Timeline of United States inventions (before 1890)
Copyright protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.In 1641, the first patent in North America was issued to Samuel Winslow by the General Court of Massachusetts for a new method of making salt.
[6] On July 31, 1790, Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont became the first person in the United States to file and to be granted a patent for an improved method of "Making Pot and Pearl Ashes".
[8] The modern-day provisions of the law applied to inventions are laid out in Title 35 of the United States Code (Ch.
1717 Swim fins 1730 Octant 1742 Franklin stove 1744 Mail order 1749 Lightning rod 1752 Flexible urinary catheter 1761 Armonica 1776 Swivel chair 1782 Flatboat 1784 Bifocals 1785 Artificial diffraction grating 1787 Automatic flour mill 1792 Cracker 1793 Cotton gin 1795 Wheel cypher 1796 Rumford fireplace 1796 Cupcake 1801 Suspension bridge 1801 Fire hydrant 1802 Banjo clock 1804 Burr Truss 1805 Amphibious vehicle 1805 Vapor-compression refrigeration 1806 Coffee percolator 1808 Lobster trap 1812 Columbiad 1813 Circular saw 1815 Dental floss 1816 Milling machine 1818 Profile lathe 1827 Detachable collar 1829 Graham cracker 1830 Platform scale 1831 Flanged T rail 1831 Multiple coil magnet 1831 Doorbell (electric) 1833 Sewing machine (lock-stitch) 1834 Combine harvester 1835 Steam shovel 1835 Solar compass 1835 Relay 1836 Morse code 1836 Gridiron (cooking) 1836 Circuit breaker 1837 Self-polishing cast steel plow 1839 Corn sheller 1839 Sleeping car 1839 Vulcanized rubber 1839 Babbitt (metal) 1840 Howe truss 1842 Inhalational anaesthetic 1842 Grain elevator 1843 Ice cream maker (hand-cranked) 1843 Multiple-effect evaporator 1843 Rotary printing press 1844 Pratt truss 1845 Pressure-sensitive tape 1845 Maynard tape primer 1845 Baseball 1846 Transverse shuttle 1846 Printing telegraph 1847 Gas mask 1847 Doughnut (ring-shaped) 1848 Pin tumbler lock 1849 Jackhammer 1849 Safety pin 1850 Dishwasher 1850 Feed dogs 1850 Vibrating shuttle 1850 Inverted microscope 1851 Rotary hook 1851 Fire alarm box 1852 Elevator brake 1853 Burglar alarm 1853 Potato chips 1853 spring Clothespin 1854 Breast pump 1855 Calliope 1856 Egg beater 1856 Condensed milk 1856 Equatorial sextant 1857 Toilet paper (mass-produced and rolled) 1857 Pink lemonade 1857 Brown Truss 1858 screw top Pepper shaker 1858 Mason jar 1858 Pencil eraser 1858 Ironing board 1858 Twine knotter 1858 Dustpan 1859 Electric stove 1859 Escalator 1860 Vacuum cleaner 1860 Repeating rifle (lever action) 1861 Jelly bean 1861 Twist drill 1861 Kinematoscope 1861 Postcard 1861 Machine gun (hand-cranked) 1863 Breakfast cereal 1863 Ratchet wrench 1863 Quad skates 1863 Double-barreled cannon 1864 Spar torpedo 1865 Cowboy hat 1865 Rotary printing press (web) 1866 Urinal (restroom version) 1866 Chuckwagon 1867 Motorcycle (steam-powered) 1867 Paper clip 1867 Barbed wire 1867 Ticker tape 1867 Water-tube boiler 1867 Refrigerator car 1868 Paper bag 1868 Tape measure 1869 Vibrator 1869 American football 1869 Pipe wrench 1869 Clothes hanger 1870 Bee smoker 1870 Can opener (rotary, side-opening) 1870 Sandblasting 1870 Feather duster 1871 Rowing machine 1872 Railway air brake 1872 Diner 1873 Earmuffs 1873 Silo 1873 Jeans Jeans are trousers generally made from denim.
In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis co-invented and co-patented the idea of using copper rivets at the stress points of sturdy work pants.
Henry S. Parmelee of New Haven, Connecticut invented and installed the first closed-head or automated fire sprinkler in 1874.
Bennett of Chicago to protect and support bicycle riders (back then they were known as "jockeys") who were navigating the cobblestone streets common to the era.
A system was built in France in the 14th century and the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland began steam district heating service in 1853.
When a transaction was completed, the first cash registers used a bell that rang and the amount was noted on a large dial on the front of the machine.
Known as the "Incorruptible Cashier", the mechanical cash register was invented and patented in 1879 by James Ritty of Dayton, Ohio.
The candlepins themselves take on a cylindrical shape which are tapered at the tops and bottoms, thus giving them a resemblance to wax candles.
Although French physicist Antoine-César Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect much earlier in 1839, the first solar cell, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, was invented by Charles Fritts in 1883, who used junctions formed by coating selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold.
Drawing upon Ohl's work, three American researchers named Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chapin essentially introduced the first practical use of solar panels through their improvement of the silicone solar cell in 1954, which by placing them in direct sunlight, free electrons are turned into electric current enabling a six percent energy conversion efficiency.
The world's first true machine gun, the Maxim gun, was invented in 1884 by the American inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim, who devised a recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload rather than the crude method of a manually operated, hand-cranked firearm.
[160][243] With the ability to fire 750 rounds per minute, Maxim's other great innovation was the use of water cooling to reduce overheating.
Ever since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, it produced distorted sound because of gravity's pressure on the playing stylus.
In response, Emile Berliner invented a new medium for recording and listening to sound in 1887 in the form of a horizontal disc, originally known as the "platter".
The first "one-armed bandit" was invented in 1887 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California who devised a simple automatic mechanism with three spinning reels containing a total of five symbols – horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell, which also gave the machine its name.
[260][261] The rights to Tesla's invention were licensed by George Westinghouse for the AC power system his company was developing.
The induction motor Tesla patented in the U.S. is considered to have been an independent invention since the Europe Italian physicist Galileo Ferraris published a paper on a rotating magnetic field based induction motor on 11 March 1888, almost two months before Tesla was granted his patent.
The Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video, creating the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter.
First described in conceptual terms by Thomas Alva Edison in 1888, his invention was largely developed by one of his assistants, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, between 1889 and 1892.
Occasionally, a Canadian named John Joseph Wright is credited with inventing the trolley pole when an experimental tramway in Toronto, Ontario, was built in 1883.
While Wright may have assisted in the installation of railways at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), and may even have used a pole system, there is no hard evidence to prove it.
[270] Official credit for the invention of the electric trolley pole has gone to an American, Frank J. Sprague, who devised his working system in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888.
[270] Known as the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, this 12-mile system was the first large-scale trolley line in the world, opening to great fanfare on February 12, 1888.
In order to address this problem, the revolving door was invented in 1888 by Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere.
[278] However, it wasn't until 1935 when Hungarian newspaper editor László Bíró offered an improved version of the ballpoint pen that left paper smudge-free.
These stations were supervised by telephone company attendants or agents who collected the money due after people made their calls.
