Invention Timeline

1790: The First U.S. Patent
The United States issued its first patent to William Pollard of Philadelphia for a machine that roves and spins cotton.

1804: The Steam-Powered Locomotive
Richard Trevithick, an English mining engineer, developed the first steam-powered locomotive to run successfully on rails. Unfortunately, the machine was too heavy and broke the very rails it was traveling on.

1813: Canned Food
An Englishman named Peter Durand developed a method of sealing food into unbreakable tin containers. The process was perfected by John Hall and Bryan Dorkin, who opened the first commercial canning factory in England in 1813.

1827: The Photograph
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was the first person to take a photograph. He took the picture by setting up a machine called the camera obscura in the window of his home in France. It took eight hours for the camera to take the picture.

1850: The Dishwasher
Joel Houghton was granted the first dishwasher patent in 1850. The machine was made of wood and required you to hand-turn a wheel that caused water to splash on the dishes. Houghton's machine barely worked.

The first practical dishwasher was invented by a woman named Josephine Cochran in 1886. Dishwashers, however, did not begin appearing in homes until the 1950s.

1868: The Locomotive Air Brake
In 1868, George Westinghouse invented the air brake for railroad trains. Before his invention, brakes for each train car had to be applied separately and manually. His new automatic system allowed trains to safely travel at higher speeds.

1876: The Telephone
On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. The first words Bell spoke into the telephone were "Mr. Watson! Come here! I want you!"

1893: The Zipper
Whitcomb Judson patented his "clasp-locker" on August 29, 1893. His invention wasn't very successful, but, in 1913, the idea was refined by a Swedish-American engineer named Gideon Sundbach. The U.S. Army soon began using the fasteners and by the late 1920s, they could be found on many different types of clothing and accessories.

The term "zipper" started being used around 1923 because of the sound it makes when fastening.

1903: The Engine-Powered Airplane
In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the first engine-powered airplane that could actually fly. They patented their flying machine in 1906.

1912: Life Savers® Candy
Clarence Crane created Life Savers® candy in 1912. Crane was a chocolate maker but wanted a candy that wouldn't melt in the summer heat. Eventually, he came up with a peppermint flavored hard candy in the shape of a circle with a hole in it. The mints were called Life Savers® because they looked like tiny life preservers. Since then, many different flavors of Life Savers® have been produced. The five-flavor roll first appeared in 1935.

1928: Penicillin
In 1928, Alexander Fleming, an English bacteriologist, accidentally discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic medicine. Such medicines can kill certain types of disease-causing bacteria inside the body. At the time, however, the importance of Fleming's discovery was not known. Use of penicillin did not begin until the 1940s when Howard Florey and Ernst Chain developed a powdery form of the medicine.

1938: Teflon®
Roy Plunkett discovered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), or Teflon®, in 1938. Today, Teflon® is used in a variety of products, but it is probably best known as a coating put on pots and pans to help prevent food from sticking to them.

1947: Cellular Phones
Although cell phones were not sold commercially until 1983, AT&T came up with the idea way back in 1947!

1956: Liquid Paper® Correction Fluid
Bette Nesmith Graham invented "Mistake Out," later renamed Liquid Paper®, to paint over mistakes made with a typewriter.

1965: The Compact Disc
James Russell invented the compact disc (CD) in 1965. Before CDs, music was recorded on things like cassette tapes and vinyl records, which tended to wear out. Russell wanted something that could hold high quality music and not wear out so easily. His compact disc idea did the trick.

1972: Home Video Games
William Higinbotham created the first video game ever in 1958. His game, called "Tennis for Two," was created and played on a laboratory computer.

The first video game that could be played in the home, however, was released in 1972 by Magnavox. Invented by Ralph Baer, the machine was called the Odyssey.

1988: The Indiglo® Nightlight
In 1988, Ralph Alessio and Fredrik Olsen received a patent for the Indiglo® nightlight. The bluish green light is used to illuminate the entire face of a watch.

1999: Tekno Bubbles®
Tekno Bubbles® are like regular blowing bubbles, except they glow under ultraviolet or black light. Byron and Melody Swetland were issued a patent for Tekno Bubbles® in 1999.