Inventors and Designers
*** A
Albone - Dan ..... born 1860 died 1906 ..... English inventor of one of the FIRST commercially available farm tractors, the Ivel, in 1902. It was a 3-wheeled vehicle with a mid-mounted twin-cylinder petrol engine that could plough an acre in 1½ hours
Archimedes ..... born in Syracuse about 287 BC died 212 BC ..... Greek mathematician and inventor who designed and constructed the FIRST orrery ( model of the solar system)
Armstrong - William George .. born 26th November 1810 .. English inventor who produced the FIRST hydraulic crane and also a gun, which was the prototype of modern artillery
Austin - Robert ….. in 1956 he was designer of the FIRST portrait bank note
*** B
Babbitt - Isaac ..... born 1799 died 1862 ..... American goldsmith who manufactured the FIRST Britannia metal tableware in 1824 using an alloy of copper, tin and antimony
Baekeland – Leo Hendrik ..... born 14th November 1863 ..... inventor of bakelite in 1907, the FIRST heat-proof plastic in the world
Bain Alexander ..... born 1818 died 1903 ..... amateur Scottish clockmaker who created the FIRST electric clock. In 1843 he created a device that reproduced writing on an electrically conductive surface, using two pens attached to pendulums and a wire ( forerunner of the fax machine). An Italian physicist, Giovanni Caselli, continued its development and in 1865 sent the FIRST fax between Paris and Lyons
Bateman – John Frederick ..... FIRST one to bring pure water from the hills to homes in 19th century Manchester. He built a tunnel through the mountains to deliver pure water to Hyde and on to Manchester and district. In the early 19thC he was a surveyor of Hurst Reservoir, the FIRST of the string of Glossop reservoirs
Bell - Alexander Graham ..... born 1847 died August 2nd 1922 ..... on March 10th 1876 he gave the historic demonstration of his newly invented telephone and on June 25th 1876 his speaking telephone was publicly displayed at the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia. Although it attracted little attention at first until the Emperor of Brazil opened the FIRST royal telephone conversation with the words " My God, it talks". On September 7th 1876 Bell's telephone was FIRST demonstrated in Britain before the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Glasgow. On July 14th 1877 the FIRST telephone line between two separate buildings was laid from the Queen's Theatre, London to Canterbury Hall for a demonstration. Alexander Graham Bell also founded the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, was President of the National Geographic Society and a member of many other learned societies
Benz - Karl ..... born 25th November 1844 died 1929 ..... designed and built the world’s FIRST practical motor-car powered by an internal combustion engine in 1885
Berners - Lee - Tim .. in 1989 he proposed a global hypertext project to be known as the world wide web and in 1990 created the FIRST web browser
Berliner - Emile ..... born 1851 died 1929 ..... German-born American inventor who FIRST demonstrated the flat disc gramophone record in 1888. In 1915 he invented the FIRST acoustic tiles
Bissell – Melville Reuben ..... patented the FIRST carpet sweeper – Grand Rapids
Blickensderfer - George C ..... designed the FIRST portable typewriter in 1889 and they were produced by the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company of Stamford, Connecticut in 1897 as the Blick No 7
Booth - Hubert Cecil ..... invented the FIRST effective vacuum cleaner in 1901, a large horse-drawn device with which uniformed men sucked up the dust - 30th August 1901
Boyle - Robert ..... born 25th January 1627 died 31st December 1691 ..... with Robert Hooke, he invented the 'machina Boyleana', the FIRST air pump, which was used in experiments which led up to the propounding of Boyle's Law
Brearley - Harry ..... patented stainless steel which he developed during WW1 to line gun barrels. He then became convinced that it would be ideal for making cutlery. Having been turned down in Britain his patent was filed in the USA
Brown – Sir John ..... born 6th December 1816 ..... English inventor who manufactured the FIRST steel rails and originated armour plating for warships ( 1860)
