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Steam Locomotive Railway
The first steam locomotive railway was built in 1804 by Richard Trevithick. It was named Penydarren. The original purpose for it was to carry iron from Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon Wales. It could carry a total of 25 tons. -
Typographer (Typewriter)
The first recorded version of the typewriter was made by William Austin Burt. It was a mechanism that was worked by hand to print ink on paper. The original model of the Typographer was destroyed in an office fire. Its main purpose was to speed up secretary work. There is a more efficient version of this that is reminiscent of something you would see today. This was built later by Christopher Latham Sholes. -
Gatling Gun
One of the first rapid-fire firearms was the Gatling Gun. It was created by Richard Jordan Gatling and used during the American Civil War. It is operated by a hand turning crank. This was the first step in many rapid-fire firearms in today's world. -
Phonograph
The Phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. It was one of the earliest mechanical musical devices that could not only record sound but play it as well. It also has many other names such as the Gramophone or Record Player. It allowed the playing of music for people to listen and enjoy. -
Incandescent Light Bulb
Thomas Edison is widely known as the inventor of the light bulb. He did do practical research into creating some form of incandescent light source. The first demonstration of his idea was at Menlo Park. At the time it was an expensive process but Edison believed that "We will make electricity so cheap, that only the rich will burn candles." -
First Gasoline-Powered Automobile
The first gas-powered automobile was built by both Karl Friedrich Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. The two had their patents for their own vehicles filled out on the same day. Benz's was a three-wheeled vehicle, while Daimler's was a four-wheeled vehicle that features the worlds first high-speech gasoline engine. -
Radio
The first long-distance wireless telegraph was sent in 1901 by a man named Guglielmo Marconi. His soon to be called "radios" were a massive uplifting in our communication industry. They ended the isolation of oceanic travel by creating a system that could wirelessly send out a transcript of a message to another receiving end. Marconi's Radios even won him a Nobel Prize in physics. -
Wright Brothers Powered Airplane
Wilbur and Orville Wright had always been fascinated with the idea of flight. They were presumed insane with this idea that seemed impossible at the time. They had already created a form of a glider in 1902. The calculations needed for their new powered aircraft were very complex. After much work and construction, the Wright brothers had designed and flown the first powered aircraft four times at Kitty Hawk. It was the first step in all aircraft travel today. -
Band-Aids
Band-Aids were created by a couple named Earle and Josephine Dickson. They got the idea from Earle helping Josephine pack gauze and cotton on her wounds with adhesive tape. You are able to find it in every first-aid kit today. This product sped up the slow process of packing minor wounds. -
All-Electronic Television
The worlds first all-electronic television was invented by a farm boy named Philo Farnsworth. He may not have been the first to come up with the idea, but he was the first to not include any mechanical aspect to it. He got the idea from driving a horse-drawn harrow across his farm. The straight parallel lines in the field made him envision a new idea for television. -
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb
The worlds first atomic bomb was deployed in Hiroshima during World War Two. It was used against the Japanese and had the most devastating power the world had ever seen. The whole man behind this was J. Robert Oppenheimer. This was a weapon of mass destruction that was meant to end wars, and it did just that. Oppenheimer is commonly known as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb."
