Inventions Inventions - Section 1

Zworykin invented both the tube (iconoscope) for transmission and the receiver (kinescope) in 1923 and 1924, respectively.

Ben also holds a lot of firsts - first U.S. ambassador, first political cartoonist, first American philosopher, organized the first fire department, and on and on.

Thomas Davenport was a Vermont blacksmith who constructed the first American DC electric motor in 1834. Davenport was born in Williamstown, Vermont. He lived in Forest Dale, a village near the town of Brandon. 

In 1853, American inventor Elisha Otis demonstrated a freight elevator equipped with a safety device to prevent falling in case a supporting cable should break. This increased public confidence in such devices. Otis established a company for manufacturing elevators and patented (1861) a steam elevator. Many people think that he invented the elevator, but the truth is, he invented the elevator brake. He also invented the railway safety brake.

The yo-yo was first used by hunters as weapons. They were wooden disks on strings. In the 1920s, a man from the U.S. named Donald Duncan made the yo-yo into a toy after he visited the Philippines.

He was an undertaker, and legend has it, he developed the automatic switch in 1889, to stop competitors from getting his work!

Banneker was a member of the planning committee that designed Washington, DC along with Pierre L'Enfant. When L'Enfant was fired Banneker recreated the plans from memory.

Hang gliding is an air sport employing a foot-launchable aircraft known as a hang glider. Typically, a hang glider is constructed of an aluminium alloy or composite-framed fabric wing. The pilot is ensconced in a harness suspended from the airframe, and exercises control by shifting body weight in opposition to a control frame.

The first hand glider invented by Leonardo Da Vinci didn't fly due the weight of materials used in it.

Lewis Edson Waterman patented the first practical fountain pen in 1884.

The first elevator was built in the palace of King Louis XV. It only traveled up one floor, and was hand powered by men inside the chimney.