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The Steam Engine
The steam engine uses hot steam to do work. The steam is pressurized, which causes it to expand. In a reciprocating engine, the pressurized steam pushes a piston, which in turn drives a crank and flywheel to create rotary motion. In a turbine engine, the steam turns a turbine to create rotary motion. James Watt is often credited with the first highly successful steam engine, but didn't actually invent it. His steam engine kick-started the industrial era with its ability to do work autonomously. -
The Locomotive
The locomotive, invented by George Stephenson, revolutionized transportation. It used a steam engine to cause its wheels to turn. Early locomotives, also known as high pressure machines at the time, were used to transport coal and the like in mines. In 1812, congress started a national railroad system across the country. By 1850, someone could get across the country in three in a half days. Before the locomotive, it could take four days. -
The Electric Dynamo
The Electric Dynamo was the first machine capable of autonomously generating electricity. Commonly used alongside steam engines, They could create electricity without human help. The first dynamo, made by Micheal Faraday, featured a disk that spun between two magnets, creating an electric current. While not very efficient, his generator formed the basic design for future dynamos. -
The Analytical Engine
The first programmable computation machine, the Analytical engine was a breakthrough in computer science. Invented by Charles Babbage in 1837, It had many features similar to those of a modern computer. The analytical engine used punch cards that could give it specific instructions. These instructions were stored until needed, in which case they could be extracted and used by the machine. -
The Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell's telephone was an important development in communication. It allowed people that were very distant to hear each other clearly. It worked by having a different electrical pulse for each sound. However, Bell wasn't the first with the idea for a telephone. Antonio Meucci had an idea for a "talking telegraph," but never got it patented. -
The Phonograph
While other inventors had made machines that could record sound, Thomas Edison's Phonograph was the first machine that could reproduce the recorded sound. The sound was stored on tin-foil coated cylinders. There were two different needles, one for recording and the other for play-back. When recording, the vibrations of the sound would be indented into the foil. When playing the recording, the other needle would follow the indentations made by the first to make sound. -
The Incandescent Light bulb
Thomas Edison's Incandescent Light Bulb was the first practical electrical device to give of light. Edison and his researchers set out on improving the filament, the part that burns when electricity flows through it. After many, many tests, He finally settled on a filament made of bamboo. His light bulb could burn up to 1,200 hours. Edison didn't stop with the light bulb, however, and made a multitude of inventions to make the use of his light bulb practical. -
The Automobile
The first true automobile was invented by Karl Benz, a German inventor, in 1886. However, many other inventors many similar machines throughout the next decade. The automobile was the culmination of the transportation machines that came before as it allowed people to travel relatively cheaply without having to use a horse. Horses were typically unreliable. Although the first cars were made in Germany and France, America quickly took over the industry. -
The Vacuum Cleaner
Invented independently by Hubert Cecil Booth and David T. Kenney in 1901, the Vacuum cleaner used suction to clean surfaces. Also known as the carpet sweeper, it created a partial vacuum to suck in dirt and dust from floors, draperies, and upholstery. It reduced the time it took to clean dramatically. Before the vacuum cleaner, people had to take their carpets outside and beat the dirt out of them. -
The Airplane
In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright got the first heavier than air vehicle to fly. Their plane solved a problem that people had been trying to solve for years: how do you get something that is heavier than air off of the ground? The Wright brothers' plane was only in the air for 12 seconds, and traveled 120 feet. Their plane began the Aerial Age and led to space travel in the 1960's. -
Plastic
Plastic is a cheap but durable material. It is one of the most common materials found today in household items because of its ability to be shaped and then retain that shape. It was invented when Leo Hendrik Baekeland accidentally created Bakelite, a kind of plastic. Plastic didn't become popular until the 1960's, however, because manufacturing techniques made plastic extremely cheap. -
Television
Philo Farnsworth's television was the first machine that could view a moving picture that was recorded somewhere else. Television had a large influence on American culture and society. People could watch programs from almost anywhere in the world. Television also spread American culture throughout the world. It also changed political strategies as politicians can broadcast their advertisements around the country. -
Radar
Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) was made by Sir Robert Watson-Watt. Only four years later, Britain had a string of Radar instantiations along their southern coast. Radar works by sending a radio wave out, and then when something blocks it, it bounces back to the dish. This way, you can know where something is at a certain point in time. -
The Microwave Oven
Percy Spencer created the first microwave oven after World War Two out of radar technology developed during the war. He discovered that microwaves heated things because a candy bar that was in his pocket melted in reaction to the microwaves he was working with at his workplace. After the war, Spencer had an idea to create a cooking device using microwaves. Microwave ovens drastically shortened time spent cooking something. -
The Internet
The original internet, called ARPAnet, was started by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). ARPAnet laid down the basic foundations for the internet we have today. The modern internet was created when ARPAnet adopted TCP/IP. The internet cannot be credited to one person, as it was created by many researchers.
