InventoGraphy : A complete history of inventions.

Plumbing means a system including both supply and drainage of water. A flush-toilet therefore, means a toilet in which water is used to drain off the human wastes out of the house. This system was introduced in the Indus valley about 2500-3000 years ago but almost disappeared thereafter. It was in 1778 that Joseph Bramah of England restarted the flush-toilet system. It was in 1860's that Sir Thomas Crapper , an English plumber, improved the flush toilet system of Joseph Bramah. He made improvements so that water could automatically stop flowing into the reservoir when it was full.

A facsimile (fax) is a process of transmitting text and pictures over telephone line. A number of inventors of U.S.A and Europe had been working on facsimile since late 1800's. However, it was during 1980's that facsimile became increasingly popular. The cause was that smaller, faster and cheaper machines had by now been developed. The fax machine is rapidly losing its mass-appeal today because of the arrival of the internet. This is because internet is a cheaper medium for transmitting text and pictures .

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In the 13th century, an English scientist named Roger Bacon , suggested that lenses could be used to see well. But unfortunately he could never put two lenses together to make eyeglasses. The first eyeglasses appeared in the city of Pisa in Italy during late 1280's when an unknown traveller showed people how to make eyeglasses. Eyeglasses came to be invented in China too during the same time. But here too, the inventor remained unknown.

An escalator is an moving stairway that transports people from one floor to the other. Escalators are there at airport, stores and subway stations. The invention of the escalator was made by two American inventors named G. H. Wheeler and W. Reno in 1892.

Magnetism is a force that acts between certain objects called magnets. It is an important force in nature. Electromagnets were invented by an English electrician named William Sturgeion   in 1825 A.D .

Ironing of clothes has been a practice over the centuries though mostly for royal families. This job was done by washermen. They used an iron device that worked with fuel in it. The base of the iron device gets hot enough to iron out the wrinkles of the washed clothes. With the invention of hydroelectric power in 1881 in England, the way for an electric iron was paved. The very next year, Henry W. Seely of New York developed the electric iron, the first electrical home appliance. It was powered by an electric arc. When it was used, it produced a hissing and spluttering sound. Later on, the electric iron was improved as wires came to be used with a plug at one of their ends. This plug could be safely inserted in a socket. Today, the electric iron is indispensable domestic appliance.

The most common type of electric bell is the door bell seen by us in houses. The switch at the door is connected by electric wires to an electric circuit that operates the bell. Electric bell was invented in 1876 A.D .

Alfred Nobel of Sweden invented dynamite in 1897. Dynamite is today used widely for various kinds of explosions. It is particularly useful in mining the industry. Dynamite explosions are used to access mineral deposits deep below the surface of the earth.

The word dictionary has come from the Latin word dictionarium. A school master named Robert Cowdrey , prepared the first English dictionary in 1604 A.D. In 1721, Nathan Balley   published a dictionary with about 60,000 words which was the first real dictionary. The Oxford English dictionary was published in 12 volumes in 1933. It was a work of John Walker . In 1989, it came to have 20 volumes.

The first crossword was invented by the editor of an American newspaper in 1913. Crosswords are now published on many of the world's leading newspapers.

The first contact lenses were invented by A.E Fick   in 1887 but were not very successful. In about 1950, successful lenses were introduced which covered only the cornea and floated on a layer of tears. These lenses, only 7 to 10 millimeters in diameter of 0.1 to 1 mm thick can usually be worn all day without being removed .

The ideas and devices developed by many engineers and scientists led to the invention of the computer. The first electronic computer was devised in 1888 A.D by an American name Herman Hollerith . The first semi-electronic computer was developed by John Atanasoff in 1944 A.D. But the first fully electronic computer was developed in 1946 by two American engineers Presper Eckert and John Mauchly .

A Clinical thermometer is an instrument used to record the body temperature of a human being. The first known thermometer was invented in 1593 by Galileo, the famous Italian astronomer. It was named a thermoscope . But since it was not very accurate, alcohol thermometers were developed in 1641. It was far more accurate. The first mercury thermometer was developed by Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, a native of Danzig. Mercury with its properties of a low freezing temperature (-38.8 degree C/37.8 degree F) and a very high boiling point (357 degree C/675 degree F) was an ideal liquid metal that could be contained in a tube. The wide variation in temperature was ideally suited. In the Fahrenheit system of measuring temperature, the water freezes at 32 degrees F and boils at 212 degree F. Thomas Albert just used the mercury thermometer to measure human temperature.

