joseph Henry
1831: Reaper: Cyrus McCormick
1834: Electric motor: Thomas Davenport
1835: Photogenic Drawing: William Henry Fox Talbot
1835: Revolver: Samuel Colt
1835: Morse code: Samuel Morse
1836: Improved screw propeller: John Ericsson
1837: Photography: Louis-Jacques-MandŽ Daguerre
1837: Steel plow: John Deere
1838: Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone
1839: Vulcanization of rubber: Charles Goodyear

1840s

1840: Ship w/subwater machinery Princeton: John Ericsson
1840: artificial fertilizer: Justus von Liebig
1842: Anaesthesia: Crawford Long
1843: Typewriter: Charles Thurber
1844: Telegraph: Samuel Morse
1845: Portland cement: William Aspdin
1845: Double tube tire: Robert Thomson
1846: Sewing machine: Elias Howe
1846: Rotary printing press: Richard M. Hoe
1849: Safety pin: Walter Hunt
1849: Hydraulic turbine: James B. Francis

1850s

1852: Airship: Henri Giffard
1852: Passenger elevator: Elisha Otis
1852: Gyroscope: LŽon Foucault
1853: Glider: Sir George Cayley
1855: Bunsen burner: Robert Bunsen
1856: Steel process: Henry Bessemer
1858: Undersea telegraph cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne
1858: Shoe sole sewing machine: Lyman R. Blake
1858: Mason jar: John Mason
1859: Oil drill: Edwin L. Drake
1860: Linoleum: Fredrick Walton

1860s

1860: Repeating rifle: Oliver F. Winchester, Christopher Spencer
1861: Ironclad USS Monitor: John Ericsson
1861: Furnace for steel: Wilhelm von Siemens
1862: Revolving machine gun: Richard J. Gatling
1863: Player piano: Henri Fourneaux
1864: Sleeping car: George Pullman
1865: Compression ice machine: Thaddeus Lowe
1866: Dynamite: Alfred Nobel
1867: Practical Typewriter: Christopher L. Sholes
1868: Typewriter: Carlos Glidden, James Densmore and Samuel Soule
1868: Air brake: George Westinghouse
1868: Lawn mower: Hills Budding Ferrabee (???)
1868: Oleomargarine: Mege Mouries
1869: Vacuum cleaner: I.W. McGaffers

1870s

1870: Magic Lantern movie projector: Henry R. Heyl
1870: Stock ticker: Thomas Alva Edison
1871: Cable car on rails: Andrew S. Hallidie
1871: Compressed air rock drill: Simon Ingersoll
1872: Celluloid: John W. Hyatt
1872: Adding machine: Edmund D. Barbour
1874: Electric street car: Stephen Dudle Field
1874: Barbed wire: Joseph Glidden, Jacob Haish
1875: Dynamo: William A. Anthony
1875: Gun- (magazine): B. Hotchkiss
1875: Automobile, experimental: Siegfried Marcus
1876: Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
1876: Telephone: Elisha Gray
1876: Carpet sweeper: Melville Bissell
1876: Gasoline carburettor: Daimler
1877: Induction motor: Nikola Tesla
1877: Phonograph: Thomas Alva Edison
1877: Electric welding: Elihu Thomson
1878: Cathode ray tube: William Crookes
1878: Transparent film: Eastman Goodwin
1879: Incandescent Light bulb: Thomas Alva Edison
1879: Automobile engine: Karl Benz
1879: Cash register: James Ritty
1879: Automobile (Patent): George B. Seldon … note did NOT invent auto

1880s

1880: Photophone: Alexander Graham Bell
1880: Roll Film: George Eastman
1880: Safety Razor: Kampfe Brothers
1880: Seismograph: John Milne
1881: Electric welding machine: Elihu Thomson
1882: Electric fan: Schuyler Skatts Wheeler
1882: Electric flat iron: Henry W. Seely
1883: Auto engine – compression ignition: Gottlieb Daimler
1884: Linotype machine: Ottmar Mergenthaler
1884: Fountain pen: Lewis Waterman NB: Did not invent fountain pen, nor
even “first practical fountain pen”. Started manufacture in 1883, too.
1884: Punched card accounting: Herman Hollerith
1884: Trolley car, (electric): Frank Sprague, Karel Van de Poele
1885: Automobile, differential gear: Karl Benz
1885: Motor cycle: Gottlieb Daimler
1885: Alternating current transformer: [[William Stanley]]
1886: Gasoline engine: Gottlieb Daimler
1887: Monotype machine: Tolbert Lanston
1887: Record disk: Emile Berliner
1887: Automobile, (gasoline): Gottlieb Daimler
1888: Polyphase AC Electric power system: Nikola Tesla (30 related patents.)
1888: Kodak hand camera: George Eastman
1888: Ballpoint pen: John Loud
1888: Pneumatic tube tire: John Boyd Dunlop
1888: Harvester-thresher: Matteson (?)
1888: Kinematograph: Augustin Le Prince
1889: Automobile, (steam): Sylvester Roper

