Notable Inventions of the 18th Century

Posted in Science

Dates for inventions are often controversial. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first working version of the invention is used here.

1701: Seed drill: Jethro Tull

1709: Iron smelting using coke: Abraham Darby I

1712: Steam piston engine: Thomas Newcomen

1710: Thermometer: Ren? Antoine Ferchault de R?aumur

1711: Tuning fork: John Shore

1714: Mercury thermometer: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

1730: Mariner's quadrant: Thomas Godfrey

1731: Sextant: John Hadley

1733: Flying shuttle: John Kay

1742: Franklin stove: Benjamin Franklin

1750: Flatboat: Jacob Yoder

1752: Lightning rod: Benjamin Franklin

1764: Spinning jenny: James Hargreaves/Thomas Highs

1767: Carbonated water: Joseph Priestley

1769: Steam engine: James Watt

1769: Water frame: Richard Arkwright/Thomas Highs

1769: Steam car: Nicolas Cugnot

1775: Submarine Turtle: David Bushnell

1775: new kind of Boring machine: John Wilkinson

1776: Steamboat: Claude de Jouffroy

1777: Card teeth making machine: Oliver Evans

1777: Circular saw: Samuel Miller

1779: Spinning mule: Samuel Crompton

1780s: Iron rocket: Tipu Sultan in India

1783: Multitubular boiler engine: John Stevens

1783: Parachute: Jean Pierre Blanchard

1783: Hot air balloon: Montgolfier brothers

1784: Bifocals: Benjamin Franklin

1784: Argand lamp: Ami Argand

1784: Shrapnel shell: Henry Shrapnel

1785: Power loom: Edmund Cartwright

1785: Automatic flour mill: Oliver Evans

1786: Threshing machine: Andrew Meikle

1787: Non-condensing high pressure Engine: Oliver Evans

1790: Cut and head nail machine: Jacob Perkins

1791: Artificial teeth: Nicholas Dubois De Chemant

1793: Cotton gin: Eli Whitney

1793: Optical telegraph: Claude Chappe

1797: Cast iron plow: Charles Newbold

1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner

1798: Lithography: Alois Senefelder

1799: Seeding machine: Eliakim Spooner  

Members Login

Social Networking

Merchandise:
T-Shirts & more for Quizmasters

Our T-Shirt Shop