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Wind-powered sawmill
The first wind-driven sawmill, built in 1592 in the Netherlands by Cornelis Cornelisz, was mounted on a raft to permit easy turning into the wind. -
Steam pump
Thomas Savery patents "the Miners Friend" a machine that pumps water from coal mines; it becomes the first practical machine powered by steam. -
Steam engine
The steam engine is perfected by James Watt. His scale model engine has a condenser that is separated from the cylinder so that the cylinder does not lose heat each time the steam condenses, resulting in a power source six-times more effective. -
First lead-acid storage battery
Gaston Plante in Paris invents the first lead-acid storage battery, which produces electricity from a chemical reaction and can be recharged again and again. -
Oil pipeline
The first major oil pipeline to successfully transport crude petroleum was completed by Samuel Van Syckel of Titusville, Pa. It was about five miles long. -
Fuel rationing
Gasoline and fuel rationing (in place because of the war efforts) ends in the United States. -
Solar powered house
The first completely solar heated house was occupied in Dover, Massachusetts. -
Nuclear powered lighthouse
The world's first nuclear powered lighthouse, the "Baltimore Light," on the Chesapeake Bay in Md., went into operation on this date. A 60-watt radioisotope nuclear generator, 345 inches high, weighing 4,600 pounds, supplied a continuous flow of electricity for 10 years without refueling. -
First geothermal plant
UNOCAL builds the country's first flash geothermal plant, generating 10 MW at Brawley, California. -
Oil
Oil is struck for the first time in the Middle East at Mas jid-i-Suleiman in Persia (Iran).