1890s

1890: Pneumatic Hammer: Charles B. King
1891: Automobile Storage Battery: William Morrison
1891: Submarine: John Holland
1891: Zipper: Whitcomb Judson
1891: Carborundum: Edward G. Acheson
1892: Color photography: Frederic E. Ives
1892: Automobile, (electric): William Morrison
1892: Automobile, (gasoline): Duryea Brothers
1892: Automatic telephone exchange (electromechanical): Almon Strowger
- First in commercial service.
1893: Photographic gun: E.J. Marcy
1893: Half tone engraving: Frederick Ives
1893: Wireless communication: Nikola Tesla
1895: Phatoptiken projector: Woodville Latham
1895: Phantascope: C. Francis Jenkins
1895: Disposable blades: King C. Gillette
1895: Diesel engine: Rudolf Diesel
1895: Radio signals: Guglielmo Marconi
1896: Vitascope: Thomas Armat
1896: Steam turbine: Charles Curtis
1896: Electric stove: William S. Hadaway
1897: Automobile, magneto: Robert Bosch
1898: Remote control: Nikola Tesla
1899: Automobile self starter: Clyde J. Coleman
1899: Magnetic tape recorder: Valdemar Poulsen
1899: Gas turbine: Charles Curtis

20th century

1900s

1900: Rigid dirigible airship: Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin
1901: Improved wireless transmitter: Reginald Fessenden
1901: Mercury vapor lamp: Peter C. Hewitt
1901: paperclip: Johan Vaaler
1902: Radio magnetic detector: Guglielmo Marconi
1902: Radio telephone: Poulsen Reginald Fessenden
1902: Rayon cellulose ester: Arthur D. Little
1903: Electrocardiograph (EKG): Willem Einthoven
1903: Powered Airplane: Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright
1903: Bottle machine: Michael Owens
1904: Thermionic valve: John Ambrose Fleming
1904: Separable Attachment Plug: Harvey Hubbell
1905: Radio tube diode: John Ambrose Fleming
1906: Triode amplifier: Lee DeForest
1907: Radio amplifier: Lee DeForest
1907: Radio tube triode: Lee DeForest
1907: Vacuum cleaner, (electric): James Spangler
1907: Washer, (electric): Alva Fisher (Hurley Corporation)
1909: Monoplane: Henry W. Walden
1909: Bakelite: Leo Baekeland
1909: Gun silencer: Hiram Maxim

1910s

1911: Gyrocompass: Elmer A. Sperry
1911: Automobile self starter (perfected): Charles F. Kettering
1911: Air conditioner: Willis Haviland Carrier
1911: Cellophane: Jacques Brandenburger
1911: Hydroplane: Glenn Curtiss
1912: Regenerative radio circuit: Edwin H. Armstrong
1913: Improved X-Ray: William D. Coolidge
1913: Double acting wrench: Robert Owen
1913: Cracking process for Gasoline: William M. Burten
1913: Gyroscope stabilizer: Elmer A. Sperry
1913: Geiger counter: Hans Geiger
1913: Radio receiver, cascade tuning: Ernst Alexanderson
1913: Radio receiver, heterodyne: Reginald Fessenden
1914: Radio transmitter triode mod.: Ernst Alexanderson
1914: Liquid fuel rocket: Robert Goddard
1914: Tank, military: Ernest Dunlop Swinton
1915: Filament Tungsten: Irving Langmuir
1915: Searchlight arc: Elmer A. Sperry
1915: Radio tube oscillator: Lee DeForest
1916: Browning Gun: John Browning
1916: Thompson submachine gun: John T. Thompson
1916: Incandescent gas lamp: Irving Langmuir
1917: Sonar echolocation: Paul Langevin
1918: Super heterodyne: Edwin H. Armstrong
1918: Radio crystal oscillator: A.M. Nicolson
1918: Toaster: Charles Strite
1919: the Theremin: Leon Theremin

1920s

1922: RADAR: Robert Watson-Watt Taylor Young Breit Tuve
1922: Technicolor: Herbert T. Kalmus
1923: Arc tube: Alexanderson
1923: Sound film: Lee DeForest
1923: Television Electronic: Philo Farnsworth
1923: Wind tunnel: Max Munk
1923: Autogyro: Juan de la Cierva
1925: Theodor Svedberg develops the ultra-centrifuge, thereby
revolutionizing the determination of molecular weights
1925: Television Iconoscope: Vladimir Zworykin
1925: Television Nipkow System: C. Francis Jenkins
1925: Telephoto: C. Francis Jenkins
1926: Television Mechanical Scanner: John Logie Baird
1927: Mechanical cotton picker: John Rust
1928: sliced bread: Otto Frederick Rohwedder
1928: Radio beacon: Donovan (?)
1928: Electric dry shaver: Jacob Schick
1929: Electroencephelograph (EEG): Hans Berger
1929: Antibiotics