Timeline of Invention

: Patent Information > Topics Directory >

Timeline of Invention

A chronological list of inventions.

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 is used here.

You may also like to read about:

• Intellectual Property Protection Legal Right

• Intelectual Property Industry Trends Magazine

4th millennium BC
3800s BC: Engineered roadway in England
3500 BC: Plywood in Egypt
3500 BC: Writing in Sumer
3500 BC: Carts in Sumer
Bronze by the Maikops
Silk in China
Cement in Egypt
River boats in Egypt

3rd millennium BC
2800 BC: Soap in Babylonia
sledges in Scandinavia
the use of yeast for leavened bread
Alphabet in Egypt

2nd millennium BC
Glass in Egypt
Rubber in Mesoamerica
Spoked wheel chariot in the Middle East
Water clock in Egypt
Bells in China

1st millennium BC
Arch in Greece
600s BC: Coins in Lydia
500s BC: Dental bridge in Etruria
400s BC: Catapult in Syracuse
300s BC: Compass in China.
300s BC: Screw: Archytas
200s BC: Crossbow in China
200s BC: Compound pulley: Archimedes
200s BC: Odometer: Archimedes?
150s BC: Astrolabe: Hipparchus
100s BC: Parchment in Pergamon
1st century BC: Glassblowing in Syria
87 BC: Clockwork (the Antikythera mechanism): Posidonius?

1st millennium
1st century: Aeolipile: Hero of Alexandria
1st century: Stern mounted rudder in China
105: Paper: Cai Lun
132: Rudimentary Seismometer: Zhang Heng
200s: Wheelbarrow: Zhuge Liang
200s: Horseshoes in Germany
300s: Stirrup in China
300s: Toothpaste in Egypt
600: Mouldboard plough in Eastern Europe
600s: Windmill in Persia
673: Greek fire: Kallinikos
800s: Gunpowder in China
852: Parachute: Armen Firman
900: Horse collar in Europe
Woodblock printing in China
Porcelain in China
Spinning wheel in China or India

2nd millennium

11th century
1040s: Moveable type printing: Bi Sheng

12th century
1128: Cannon in China

13th century
1280s: Eyeglasses in Northern Italy

14th century
1335: Mechanical clock in Milan

15th century
Arquebus and Rifle in Europe
1450s: Alphabetic, movable type printing press: Johann Gutenberg
1451: Concave lens for eyeglasses: Nicholas of Cusa
1498: Toothbrush in China

16th century
1510: Pocket watch: Peter Henlein
1540: Ether: Valerius Cordus
1576: Ironclad warship: Oda Nobunaga
1581: Pendulum: Galileo Galilei
1589: Stocking frame: William Lee
1593: Thermometer: Galileo Galilei
1596: Flush toilet: John Harington
Musket in Europe
Pencil in England

17th century
1608: Telescope: Hans Lippershey
1609: Microscope: Galileo Galilei
1620: Slide rule: William Oughtred
1623: Automatic calculator: Wilhelm Schickard
1642: Adding machine: Blaise Pascal
1643: Barometer: Evangelista Torricelli
1645: Vacuum pump: Otto von Guericke
1657: Pendulum clock: Christiaan Huygens
1698: Steam engine: Thomas Savery

18th century
1701: Seed drill: Jethro Tull
1705: Steam piston engine: Thomas Newcomen
1709: Piano: Bartolomeo Cristofori
1710: Thermometer: René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
1711: Tuning fork: John Shore
1714: Mercury thermometer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
1730: Mariner's quadrant: Thomas Godfrey
1731: Sextant: John Hadley
1733: Flying shuttle: John Kay (Flying Shuttle)
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
1767: Carbonated water: Joseph Priestley
1769: Steam engine: James Watt
1769: Water Frame: Richard Arkwright
1775: Submarine Turtle: David Bushnell
1777: Card teeth making machine: Oliver Evans
1777: Circular saw: Samuel Miller
1779: Spinning mule: Samuel Crompton
1783: Multitubular boiler engine: John Stevens
1783: Parachute: Jean Pierre Blanchard
1783: Hot air balloon: Montgolfier brothers
1784: Bifocals: Benjamin Franklin
1784: Shrapnel shell: Henry Shrapnel
1785: Power loom: Edmund Cartwright
1785: Automatic flour mill: Oliver Evans
1787: Non-condensing high pressure Engine: Oliver Evans
1790: Cut and head nail machine: Jacob Perkins
1791: Steamboat: John Fitch
1791: Artificial teeth: Nicholas Dubois De Chemant
1793: Cotton gin: Eli Whitney
1793: Optical telegraph: Claude Chappe
1797: Cast iron plow: Charles Newbold
1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner
1798: Lithography: Alois Senefelder
1799: Seeding machine: Eliakim Spooner

