Telephone, Carpet Sweeper, Phonograph, Motion Pictures

 Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland in 1847. His mother's deafness inspired him to study acoustics. Bell used a reed system to transmit sound through wires. He received confidence from Joseph Henry in 1815. He patented the telephone in 1876. The telephone lets people talk to each other from far away. Bell made the first phone call in 1876.

Belville Bissel was born in New York in 1843. He opened his own grocery store. He opened a crockery store with his wife in 1870. He invented the carpet sweeper in 1876. Bissel died in 1889, but his wife continued to sell them.

Inventors began experimenting with sound technology in the 1880s. One was the phonautograph and the other was the allophone. The phonautograph was invented in 1817 by a bookseller who lived in Paris. His name was Edwaleon Scott Demartonvil. The payphone was invented in 1877. Thomas Edison was born in Ohio in 1847. His mother trained him to be a self-learner. He invented the phonograph in 1877 (A.K.A. record player).

Edward Muggeridge (Muybridge) was born in England in 1830. He became a photographer in the 1860s. He invented the motion picture in 1874. It allowed us to make immersive entertainments. Thomas Edison got involved after meeting with Muybridge in 1888. The first Hollywood studio was built in 1911.

Riveted Blue Jeans, Fire Sprinkler, QWERTY Keyboard, Dental Drill

 Work clothes were important for factories. Cowboys needed tough clothes too. Expanded railroads attracted workers. Levis Strauss was born in Germany in 1879. He went to America with his mom and two of his sisters when he was 18. His brothers owned a shop. The family entered the dry good business. He moved to San Fransisco during the gold rush. He moved to making tents. One day, a wife asked him to make a strong pair of pants for her husband. He invented blue jeans in 1873. They were more durable than other kinds of work pants.

The fire extinguisher was invented in 1818. The soda extinguisher invented in 1866 was a better system needed for large machines. Congreve invented a manual sprinkler system in 1812. Maxin invented an automatic sprinkler system in England, but it did not catch on. Henry Parmalee was born in Ohio in 1846. He faced high insurance for his piano factory. He invented the automatic fire sprinkler in 1874. It detected heat using sensitive elements. Parmalee had good success in the US.

Christofer Latham Shules, editor in Wisconsin. The typewriter prints letters onto paper when keys are pressed. He invented the QWERt'y keyboard in 1878. It increases typing speed to 100 words per minute. Competitors created alternate layouts. Remington Rand invented the UNIVAC alternate layout in 1936.

Cavities were treated in the ancient world. They used slow hand drills that were very painful. A clockwork drill was invented in 1864. George Green invented the electric dental drill in 1874. Made it easier to fix teeth. Used in filling cavities. It causes less pain.

Clothes Hanger, Rotary Can Opener, Mail Order Catalog, Earmuffs

 In the Middle Ages, nobles and peasants lived together. Clothes were stored in chests. Closets were invented for privacy. Chests of drawers appeared in the 1800s. O. A. North invented Clothes Hanger in 1869 and patented it in January of 1869. Clothes hangers store our clothes. Their shape keeps the clothes from wrinkling. It became important in small New York apartments. Albert Parker invented the wire hanger in 1903. It became a cultural phenomenon because of the scene from "Mommy Dearest" in 1981. Joy Magano invented an improved hanger in 1999.

Tin cans were invented in 1810 in England. They were very hard to open. William Lyman was born in Connecticut in 1821. He was an apprentice to a pewter making company. He invented several products on the side. He invented the Rotary Can Opener in 1870. It allowed almost anyone to open a shut can. Improved versions appeared in 1925. It created the orange juice industry. They keep us safe in the kitchen.

Aaron Montgomery was born in New Jersy in 1844. His family moved to Michigan when he was 9. He became an apprentice of barrel making. He got 25 cents a day. Then he moved to stacking bricks for fireplaces. He became a shoe salesman (a good one). He moved to Chicago at age 21 and learned of rural complaints. He wanted to improve rural service. They wanted prices to be lovered. He invented the mail-order catalog in 1872. It allows people to shop from home. It featured over 20,000 items in just two years.

Ear muffs keep our ears warm in cold and windy weather. 

Combine Harvester, Solar Compass, Propeller, Mechanical Computer

 Hiram Moore, born in 1801 in New Hampshire. More developed the combine Harvester in 1834. Moore sent some to California to harvest over 100 acres of wheat in 1854. The first commercially successful model appeared around 1886.

William Austin Burt, born in 1792, invented the solar compass to solve problems of magnetic interference in 1835. Burt won an award form the Franklin Institute. It became the US Government's standard surveying tool after its patent expired. The solar compass was a complex device that did not suffer from magnetic field interference.

Francis Pettit Smith was born in England in 1808. Another inventor patented a propeller six weeks after smith did. Smith convinced Brunell to use the propeller instead of the paddlewheel. Francis Pettit Smith invented a successful screw propeller in 1835. The screw propeller had advantages over the paddlewheel. It was lighter, more efficient, and helped the ships not rock.

