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Voltaic Pile by Count Alessandro Volta
The first practical method of generating electricity. Constructed of alternating discs of zinc and copper with pieces of cardboard soaked in brine between the metals, the Voltaic Pile produced electrical current -
Spectroscope by Joseph von Fraunhofer
Fraunhofer made a significant experimental leap forward by replacing a prism with a diffraction grating as the source of wavelength dispersion. Fraunhofer built off the theories of light interference developed by Thomas Young. -
Electromagnet by William Sturgeon.
An horseshoe-shaped piece of iron that was wrapped with a loosely wound coil of several turns. Sturgeon displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wires through which the current of a single cell battery was sent. -
Typewriter by W.A. Burt
An rectangular wooden box that depressed a rotating lever, causing ink to be released onto a sheet of paper. -
Sewing machine by Barthelemy Thimonnier
Thimonnier's machine used only one thread and a hooked needle that made the same chain stitch used with embroidery -
Dr. William Morton is the first to use anesthesia.
Was first used at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston by dentist William T.G. Morton and surgeon John Warren on October 16, 1846. -
Hamilton Smith patents a rotary washing machine.
James King in 1851 created the first washing machine to use a drum, Hamilton Smith in 1858 patented a rotary version -
Robert Whitehead invents the torpedo
Whitehead developed the first experimental model of an automobile torpedo in 1866. Propelled by a two-cylinder, compressed-air engine, this early iteration could travel 200 yards at a speed of 6½ knots. -
Alfred Nobel patents dynamite
Nobel received U.S. patent number 78,317 for his invention of dynamite. To be able to detonate the dynamite rods, Nobel also improved his detonator (blasting cap) so that it could be ignited by lighting a fuse. -
Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone
Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his revolutionary new invention: the telephone. The Scottish-born Bell worked in London with his father, Melville Bell, who developed Visible Speech, a written system used to teach speaking to the deaf. -
John Pemberton introduces Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola was first introduced on May 8, 1886 by a pharmacist named Dr. John S. Pemberton. The recipe for Coca-Cola removed the alcohol present in Pemberton's previous drink recipe for Pemberton's French Wine Coca, as prohibition legislation had been passed in Atlanta, Georgia. -
Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel-fueled internal combustion engine
Rudolf Diesel invented an efficient, compression ignition, internal combustion engine that bears his name. Early diesel engines were large and operated at low speeds due to the limitations of their compressed air-assisted fuel injection systems -
J.S. Thurman patents the motor-driven vacuum cleaner.
John Thurman invented a gasoline-powered vacuum cleaner in 1899 and some historians consider it the first motorized vacuum cleaner.