A calculator is an electronic device that can perform four basic operations of mathematics- addition, substraction, multiplication and division- accurately and quickly. Calculators are of two main types - pocket calculators and desktop calculators. The calculator has developed from the adding machine. This machine was invented by an American bank clerk , William Burrough . It was from this machine that the calculator was developed. Calculators soon became very popular and the demand for them has grown over the years. Due to competition and mass production, good quality digital calculators have become affordably priced today .

One of the earliest thief proof locks was invented by Joseph Bramah of Barnsley in 1787, and it had 479,100,600 different combinations .

A bicycle is a vehicle with two wheels mounted one behind the other on a metal frame. The rider propels the bicycle by pushing two pedals with feet around a circle. In 1885, an English gentleman named J. K. Starley , produced the first commercially popular bicycle with both wheels of equal size. In 1890, brakes and air filled rubber tyres and handle came to be added. The bicycle today, is the cheapest mode of transportation across the world. It is also used in various sports activities.

The Ball Point Pen was invented by Laszlo Biro in 1938.

The first Atom bomb was made by a team of scientists, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Otto Han, Compto , Fermi, Szilard and Albert Einstein. It was successfully tested about 200 miles away from Los Angeles in U.S on July 6, 1945. The bomb explosion caused 40,000 feet high mushroom shaped cloud, the light was seen 450 miles away and devastating heat was felt all around for miles.

The first Air Conditioner was made by Willis Carrier in 1902.

A microscope is an instrument that magnifies extremely small objects so that they may be easily seen. It can produce a much larger image of a tiny object. The microscope is one of the most important instruments of science. A microscope has two lens system- the objective and the eye- piece. The lens which is turned towards the object to be viewed is called the objective and the other, with which observation is made, is called the eye- piece. The purpose of these two sets of lenses is to increase magnification. The first compound microscope was made by a Dutch spectacle maker named Lacharia's Jausen around 1590. Later on during the mid 1600's another dutch amateur scientist Anton Van Leeuvenhock made a microscope with powerful lenses to observe microscopic life through it. These microscopes were much more powerful than the compound microscopes. By early 1800's improvements had been made in the above microscope better glass came to be made and so the first electron m...

In the evolution of air travel the names that stand out most conspicuously are Wilbur Wright  and Orville Wright popularly known as Wright Brothers . The invention of aeroplane has made every part of this world within the easy reach of human beings .

In modern times, Television has become almost indispensable. This is because it not only enables us to hear but also gives us the visual glimpse of events taking place in far off cities, countries and even continents instantaneously or within a short time. Although this important communication device was not developed in a single day, the most important contribution in the development of Television was made by John Logic Baird . The credit of building the first practical television goes to Scottish engineer John Logic Baird in 1923. He built an eight-line-scan television system that he patented. In 1926, Baird's television made history as it relayed the first television broadcast in the United Kingdom. The Bell Telephone Company , through telephone lines, broadcast television images from Washington to New York in 1927. In 1928, the first Trans-Atlantic broadcast from London to New York was conducted using short waves. In 1830, the BBC began telecasting on Baird's televisio...

In 725 AD, a Chinese monk named Yi Xing developed what one could call the most advanced precursor of the mechanical clock later a French Benedictine monk Gerbert d' A urillac designed a system of gears run by counter balanced weights. The invention has been attributed as the first mechanical clock in the history of science. The clock that struck a bell on every hour was recorded in 1,120 in Citeau in France. These were large fixed devices. Italian architect, Filippo Brunelleschi was the first to introduce the spring - driven clock in 1410 at Florence. The pendulum based mechanical clock was introduced in 1657 by the dutch inventor and astronomer, Christian Huygens. The near accurate oscillation of the pendulum improved the time accuracy of the mechanical clock. In 1840, the first electric clock was invented by Scotsman Alexander Bair (1818-1903). Antoire Radier made the first spring - driven clock in France in 1847. In 1890, the first electric alarm clock was introd...

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