Charles Babbage was born in London in 1791. He became self-taught in math. Babbage envisioned a programmable, mechanical computer that could print tabular data accurately, without error. It even had data memory.

Rotary Printing Press, Kerosene, Antiseptics, Gas Mask

 Richard Hoe was born in New York in 1812. He invented the rotary-press in 1843, 10 years after his dad died. He became president of his father's press manufacturing company when he was 21. The Rotary Press uses rotating drums. It can print 7 million pages per hour. Magazines began growing in popularity during the 1820s.

Al-Razi was born in Iran in 865 A.D. Later on in his life, he discovered kerosene. Kerosene is used for heating and lighting. Knowledge was lost over time. Abraham Genser was born in Canada in 1897. When he was 27, he got married. He moved to England to become a doctor. After meeting Charles Lyell, he became interested in geology. He practiced geology and medicine back home in Canada. He invented Kerosene in 1846. Gesner formed a company in 1850 to sell lamps and oil. He became the richest man in America. He turned completely to giving away his money instead of keeping it. Kerosene put man on the moon.

Ignaz Semmelweis was born in Budapest in 1818. He worked for Vienna General Hospital. He invented a use for antiseptic in 1847. Semmelweis reduced mortality from 18% to 2% in one month. Repeated success in Budapest in 1857. Germ theory gained dominance in the 1880s.

People wear gas masks to filter polluted air. Ancient cultures used gas masks. Lewis P. Haslett invented the prototype of modern version in 1847. Gas masks protect lungs from polluted air. Germans launched chemical weapons in World War I. Modern gas masks were invented in 1844. The army uses gas masks on the battlefield.

Ether, Fax Machine, Steam Ships, Ice Cream

Crawford Long was born in Georgia in 1815. He spent 20 years trying to become a doctor. He used Ether as an anesthetic. An anesthetic is a drug that makes you lose consciousness. This means you fall asleep and you can't see, hear, or feel. In 1842, James Simpson was inspired by ether to invent chloroform for use during childbirth.

Copies of writings used to have to be made by hand. Alexander Bain was born in Scotland in 1811. Bain invented the Fax Machine. He moved to London and combined clockmaking and electricity to make the fax machine. Fax machines scan and reproduce documents and it can transmit a page every 5 seconds over the telephone lines. An Italian developed a machine that became commercially successful around 1861.

Sailing across the high seas was dangerous. Isambard Brunel was born in England in 1806. He was an apprentice to a clockmaker. Brunel built bridges and the Great Western Railroad. Large steamships transport people and cargo long distances across the ocean. The SS Great Eastern laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Now they could send telegraphs over the Atlantic Ocean.

Nancy Johnson invented the hand-cranked Ice Cream machine. The ingredients in ice-cream are whipped cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Put the ingredients together in a stainless steel container. Put that container in a wooden container. Fill that container with ice. Turn a handle until you think it's done. Then take the container out of the wooden container. Then you're done. (we're very thankful for her).

Air Brakes, Traffic Light, Tape Measure, Pipe Wrench

George Westinghouse was born in New York in 1846. He joined the army during the Civil War. He left the army in 1864 and then he joined the navy. He invented the Airbrake system for trains in 1864. The system was made up of a tank, valve, and piping. The shoes must be operated at the same time. Steam posted drives brake shoes against the wheel. He built a demonstration model. He took some really wealthy people on a train with the air brake to demonstrate it. A horse-drawn wagon was on the train tracks. The brakes saved the day.

Before cars, there were horse-drawn wagons. Confusion of which side of the street to travel on. People started getting run over by the 1700s. J. P. Night was born in England in 1828. He was a talented railroad traffic manager. He improved passenger trips. 1100 people were killed in traffic accidents in London in 1868. He invented the Traffic Light in 1868. It created order by making rules. Three light colors control traffic: green, red, and yellow. Computers were linked to the lights in the 1950s. They save many lives everywhere.

The folding ruler was invented in 1851. Alvin J. Fellows was born in Connecticut. A spring tape measurer was invented in England. Used for surveying, Fellows improved this measurer. He invented the tape measurer in 1868. Some heavy-duty ones were made for construction. They were lined up with demarcations. Improved models sold to Stanley in the 1920s. 

Daniel Stillson was born in New Hampshire in 1826. He developed the pipe wrench in 1869. Designed to grip pipes, Stillson sold his patent and made $800,000 in his lifetime. It helped build the Alaskan pipeline.

Dynamite, Chuckwagon, Typewriter II, Ticker Tape

Alfred Nobel was born in Sweden in 1833. His father made weapons for the Russian Tsar. His father experimented with explosives. His little brother was killed in an explosion. He invented Dynamite in 1867. Useful in construction sights, it spread to the mining industry. He grew rich. It led to the development of more powerful bombs.

Charles Goodnight was born in Illinois in 1836. He had about three siblings. He became a cowboy. He helped fight the Commanche Indians. In 1857, he joined the Texas Rangers. He invented the Chuckwagon in 1866. The chuckwagon was a kitchen on wheels that gave rise to marshals and sheriffs. He inspired Westerns.