19th century

1800s
1800: Electric battery: Alessandro Volta
1801: Jacquard loom: Joseph Marie Jacquard
1802: Screw propeller steamboat Phoenix: John Stevens
1802: gas stove: Zachaus Andreas Winzler
1805: Submarine Nautilus: Robert Fulton
1805: Refrigerator: Oliver Evans
1807: Steamboat Clermont: Robert Fulton
1808: Band saw: William Newberry

1810s
1811: Gun- Breechloader: Thornton
1812: Metronome: Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel
1813: Hand printing press: George Clymer
1814: Steam Locomotive (Blucher): George Stephenson
1816: Miner's safety lamp: Humphry Davy
1816: Metronome: Johann Nepomuk Maelzel (reputed)
1816: Stirling engine: Robert Stirling
1816: Stethoscope: Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec
1817: Kaleidoscope: David Brewster
1819: Breech loading flintlock: John Hall

1820s
1821: Electric motor: Michael Faraday
1823: Electromagnet: William Sturgeon
1826: Photography: Joseph Nicephore Niépce
1826: internal combustion engine: Samuel Morey
1827: Insulated wire: Joseph Henry
1827: Screw propeller: Josef Ressel
1827: Friction match: John Walker

1830s
1830: Lawn mower: Edwin Beard Budding
1831: Multiple coil magnet: Joseph Henry
1831: Magnetic acoustic telegraph: Joseph Henry
1831: Reaper: Cyrus McCormick
1831: Electrical generator: Michael Faraday, Stefan Jedlik
1835: Photogenic Drawing: William Henry Fox Talbot
1835: Revolver: Samuel Colt
1835: Morse code: Samuel Morse
1835: Electromechanical Relay: Joseph Henry
1836: Improved screw propeller: John Ericsson
1836: Sewing machine: Josef Madersberger
1837: Photography: Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
1837: Steel plow: John Deere
1837: Standard diving dress: Augustus Siebe
1837: Camera Zoom Lens: Jozef Maximilian Petzval
1838: Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone
1839: Vulcanization of rubber: Charles Goodyear

1840s
1840: Frigate with submarine machinery SS Princeton: John Ericsson
1840: artificial fertilizer: Justus von Liebig
1842: Anaesthesia: Crawford Long
1843: Typewriter: Charles Thurber
1843: Fax machine: Alexander Bain
1843: Ice cream maker: Nancy Johnson
1844: Telegraph: Samuel Morse
1845: Portland cement: William Aspdin
1845: Double tube tire: Robert Thomson (inventor)
1846: Sewing machine: Elias Howe
1846: Rotary printing press: Richard M. Hoe
1849: Safety pin: Walter Hunt
1849: Francis turbine: James B. Francis

1850s
1852: Airship: Henri Giffard
1852: Passenger elevator: Elisha Otis
1852: Gyroscope: Léon Foucault
1853: Glider: Sir George Cayley
1855: Bunsen burner: Robert Bunsen
1855: Bessemer process: Henry Bessemer
1856: First celluloids: Alexander Parkes
1858: Undersea telegraph cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne
1858: Shoe sole sewing machine: Lyman R. Blake
1858: Mason jar: John L. Mason
1859: Oil drill: Edwin L. Drake

1860s
1860: Linoleum: Fredrick Walton
1860: Repeating rifle: Oliver F. Winchester, Christopher Spencer
1860: Self-propelled torpedo: Ivan Lupis-Vukic
1861: Ironclad USS Monitor: John Ericsson
1861: Regenerative Furnace: Carl Wilhelm Siemens
1862: Revolving machine gun: Richard J. Gatling
1862: Mechanical submarine: Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol
1862: Pasteurization: Louis Pasteur, Claude Bernard
1863: Player piano: Henri Fourneaux
1864: First concept typewriter: Peter Mitterhofer
1865: Compression ice machine: Thaddeus Lowe
1866: Dynamite: Alfred Nobel
1867:
1868: First practical typewriter: Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule, with assistance from James Densmore
1868: Air brake (rail): George Westinghouse
1868: Oleomargarine: Mege Mouries
1869: Vacuum cleaner: I.W. McGaffers

