Category: inventions

Steam power and Jell-O

Heron of Greece invented steam power in 50 BC. But the leaders of the day thought that it would cause unemployment and […]

09/11/2015. Category: inventions. Tags:

Alexander Graham Bell disliked telephones

When the telephone was introduced in 1876, a Western Union internal memo noted: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously […]

04/19/2011. Category: inventions. Tags:

Inventors of cash register did not cash in

James Ritty owned the Pony House in Dayton, Ohio in the 1880s, where his customers included Buffalo Bill Cody, Jack Dempsey and […]

01/21/2011. Category: inventions. Tags:

Invention of Velcro

After a walk in the Swiss woods with his dog one day in 1941, Georges de Mestral  was astounded by the ability […]

10/19/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: ,

First audio and video recordings

Magnetic recording was invented in 1898 by Valdemar Poulson of Denmark. But it wasn’t used for recording music. Called the “telegraphone,” it […]

10/07/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: , ,

Electricity first discovered 2 500 years ago

Electricity was first discovered about 2 500 years ago. The Greek scientist Thales of Miletus (c. 620 BCE – c. 546 BC) […]

07/16/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: ,

Soft drink inventions

The term “soda water” was coined in 1798. The soda fountain was patented by Samuel Fahnestock in 1819, with the first bottled […]

04/19/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: , , ,

The history of radio

Twenty years after the telephone was invented and music was first sent down a telephone line, Guglielmo Marconi sent radio signals. Marconi (1874-1937) was born in […]

04/02/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: , , , ,

Who invented the light bulb?

Who invented the light bulb? No, it wasn’t Thomas Edison. Light bulbs were in use long before Edison applied for the patent […]

03/29/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: ,

Untimely inventions – products before their time

In 1834, Charles Babbage (1792-1871) designed the Analytical Engine, the precursor of the computer. He was unable to obtain funding for it […]

02/08/2010. Category: inventions. Tags: ,

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