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