1870s
1870: Magic Lantern projector: Henry R. Heyl
1870: Stock ticker: Thomas Alva Edison
1870: Mobile Gasoline Engine, Automobile: Siegfried Marcus
1871: Cable car (railway): Andrew S. Hallidie
1871: Compressed air rock drill: Simon Ingersoll
1872: Celluloid (later development): John W. Hyatt
1872: Adding machine: Edmund D. Barbour
1873: Barbed wire: Joseph F. Glidden
1873: Railway knuckle coupler: Eli H. Janney
1873: Modern direct current electric motor: Zenobe Gramme
1874: Electric street car: Stephen Dudle Field
1875: Dynamo: William A. Anthony
1875: Gun- (magazine): Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
1876: Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell
1876: Telephone: Elisha Gray
1876: Carpet sweeper: Melville Bissell
1876: Gasoline carburettor: Daimler
1877: Stapler: Henry R. Heyl
1877: Induction motor: Nikola Tesla
1877: Phonograph: Thomas Alva Edison
1877: Electric welding: Elihu Thomson
1877: Twine Knotter: John Appleby
1878: Cathode ray tube: William Crookes
1878: Transparent film: Eastman Goodwin
1878: Rebreather: Henry Fleuss
1878: Incandescent Light bulb: Joseph Swan
1879: Pelton turbine: Lester Pelton
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
1883: two-phase (alternating current) induction motor: Nikola Tesla
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: Maxim gun: Hiram Stevens Maxim
1885: Motor cycle: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach
1885: Alternating current transformer: William Stanley
1886: Dishwasher: Josephine Cochrane
1886: Gasoline engine: Gottlieb Daimler
1886: Improved phonograph cylinder: Tainter & Bell
1887: Monotype machine: Tolbert Lanston
1887: Contact lens: Adolf E. Fick, Eugene Kalt and August Muller
1887: Gramophone record: 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: Zipper: Whitcomb L. Judson
1891: Carborundum: Edward G. Acheson
1892: Color photography: Frederic E. Ives
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
1895: Shredded Wheat: Henry Perky
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: Washing machine, (electric): Alva Fisher (Hurley Corporation)
1909: Monoplane: Henry W. Walden
1909: Bakelite: Leo Baekeland
1909: Gun silencer: Hiram Percy Maxim

1910s
1910: Thermojet engine: Henri Coanda
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: photography ;Lapse-time camera for use with plants:Arthur C. Pillsbury
1912: Regenerative radio circuit: Edwin H. Armstrong
1913: Crossword puzzle: Arthur Wynne
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
1913: Stainless steel: Harry Brearley
1914: Radio transmitter triode mod.: Ernst Alexanderson
1914: Liquid fuel rocket: Robert Goddard
1914: Tank, military: Ernest Dunlop Swinton
1915: Tungsten Filament: 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: Interrupter gear: Anton Fokker
1918: Radio crystal oscillator: A.M. Nicolson
1918: Pop-up toaster: Charles Strite
1919: the Theremin: Leon Theremin
1919: First licensed radio station, KDKA AM, in Pennsylvania, USA

1920s
mechanical potato peeler: Herman Lay
1922: Radar: Robert Watson-Watt, A. H. Taylor, L. C. Young, Gregory Breit, Merle Antony Tuve
1922: Technicolor: Herbert T. Kalmus
1922: Water skiing: Ralph Samuelson
1922: Photography : First mass production photo machine:Arthur C. Pillsbury
1923: Arc tube: Ernst Alexanderson
1923: Sound film: Lee DeForest
1923: Television Electronic: Philo Farnsworth
1923: Wind tunnel: Max Munk
1923: Autogyro: Juan de la Cierva
1923: Xenon flash lamp: Harold Edgerton
1925: ultra-centrifuge: Theodor Svedberg - used to determine 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
1926: Aerosol spray: Rotheim
1927: Mechanical cotton picker: John Rust
1927: Photography:First microscopic motion picture camera: Arthur C. Pillsbury
1928: sliced bread: Otto Frederick Rohwedder
1928: Electric dry shaver: Jacob Schick
1928: Antibiotics: Alexander Fleming
1929: Electroencephelograph (EEG): Hans Berger
1929:Photography:First X-Ray motion picture camera:Arthur C. Pillsbury