Brunel – Isambard Kingdom ..... born 9th April 1806 died 1859 ..... English engineer and inventor. In 1838 he designed the Great Western, the FIRST steamship to go into regular service across the Atlantic. In 1845 he built the Great Britain, the FIRST large iron ship to have a screw propeller and in 1858 his Great Eastern laid the FIRST transatlantic telegraph cable. He was also responsible for the Clifton Suspension Bridge (1831), the Hungerford Suspension Bridge (1841) and the Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar (1853)
Burroughs - William Steward ..... born 1857 died 1898 ..... American industrialist who invented the FIRST hand-operated adding machine to give printed results
*** C
Caruthers - Wallace ..... inventor of nylon, the FIRST completely man-made fibre. In the year of his death ( 1937) the FIRST nylon stockings were made
Cayetty - Joseph .. U.S.A ..... invented the FIRST toilet paper - 1857
Chapman - Colin ..... built the FIRST Lotus car in 1948
Chappe - Claude .. Frenchman who invented the FIRST mechanical telegraph in 1791 and in 1793 the FIRST semaphore which was later adapted for use with hand flags and was widely used at sea
Claude - Georges ..... born 1870 died 1960 ..... French industrialist chemist responsible for inventing neon signs which were displayed publicly for the FIRST time at the Paris Motor Show in 1910
Cole - Henry ( later Sir Henry) .. wrote children's books and invented numerous toys including building blocks and the FIRST children's paint box. He founded the Journal of Design and devised the FIRST Christmas card. He also founded the South Kensington Museum (now the V & A ) as a place for families to spend the day, with the FIRST museum refreshment room
Collignon - Pierre .. patented the FIRST folding deck chair - 1871
Colmar - Charles Thomas de ..... born 1785 died 1870 ..... in 1820 he devised the Arithometer, the FIRST mass-produced calculator
Colt - Samuel ..... American inventor of the FIRST practical revolver
Cumming - Alexander .. U.K ..... granted the FIRST patent for a flushing toilet - 1775
*** D
Daguerre - Louis ..... born 18th November 1789 ..... French painter who invented and gave his name to the FIRST practical process of photography, the daguerreotype
Daimler - Gottlieb ..... born 1834 died 1900 ..... German engineer and inventor who patented the FIRST successful internal combustion engine and on August 29th 1885 mounted it on a bicycle thereby creating probable the FIRST motor bike. The following year he mounted his engine on a four wheeled vehicle, building one of the FIRST roadworthy motor cars
Dargan - William ..... born 18th February 1799 died 2nd February 1867 ..... creator of the FIRST railway in Ireland, he transformed the nature of life in Ireland for every one, both economically and culturally. The construction was authorized in 1831 by Parliament and the FIRST train ran out of Dublin on 17th December 1834. He then turned north to develop the Ulster railway which opened on 12th August 1839
Dedicated Micros ..... Swinton - Manchester (UK) ..... invented the world's FIRST commercially-viable CCTV in 1982 and in 2003 won the Queen's Award for enterprise
Dickson - Earle ..... cotton buyer at Johnson and Johnson who invented the FIRST adhesive bandages which were produced by his employer in the 1920s
Dietrich - Carl .. built the FIRST car that can fly - the Terrafugia Transition. It can travel at 115 mph and is said to have a range of 500 miles. At a cost of £132,000.00 it should be in showrooms in 2010
Dork - Ron ..... U.S.A ..... of General Motors he developed the FIRST satellite navigation system and fitted it to his Buick
*** E
Edison - Thomas Alva ..... born February 11th 1847 died 18th October 1931 ..... in 1877 he became the FIRST man to record sound
Engelbart - Douglas ..... American who produced the FIRST computer mouse in 1964. A patent was filed in 1967 and granted in 1970
*** F
Forshaw - Stephen ..... in May 2002 he invented the world's FIRST paper mobile phone which starts off as a letter. The hi-tech letter, dubbed PS Call Me, goes through the post as normal but when received could be activated as a mobile phone, pre-programmed with the phone number of the sender
Foster - Joseph William ..... from Bolton (UK) he created the world's FIRST running spike
Frazer-Nash - Captain Archibald ….. inventor of the FIRST car ever fitted with a roll-over cage, Kim, which skidded through the trackside fence at the wet Brooklands August Bank Holiday meeting in 1920