Christopher Latham Sholes was born in Pennsylvania in 1819, tried inventing the typesetting machine. He invented the modern typewriter in 1967. He desired to easily print page numbers. People can type faster than they can write with their hands. The 1967 prototype secured investors. Sholes began incorporating other types from other models. The 1878 model added lower case letters and led to the QWERTY keyboard. Women entered the workforce as typists. 

Edward Calahan was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1838. Calahan invented Tickertape in 1867. Tickertape is a narrow piece of paper with stock information printed on it. It clicks as it prints. Calahan's idea made better by other inventors including Thomas Edison in 1871. It helped create the ticker-tape parade. The ticker-tape could not keep up with the massive trading volume.

Roller Skates, Barbed Wire, Cowboy Hat, Pasteurization

James Leonard Plimpton invented the modern rollerskates in 1863. Rollerskates are just shoes on wheels. Plimpton's 4-wheel creation was safer than ice skating. He built a roller skating kink in 1866. He rented his skates and competed over 300 patent lawsuits. Renewed popularity in the 1970s with Disco music. It led to the skateboard in the 1950s.

Michael Kelly invented barbed wire in 1868. Barbed wire can control big cattle. Simple and cheap to get, it can last 10-20 years. It made it possible to control large land and is the best way to fence in cattle. Joseph Gidden invented a stronger type in 1873. He used public demonstrations and built a large ranch. It was also used in trench warfare in World War I. It was also used in prison camps.

John B. Stetson was born in New Jersy in 1830. His dad was a hatter. He made hats with his dad. One day, he went west and took notice of hats. The coonskin caps had flaws. There were many different types of hats. He invented the cowboy hat in 1865. Wide brim provided multiple benefits. They were made of waterproof fur felt. It's also useful as a cup for your horse.

Louis Pasteur was born in France in 1822. He went to elementary school in 1831, when he was 9. He drew portraits of his family. He became a chemistry professor. He asked to investigate why wine was turning sour. Pasteurization was developed to stop food and drinks from spoiling. Extended to milk in the 1880s by a German Chemist. 51 laws passed in the 1990s required pasteurized milk. Most milk is pasteurized milk.

Postcard, Gatling Gun, Linoleum, Ratcheting Wrench

The postcard concept appeared in 1861 in the U.S. John P. Charlton patented the idea. He had help from Hymen Lipman inventor of the pencil eraser. The postcard is simple and useful. It is a front and back rectangular card. It spread to England in 1870. The Eiffel Tower was a popular postcard. Some people collect postcards. 

The Cannon was the most powerful weapon in the 1800s. The volley gun fires multiple cannonballs at once. Richard Gatling was born in North Carolina in 1818. He taught school for a while. When he was 36, he moved to Saint Louis. He became a doctor. The Civil War provided his source of inspiration. He wanted to save lives by lessening the amount of soldiers needed on the battlefield. He invented the Gatling Gun in 1861. It's a rapid firing, multi-barrel gun. The modern Gatling gun can fire about 4,000 rounds in a minute. He demonstrated the gun in live combat.

Fredrick Walton was born in England in 1834. He patented linoleum in 1863. Linoleum is a durable floor covering. It can be imprinted with decorative designs. It is made out of linseed oil, combined with sawdust and cork. It was a popular floor covering until the 1950s. 

J. J. Richardson patented ratcheting wrench in 1863. It allows very quick tightening. Easier to get into small spaces. Today, it is a standard technician tool. Original models sell for a lot.

Ironing Board, Internal Combustion Engine, Lever-Action Repeating Rifle, Twist Drill

Before the ironing board was invented, the kitchen table was used. The ironing board was invented in 1858. Unwrinkled clothes make a better impression than wrinkled clothes. The ironing board was improved later on. The electric ironing board was invented in 1859. Manual workers have wrinkled clothes. Home ironing is a much easier task. It is a massive time saver.

Etienne Lenoir was born in Belgium in 1822. He grew interested in electricity. He used sparks to make an internal combustion engine in 1859. Nicolaus Otto invented the 4-stroke engine in 1879. Ford was founded in 1901. It led to the jet engine. it is used in lawn equipment. It led to the truck driving industry. It's changed our world. From every day driving to vacations, to keeping stores full with food.

The 18th-century rifle was a revolution of the arquebus, the first gun fired from a shoulder. Benjamin Robins discovered bullets shape accuracy. The minie ball appeared in the 19th century. Benjamin Tyler Henry was born in New Hampshire in 1821. He was an apprentice as a young man. He worked for Smith & Wesson. They were a gun maker. They invented the Hunt's lever-action rifle concept. They made the lever-action repeating rifle in 1860. Some were used in the Civil War. It became famous as the "gun that won the West".

Steven A. Morse invented the Twist Drill in 1861. Drill bits are tools for cutting. Wood bits and metal bits have different tips. Morse moved to Massachusetts. He built a two-story factory in 1875. He wold them all over the world. It was used to carve Mt. Rushmore.