Curated category
19th-century inventions
- Roberts LoomRichard Roberts was born at Llanymynech, on the border between England and Wales. His father William Roberts worked as a shoemaker and kept the New Bridge…
- Incandescent light bulbIn 1761, Ebenezer Kinnersley demonstrated heating a wire to incandescence. However such wires tended to melt or oxidize very rapidly in the presence of air.
- Steam turbineIn 1884, Sir Charles Parsons unveiled a machine that would change the world. His first model connected to a dynamo generated electricity for lighting.
- PhotographyThe word photography emerged from Greek roots meaning light and drawing. Hércules Florence used the French form of this term in private notes written in 1834.
- AccordionIn 1829, a patent was filed in Vienna by Cyrill Demian for an instrument called the accordion. This document described a device that combined melody and…
- Clothes dryerM. Pochon from France created a hand-cranked clothes dryer in 1800. This early device required physical effort to turn the drum and move air through the…
- Bessemer processHenry Bessemer filed his first patent application in October 1855, securing the legal rights to his steel-making method a year later.
- BicycleThe year 1817 marked a quiet moment in Mannheim, Germany. Baron Karl von Drais introduced his Laufmaschine to the public that spring.
- FilmA locomotive races toward the audience at high speed, and according to legend, people panic and bolt from the theater. That moment captures something about…
- CarThere are over 1.6 billion cars in use worldwide as of 2025, and the count is still climbing fast. A car is a motor vehicle with wheels that runs primarily…
- Internal combustion engineIn 1876, German engineer Nicolaus Otto patented the compressed charge four-cycle engine. This invention marked a turning point in mechanical history.