*** G
Gatling - Richard Gordon ….. born 12th September 1818 died 1903 ….. American inventor of the FIRST practical machine-gun ,the rapid firing Gatling gun (1861-62) a revolving battery gun with ten parallel barrels firing 1200 shots a minute
Goddard - Robert ….. in 1935 he was the FIRST person to shoot a liquid-fuelled rocket faster than the speed of sound
Graham - James ….. born 1st May 1878 ….. FIRST man to film a total eclipse of the sun and inventor of the FIRST naval aircraft-carrying ship
Gray - William .. American who was granted the FIRST patent for a coin-operated telephone in 1891 and the FIRST was installed in the Hartford Bank, Connecticut
Greathead - Henry ….. born 27th January 1757 ….. invented the FIRST purpose-built lifeboat in 1790
Guinness - Kenelm Lee (Bill ) ….. motor-racing pioneer and inventor of the KLG sparking plus and the FIRST hydro-pulsator for the treatment of the gums by jet water massage
Gumbley - Douglas .. Iraq Director of Posts who devised the FIRST aerogramme and which was registered at Stationers' Hall in London under his own copyright in February 1933. The Iraq Post Office issued them for public use on 15th July in the same year
Gutenberg - Johannes ..... born 1400 died 1468 ..... German printer and inventor of printing. He manufactured the FIRST mass-produced bible, the 'Gutenberg Bible' which was accomplished in August 1456
*** H
Harington - Sir John .. born 1561 died 1612 ..... invented the FIRST flushing lavatory
Hasselbad - Victor ….. devised the world's FIRST 2Ό x 2Ό single lens reflex camera with interchangeable lens and magazines. It was used by America to take the FIRST pictures of the moon
Holland - John Philip ….. born February 29th 1840 died 1914..... Irish Republican who built the FIRST practical submarine craft in America. He sold it to the American navy which promptly sold it to Britain. The FIRST submarine, Holland 1, was built by Vickers and launched in October 1901
Horsley - John Callcott ….. born 29th January 1817 .. designer of the FIRST commercial Christmas cards in 1843
Hunt - Walter ..... U.S.A ..... invented the FIRST safety pin - 10th April 1849 - as a means of paying a debt. The following day Charles Rowley, an Englishman, patented a safety pin in England
Hutchison - Miller Reese ….. FIRST inventor to market an electric hearing aid - 1901 and one of its FIRST users was Princess Alexandria of Denmark
*** I
Imhotep .. physician and adviser to King Zoser he designed and built the very FIRST Egyptian pyramid - the Step Pyramid at Saqqara which was higher, more complex and more impressive than anything that had previously been built in Egypt. The FIRST individual person to have designed a monument he can also be credited with being the FIRST royal servant to give his patron, King Zoser, the immortality he craved
Ingels - Art ..... made the FIRST known go kart in California in 1956. He was a race car builder and veteran hot-rodder who used a two-stroke motorcycle engine to power the vehicle
*** J
Jacquard - Joseph Marie ….. born 7th July 1752 died 1834 .. Frenchman who invented and gave his name to the FIRST loom to weave patterns successfully and whose use of perforated cards anticipated the modern computer punch card
Janssen - Zacharias ….. devised the FIRST compound microscope at Middleburg in 1590. He was 10 years old at the time
Jevons - William Stanley ….. born 1835 died 1882 ..... English economist and logician who, in 1867, created the FIRST machine capable of solving logical problems, a precursor of the computer
John of Utyman ..... in 1449 Henry V1 granted him the FIRST English patent for invention for a method of making stained glass
Johnson - Willie ..... in 1884 he invented the FIRST mechanical eggbeater, later rated as one of the most important labour-saving devices
Jones - Robert Trent Snr .. born 20th June 1906 died 2000 .. the world's most renowned builder of golf courses and the FIRST person to set out on a life's career as a golf course designer. In a career that lasted 70 years he built 310 courses and remodelled 150 others
*** K
Krupp - Alfred .. set up the FIRST steel plant using the new Bessemer steel making process and in 1847 the FIRST steel gun was cast at Essen, Germany