1930s
1930: Neoprene: Wallace Carothers
1930: Nylon: Wallace Carothers
1930: Photography: Underwater Motion Picture Camera: Arthur C. Pillsbury
1931: the Radio telescope: Karl Jansky Grote Reber
1932: Polaroid glass: Edwin H. Land
1935: microwave radar: Robert Watson-Watt
1935: Trampoline: George Nissen and Larry Griswold
1935: Spectrophotometer: Arthur C. Hardy
1935: Casein fiber: Earl Whittier Stephen
1935: Hammond Organ: Laurens Hammond
1936: Pinsetter (bowling): Gottfried Schmidt
1937: Jet engine: Frank Whittle Hans von Ohain
1938: Fiberglass: Russell Games Slayter John H. Thomas
1938: Computer: Konrad Zuse
1939: FM radio: Edwin H. Armstrong
1939: Helicopter: Igor Sikorsky
1939: View-master: William Gruber

1940s
1942: Bazooka Rocket Gun: Leslie A. Skinner C. N. Hickman
1942: Undersea oil pipeline: Hartley, Anglo-Iranian, Siemens in Operation Pluto
1942: frequency hopping: Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil
1943: Aqua-Lung: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan
1943: electronic programmable digital computer: Tommy Flowers [1]
1944: Electron spectrometer: Deutsch Elliot Evans
1945: Nuclear weapons (but note: chain reaction theory: 1933)
1946: microwave oven: Percy Spencer
1947: Transistor: William Shockley, Walter Brattain, John Bardeen
1947: Polaroid camera: Edwin Land
1948: Long Playing Record: Peter Carl Goldmark
1949: Atomic clocks

1950s
1951: Liquid Paper: Bette Nesmith Graham
1952: fusion bomb: Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam
1952: hovercraft: Christopher Cockerell
1953: maser: Charles Townes
1953: medical ultrasonography
1954: transistor radio (dated from the from Regency TR1) (USA)
1954: first nuclear power reactor
1954: geodesic dome: Buckminster Fuller
1955: Velcro: George de Mestral
1957: Jet Boat: William Hamilton
1957: EEG topography: Walter Grey Walter
1957: Bubble Wrap - Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes of Sealed Air
1958: the Integrated circuit: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor
1959: snowmobile: Joseph-Armand Bombardier

1960s
1960s: Packet switching: Donald Davies and Paul Baran, video games
1960: lasers: Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Aircraft
1962: Communications satellites: Arthur C. Clarke
1962: Light-emitting diode: Nick Holonyak
1963: Computer mouse: Douglas Engelbart
1965: 8-track tapes: William Powell Lear
1968: Video game console: Ralph Baer
1968: Videoconferencing: AT&T
1969: the ARPANET, predecessor of the Internet

1970s
1970: Fiber optics
1971: E-mail: Ray Tomlinson
1971: the Microprocessor
1971: the Pocket calculator
1971: Magnetic resonance imaging: Raymond V. Damadian
1972: Computed Tomography: Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
1973: Ethernet: Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs
1973: Monash University scientists report the world's first IVF pregnancy.
1974: Scramjet: NASA and United States Navy -- first operational prototype flown in 2002
1974: Heimlich Maneuever: Henry Heimlich
1975: digital camera: Steven Sasson
1976: Gore-Tex fabric: W. L. Gore
1977: the personal computer (dated from Commodore PET)
1978: Philips releases the laserdisc player
1978: Spring loaded camming device: Ray Jardine
1978: The first bionic ear was fitted to an Australian patient. Graeme Clark
1979: the Walkman: Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka, Kozo Ohsone
1979: the cellular telephone (first commercially fielded version, NTT)
197x: Leaf blower (exact year unknown)
1970s: Tomahawk Cruise Missile (first computerized cruise missile)

1980s
1981: the Xerox Star is the first computer to feature a WIMP graphical user interface
1982: Sony and Philips release compact discs
1983: the Internet Protocol, which created the Internet as we know it
1983: Domain Name System: Paul Mockapetris
1985: polymerase chain reaction: Kary Mullis
1985: DNA fingerprinting: Alec Jeffreys
1986: breadmaker
1989: the World Wide Web: Tim Berners-Lee

1990s
1991: genetically modified, herbicide tolerant soybeans developed
1993: Global Positioning System
1995: DVD standard developed
1996: cloning of mammals: Ian Wilmut and others
1997: Self-heating can
1998: Portable digital audio player (MP3 player)
1998: Personal video recorder
1999: IEEE 802.11b
1999: Bluetooth

3rd millennium

21st century
2001: Digital satellite radio
2001: Artificial heart.