Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
Time line
1689 to
1698
1701
1705
1709
1712
1730
1733
1740
1750 to
1754
1758
1759
1763 to
1765
1763 to
1767
1764
1768
1769
1769
1775
1779
1785
1785
1785 to
1787
1785 to
1799
1790
1792
1793
1797
1800
1800
1801
Events
Thomas Savery invented and patented a steam-driven engine to pump
water from mine shafts.
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill.
Thomas Newcomem invented the first steam-powered engine.
Abraham Darby invented coke smelting (replacing coal and wood) producing better
quality of iron.
Thomas Newcomem built the first commercially workable steam-powered engine to
remove water from deep mine shafts
Jethro Tull developed sowing machine permitting large-scale planting in rows
John Kay invented the fly shuttles in manual weaving industry
Benjamin Huntsman, a clockmaker of Doncaster discovered crucible
steelmaking.
Benjamin Franklin studied the relationship between lighting and
electricity
First threshing machine discovered.
The first Canal Act was passed by the British Parliament.
James Watt improved a more efficient steam-powered engine and patented in 1769.
James Hargreaves invented and developed “spinning jenny” in spinning cotton and
patented in1770.
Pierre Trosanquet developed a new method in road building.
Threshing machine was invented.
Richard Arkwright invented water-powered spinning –frame.
A Frenchman, Nicholas Cugnot produced the original steam locomotive.
James Watt produced the first reliable and efficient steam engine. The new one
reduced one third of fuel than the Newcomem.
Samuel Crompton developed first steam powered “spinning mule”weaving mill.
Clande Berthollet, a French chemist discovered printing on the cloth after bleaching
by chlorine.
An American craftman, James Rumsey drove a steamship on the River Potomac
upstream with a speed of 4 m.p.h.
Edmund Cartwright developed the powered loom.
Eli Whitney developed the mass production of interchangeable parts techniques in
the arms industry
An American, John Fitch produced a propeller powered steamship.
James Watt’s assistant William Murdock lighted his home with coal gas.
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin to clean raw cotton.
Henry Maudslay (British) and David Wilkinson (American) invented the first lathe.
Alessandro Volta invented the first battery.
A Scottish, John McAdam introduced new road-making techniques
Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first steam powered locomotive.
1801 to
1808
1802
1807
1821
1825
1829
1831
1832
1834
1836 to
1837
1837
1838
1839
1840
1843
1844
1846
1849
1850
1851
1856
1857
1858
1859
1863
1865
1866
1867
Richard Trevithick developed mining in Wales with steam powered locomotive.
William Cruikshank designed the first mass production of battery.
An American, Robert Fulton improved the Clermont steamboat and succeeded the
journey from New York to Albany.
Michael Faraday demonstrated electro-magnetic rotation, the principle of the electric
motor.
The first regular railway service opened between Darlington and Stockton.
George Stephenson provided the passenger with his locomotive ‘Rocket’ between the
new Manchester and Liverpool railway.
Michael Faraday discovered electro-magnetic current, making possible generators
and electric engines.
Hippolyte Pixii produced a prototype electricity generator using magnets in France.
Charles Babbage developed his analytic engine, the forerunner computer
Fox Talbot produced photographs.
Samuel F.B. Morse developed the telegraph and Morse Code
The Great-Western – began first ocean-going steamship.
The Sirius steamship went across Atlantic Ocean in 18 days
Louis Daguerre perfected the first practical photograph (Daguerreotype)
Fox Talbot introduced photographic paper.
Samuel Cunard initiated trans-Atlantic steamship service.
Great Britain – first large, iron, screw-propelled steamship.
Samuel Morse demonstrated the concept of the first telegraph (Baltimore to
Washington)
Elias Howe invented the sewing machine.
Pneumatic tire patented
First telegraph cable laid under the Channel.
Monier developed reinforced concrete.
First used of gasoline (refined petroleum)
Isaac Singer invented the first practical sewing machine.
Henry Bessemer invented the Bessemer converter making steel widely affordable for
the first time.
W.H. Perkin produced aniline dyes, permitting brightly coloured cottons.
Pasteur experimented with fermentation.
First Trans-Atlantic Cable completed.
Cathode rays discovered.
Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well in Pennsylvania.
Etienne Lenoir demonstrated the first practical two-stroke gasoline internal
combustion engine.
William Siemens-Martin developed the open hearth furnace to make steel available
in bulk. Steel framing and reinforced concrete made possible “curtain-wall”
architecture—i.e., the skyscraper.
George Westinghouse patented his first designed rotary engine.
Werner von Siemens perfected the dynamo to generate electricity
Cyrus Field laid the first successful Trans-Atlantic cable.
Alfred Nobel produced dynamite, the first high explosive that could be safely
1868
1873
1876
1877
1878
1879
1881
1883
1886
1888
handled.
George Westinghouse developed the first air brake device to stop a heavy train using
compressed air.
Christopher Sholes invented the Remington typewriter.
Alexander Graham Bell developed the first telephone.
Nicholas August Otto invented the four-stroke internal combustion engine.
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.
Microphone invented.
Thomas Edison invented the carbon filament lamp
George Westinghouse perfected the first automatic electric block signal device for
moving rail traffic to avoid wrecks.
The first ten stories high skyscraper was completed in Chicago.
Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz developed the first automobile to run on internal
combustion engine.
Nikola Tesla invented the induction electric motor.
Hertz produced radio waves.
1889
George Westinghouse developed the alternating current machines after
purchasing the patent rights from Nikola Tesla and developed efficient
way to transmit clean natural gas to industry for fuel.
Eiffel Tower completed in Paris, the world’s tallest structure until 1930.
1892
1895
Rudolf Diesel patented the diesel engine.
Louis and Auguste Lumiere brothers developed the Cinematograph.
Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays.
Guglielmo Marconi successfully tested communication by radio wave or wireless
telegraph.