*** L
Larsen - John ..... in 1921 in America he constructed the FIRST lie-detector machine (polygraph)
Lenoir - Jean Joseph Etienne ….. born 12th January 1822 died 1900 ….. French inventor and engineer who invented the FIRST practical internal combustion engine ( c 1859) and later built the FIRST car to use it (1860)
Lippershey - Hans ..... produced the FIRST practical version of the microscope
Lukin Lionel ….. born 18th May 1742 ….. in 1785 he filed the FIRST patent for a lifeboat and the FIRST lifeboat station opened in Bamburgh, Northumberland the following year
Lyle & Scott .. in 1938 they manufactured Y-fronts under licence in Britain for the FIRST time
*** M
Macmillan - Kirkpatrick ….. born 1813 died 1878 ..... Scottish country blacksmith who, in 1839, invented the world's FIRST practical bicycle driven by pedals in 1840. He never patented his invention and it was widely copied to such an extent that for many years after it was credited to one of his imitators, Gavin Dalzell
Maddock - Owen Richard ….. born 24th January 1925 died 2000 .. chief designer of the Cooper Car Company during the 1950s and early 1960s, when he revolutionised the shape of motor racing cars by mounting the engine behind the driver. The car also became the FIRST rear-engine design to claim the constructors' title. In 1954 he drew the FIRST Cooper chassis frame to break every rule of structural engineering. He left Cooper in 1963 and went on to design and build a racing hovercraft and founded the Hover Club of Great Britain
Manby - George .. Englishman - in 1816 he invented the FIRST pressurized cylinder fire extinguisher
Maxim - Sir Hiram Stephens ..... born 1840 died 1916 ..... American-born British inventor and engineer who invented the FIRST automatic machine gun in 1883. His other inventions include a pneumatic gun, a smokeless powder, a mousetrap, carbon filaments for light bulbs and a flying machine (1894)
Morgan - Garrett Augustus .. American who received a U.S government award for road safety after inventing the FIRST electric traffic lights which were installed at the corner of Euclid Ave and 105th Street, Cleveland in 1914
Muller - Willy . German ..... in 1935 he invented the FIRST automatic telephone answering machine. It was nearly a metre tall but sold well to Orthodox Jews who were not allowed to answer the telephone on the Sabbath
Mulready - William .. born 1st April 1786 died 1863 .. Irish painter who designed the FIRST penny postage envelope. He also did portrait painting and book illustrations
*** N
Nicholls - Henry James .. born 11th September 1909 died 2000 .. designer of the FIRST British radio remote control system for model aeroplanes
*** P
Pirrie - William James ..... born 1847 died 1924 ..... a key figure in the industrial development of Ireland and of the shipping business worldwide, creator of the large modern ship. The Pirrie ships were the FIRST to place the passengers' accommodation amidships and there were great changes on the engineering side
Plimpton - James Leonard ..... U.S.A ..... in 1863 he patented the FIRST four-wheeled roller skates and in 1866 opened the FIRST roller skating rink at the Atlantic House Hotel, Newport, Rhode Island
Poubelle - Eugene .. Frenchman who was the Prefect of Police in Paris in the 19th Century and in 1883 invented the FIRST dustbin. The word 'poubelle' in French means 'rubbish'
Prang - Louis ….. Boston printer, who, in 1885, FIRST devised the red-suited Santa. The theme was later developed by the Coca Cola advertising artist, Haddon Sundblom, in the 1930s
Preece - Sir William Henry ..... born February 15th 1834 ..... introduced the FIRST telephone receivers
*** R
Reiss - Johann Philipp ..... born 7th January 1745 died 1834..... the FIRST to demonstrate an electrical telephone ( 1861)
*** S
Saint - Thomas ..... a cabinet-maker from London. In 1790 he was granted the FIRST patent for a sewing machine
Savery - Thomas ..... born 1650 died 1715 ..... patented the FIRST practical high-pressure steam engine for [pumping water out of mines - 1698
Schickard - Wilhelm ..... born 1592 died 1635 .....in 1623 he invented the FIRST mechanical calculating machine
Sholes - Latham ..... born February 14th 1819 ..... inventor of the FIRST modern keyboard typewriter
