Trivia:  Inventions and their Inventors

By Apolinario Villalobos

Since I was in elementary, I had been fascinated by inventions and archaeology….and, anything about nature. I recalled having a collection of small rocks, and pretended that they were precious stones. I was also fond of making things out of found objects such as sardine cans, lead seal of postal bags that I collected from the dump at the back of the municipal building, copper wires, etc. I also recalled staying out of our house till late, gazing at the stars much to the consternation of my elder sister.

As I grew older, I developed a habit of saving the information that I encountered in my readings. What I would like to share in this blog is a list of inventions and their respective inventor, including the year they did it. Currently, with the onset of high technology, new and amazing inventions continuously flood the market, but which I purposely did not include due to their voluminous number. The following are just the common items that we are familiar with, some of which are even part of our daily life:

Adding Machine          -1642, by Blaise Pascal; but the commercial type was by William

  Burroughs in 1885

Automobile                  -steam-fueled, in 1769 by Nicolas Cugnot; gasoline-fueled, in 1855 by Karl

 Benz; earliest internal combustion, 1862 by Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir;  

 first powered hand-cart with internal combustion engine, in 1864 by

 Siegfried Marcus

Ballpoint pen               -1888, by John Loud

Barbed wire                 -1873, by Joseph Glidden

Cash Register              -1879, by James Ritty

Cellophane                  -1900, by J. E. Brandenberger

Cement                        -1824, by Joseph Aspdin

Clock (mechanical)     -728, by I-Hsing and Liang Ling-Tsan

Clock (pendulum)        -1657, by Christian Huygens

Diesel engine              -1895, by Rudolf Diesel

Electric flat iron          -1882, by H. W. Seeley

Electric lamp               -1879, by Thomas Alva Edison

Electric Motor             -1873, by Zenobe Gramme

Electronic Computer   -1942, by J.G. Brainerd, J.P. Eckert, and J.W. Mauchly

Elevator                       -1852, by Elisha G. Otis

Film (musical)             -1923, by Dr. Lee de Forest

Film (talking)               -1926, by Wagner Bros.

Fountain pen               -1884, by Lewis E. Waterman

Generator                    -1860, Piccinoti

Loudspeaker                -1924, by Rice-Kellogg

Machine Gun               -1861, by Richard Gatling

Microphone                 -1876, by Alexander Graham Bell

Microscope                 -1590, by Zacharias Jannsen

Motorcycle                  -1884, by Edward Butler

Motor scooter             -1919, by Greville Bradshaw

Nylon                           -1937, by Dr. Wallace G. Carothers

Parachute                    -1797, by Andre-Jacques Garnerin

Phonograph                 -1878, by Thomas Alva Edison

Photography                -(on metal) 1826, by Nicephone Niepce

Photography                -(on paper) 1835, by W.H. Fox Talbot

Photography                -(on film) 1888, by John Carbutt; Kodak, August 1888, by George Eastman

Printing                        -(hand printing) 868, in India; (press type) 1455, by Johan zu Gutenberg;

 (rotary type) 1846, by Richard Hoe

Radar                           -1922, by Dr. Albert H. Taylor and Leo C. Young

Razor (electric)            -1931, by Sir Joseph Schick

Razor (safety)              -1895, by King C. Gillette

Record (long playing)  -1948, by Dr. Peter Goldmark

Refrigerator                 -1851, by James Harrison

Revolver                      -1835, by Samuel Colt

Safety pin                    -1849, by William Hunt

Sewing machine          -1851, by Isaac M. Singer

Stethoscope                -1837, by Dr. William Stokes

Submarine                   -1776, by David Bushnell

Telegraph                    -1837, by Sir William Cooke, C. Wheatstone, and Eustone Camden Town

Telegraph Code           -1837, by Samuel F. B. Morse

Telephone                   -(scientific toy) 1861, by M. Philip Reis

Telephone                   -(practical use) 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell

Telescope                    -1608, by Hans Lippershey

Television                    -1926, by John Logie Baird

Watch                          -(self-winding) 1791, by Abraham-Louise Breguet

X-ray                            -1895, by Wilhelm von Rontgen

How I wish, somebody could compress into one capsule the complete nutritious food that one needs for the whole week...or for a start, even just for one day!...better than the kind which the space explorers take when they undertake a long voyage.