The first kind of water heater was said to have been incepted by British painter Benjamin Waddy Maughan, who in 1868 invented the first instantaneous domestic water heater, which did not make use of solid fuel. The invention worked via means of hot gases originating from a burner at the bottom, which heated the cold […]
The washing machine is an electrically operated machine used to clean clothes, towels, sheets, etc. The rotary washing machine was invented in 1850s by Hamilton Smith. At early 1930, electricity was not available. That time, the washing machine was operated by a low-speed single cylinder gasoline engine. Earlier, there was one more machine called a
The creation of the wheeled furniture as it was in its nascent stage dates back to the 6th century BC. The first recorded wheeled seats, which were used for the purpose of the transport of the disabled, date back to 3 centuries back in China. However, the Chinese did not distinguish this creation for the
Velcro or the hook-loop fastener was invented and conceptualized by Georges de Mestral in Commugny, Switzerland, in the year 1948. He found the idea in the year 1941, when he was returning with his dog from a hunting trip in the Alps. He checked the seeds/burrs that kept sticking to his clothes, as well as,
An electron tube, also called ‘vacuum tube’, is an equipment used for controlling the flow of electrons through a vacuum in a sealed container. It’s usually made of a thin transparent glass in a cylindrical shape. It is said that the vacuum tube was first invented by John A. Fleming although with the help of
What we today know as the video game was initially patented as ‘cathode ray tube amusement device’ by two very profound inventors Estle Ray Mann and Thomas Goldsmith Jr. on 14 December, 1948, in the US. The invention of this device was in the later months of 1947 though. However, this amusement device did not
The first instances of toothpaste were known to have been developed in ancient Egypt, between 3000 and 5000 BC. The Egyptian version of toothpaste comprised many abrasives including powdered ashes from oxen hooves, myrrh, egg shells and pumice. Water was added to the powder to make paste. To scrape off plaque more effectively, the Greeks
The first TV remote control, called ‘Lazy Bones’, was developed in 1950 by Zenith Electronics Corporation. Lazy Bones used a cable that ran from the TV-set to the viewer. In 1956, Zenith’s Dr. Robert Adler suggested using ‘ultrasonic’s’, that is, high-frequency sound, beyond the range of human hearing. In 1955, the Flash-o-Matic was invented. A
The invention story of the transistor starts with the inception of thermionic triode. The triode invented in 1907 acted as a precursor for transistors. Initially used in radio and telephone, these triodes were quite fragile and power-consuming. In the year 1925, Julius Edgar Lilienfeld manufactured Field Effect Transistor as a replacement for triode. In the
Long ago, the Sun and the Moon lived together on the earth. The Water was their best friend and they often visited him. But the Water never went to the Sun’s house. So, one day, the Sun asked the Water, “Why don’t you come to see us?” The Water replied that the Sun’s house was
Traffic lights that we see in today are a contribution from the USA to the world. It was in the early 1912 in Utah that a policeman Lester Wire created the first ever red and green traffic light. It was in the year 1914 that the traffic signal system was installed by the American Traffic
Benjamin Holt created his first steam traction engine on an experimental basis in the year 1890. He nicknamed it as ‘Old Betsy’. It weighed about 18,000 pounds and would run on metal wheels. Harvesting of the fields became easy with the help of Holt’s invention. However, these equipment were so heavy that they often would
The touchpad is an input device which tracks the motion or touch of the user’s finger to a relative position on screen. This is a common feature found in desktops, laptops, phones, MP3 players, PDAs, etc. As per the ‘Smart Computing Encyclopaedia’, the touchpad was discovered by George E. Gerpheide in 1988. It is also
Chapter 5 A breeze sprang up and blew off the rain and brought out the sun. Alan and I sat in the roundhouse with the doors open and smoked a pipe or two of the captain’s tobacco. We heard each other’s stories, and I learnt of that wild Highland country where we were soon to
The toothbrush is the primary aid for oral hygiene. The toothbrush in its present form was manufactured on a mass scale in the year 1885 in the USA. A particular date or a person cannot be precisely specified for the invention of the toothbrush. The toothbrush in the form of twigs was used by the