Smith - Sir Francis Pettit ..... born February 9th 1808 died 1874 ..... who built the FIRST successful screw-propelled steamer, the Archimedes, in 1839. This eventually convinced the Admiralty of their superiority and in 1841-43 built the FIRST screw warship for the Royal Navy, the Rattler
Smith - Tom .. in 1847 he created the FIRST Christmas cracker
Spilsbury - John ..... London engraver and map-maker who is said to have created the FIRST jigsaw puzzle in about 1760 when he mounted one of his maps on a sheet of wood and cut around the borders of countries using a fine saw. The 1860s and 70s saw popular pictures being used and in 1880 they became known as jigsaw puzzles, when they began to be cut with a jigsaw. The FIRST cardboard puzzles were introduced in the late 1880s
Stephenson - George .. born 9th June 1781 died 1848 .. English inventor of the FIRST locomotive for a public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway which opened on 27th September 1825
Steiff - Richard ..... designed the FIRST teddy-bear in 1902 and to which president Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt gave its name
Stubblefield - Nathan ..... died 1928 ..... self taught electrician and inventor of the world's FIRST mobile phone which he demonstrated on New Year's Day 1902. The phone was the size of a dustbin lid and had a range of just half a mile. In 1908 he patented a new version but unfortunately his phones were not commercially successful. In 2008 a book credited him with being the father of the modern mobile phone and he was honoured with his very own page on the Virgin Mobile website
Swinburne - Sir James - 9th Baronet .. born 1858 died 1958 ...... electrical engineer who was interested in chemistry and who formed the FIRST real plastic. He was a pioneer in the plastic industry and the founder of Bakelite Ltd. His patent was anticipated by one day by the Belgian chemist Leo Baekland
*** T
Talbot - William Henry Fox ..... born 1800 died 1877 ..... English photography pioneer. In 1838 he invented photogenic drawing - a system of making photographic prints on silver chloride paper and which is one of the FIRST examples of a photographic negative. He spent over 25 years on photography methods and in 1844 his book Pencil Of Nature was one of the FIRST books to be illustrated by photographs
Thimmonnier - Barthelemy .. patented the FIRST sewing machine put into practical use in 1830
*** V
Van Drebbel - Cornelius ..... born 1572 died 1633 ..... constructed the FIRST underwater boat for James 1 of England
*** W
Walsh - Professor Sir John ..... born 1911 died 2003 ..... in 1945 he invented the FIRST working air-turbine high-speed hand-piece dental drill which operated 3000 times faster than its predecessors
Warner - Ezra ..... American ... in 1858 he was granted the FIRST patent for a tin opener
Waterman - Lewis .. devised the FIRST successful fountain pen in 1884
Watson-Watt - Sir Robert Alexander ..... born 1892 died 1973 ..... Scot who devised the FIRST working military radar
Watt - James .. born 19th January 1736 died 1819 .. Scottish engineer and inventor who invented the FIRST efficient steam engines in 1769 and was the FIRST man to use a steam engine to turn a wheel. The watt, a unit of power, is named after him and the term horsepower, another unit, was FIRST used by him
Watt - James ..... born 1769 died 1848 ..... son of James Watt (above) a marine engineer, who fitted the engine for the FIRST English ship to leave port in 1817, the Caledonia
Wedgwood - Ralph .. inventor of the FIRST carbon paper on which he secured a patent on October 7th 1806. During the 1820s he had a successful business at 4 Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, London
Wheeler - Seth .. U.S.A ..... invented the FIRST toilet paper on a roll - 1871
Wilkes -Maurice Vincent .. born 1913 ..... built EDSAC, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, one of the early British computers and which attempted to solve the usual problem of memory by the use of delay lines, the FIRST computer in the world to do so. He also had to develop what seems to have been the FIRST assembler, a program for translating users instructions into the binary language used by the machine
*** Z
Zworykin - Vladimir Kosma ..... born 1889 died 1982 ..... Russian electronics engineer who invented the FIRST electronic camera tube, the iconoscope, in 1923, in the USA