Invention Collection (#12)

Longitudinal section of a steam turbine fitted into the Dover packet boat Queen, c1904. The turbines for the Queen were designed by the Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Parsons (1854-1931)

Longtudinal sections of two steam turbines. 1: Parsons marine turbine; 2: Rateaus marine turbine. Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Parsons (1854-1931)

Steam turbines fitted into the Dover packet boat Queen, 1904. The turbines were designed by the Anglo-Irish engineer Sir Charles Parsons (1854-1931)

Private and Confidential, opening of the Anglo-French telephone line, 1891. Artist: John Tenniel
Private and Confidential, opening of the Anglo-French telephone line, 1891. The British Prime Minister (Lord Salisbury) in conversation with the French President (Sadi Carnot). Cartoon from Punch

Opening of the Anglo-French telephone line, 1891. The first London to Paris telephone conversation at the General Post Office, London. Bell instruments were used at the London end

Opening of the London to Paris telegraph link, 1852. The instrument room at the Submarine Telegraph Company, Cornhill, London, showing a Wheatstone needle telegraph instrument

William Wollastons reflecting goniometer for measuring the angles of crystals, 1874. William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828) was a notable English chemist who researched into both chemistry and optics

Lord Kelvins mirror galvanometer, 1876. William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) devised this instrument for measuring small electric currents

Lord Kelvins transatlantic telegraph, 1877. Artist: John Wright Oakes
Lord Kelvins transatlantic telegraph, 1877. William Thomsons (Lord Kelvin) (1824-1907) receiving apparatus used at Brest, France, including his mirror galvanometer (left)

Morses first telegraph, 1837 (c1900). Artist: Sir John Gilbert
Morses first telegraph, 1837 (c1900). Invented by Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), this was the first functional electric telegraph

Morse electric printing telegraph, c1882. Rear view of the instrument showing the roll of paper for recording messages and the transmitting key at C. D are wet cells (batteries) providing electricity

Montigny mitrailleuse, 1870. Introduced by the French during the Franco-Prussian War, this rapid-fire gun had 37 barrels. Operated by 5 men, it could deliver 482 rounds per minute

Facsimile or copying telegraph system by Amstutz of Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 1896

Alexander Glens facsimile telegraph system, 1886. From a paper read to the United Service Institution, England, 15 Janaury 1886

Casellis pantelegraph, 1874. This device, invented by the Italian abbot and inventor Giovanni Caselli (1815-1891) was effectively an early fax machine

Rear view of Charles Wheatstones electric (railway) telegraph, 1850. Showing its connection OT lines running beside the railway track. From Illustrations of Natural Philosophyby John Reynolds

Carbon microphone, 1882. Device invented in 1878 by David Edward Hughes (1831-1900), English inventor. From Physics in Pictures by Theodore Eckardt. (London, 1882)

Berthold Schwart, 14th century German Franciscan monk and alchemist, 1901. Schwart (fl 1320) is supposed to be the first European to discover gunpowder. Illustration from Le Petit Journal, Paris, 1901

Cook and Wheatstones 5-needle telegraph, 1837 (1915). The 5-needle telegraph was the first successful electric telecommunication device and was patented by Charles Wheatstone and William Cooke

Gas lighting, 1814. Fig. 1: Samuel Cleggs (1781-1861) gas apparatus (1808). Fig. 7: B Cooks gas apparatus. Figs 8&9: Furnace for producing tar as a gas by-product. From Encyclopaedia Londinensis

Ader telephone system, 1881. The man on the left is making a call which passes through the operator at the exchange, centre, to the recipient on the right

Divers salvaging guns from the seabed, c1855. The diving suits appear to be of the type designed by German-born engineer Augustus Siebe (1778-1872)

Magnetism, c1850. Educational plate showing various aspects of magnetism and electromagnetism including a dip needle, compass, the lifting power of an electromagnet (12), Wheatstone telegraph (13)

Hans Lippershey, Dutch optician credited with the discovery of the telescope, 1655. Lippershey (c1570-1619) applied for a patent for his telescope in 1608, and word of his invention reached Galileo

Discovery of the principle of the telescope, 17th century (1863). Artists impression of the supposed chance discovery of the principle of the telescope by children playing in the workshop of

Sanctorius clinical thermometer, 1612. Santorio Santorio (1561-1636). Italian physician known as Sanctorius invented his air thermoscope or clinical thermometer in 1612

Early thermometers, 1691. Various kinds of 17th century thermometers and a rain gauge (right). From Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell Accademia del Cimento (Florence 1691)

Davys electric egg, 1883. Invented in 1809, it produced intense light from a voltaic arc between the points of two carbon rods

Joseph Marie Jacquard, showing his loom to Lazare Carnot, Lyon, France, 1801 (1901). French silk-weaver and inventor Jacquard (1752-1834)

Alessandro Voltas wet pile battery, 1800
Alessandro Voltas wet pile or battery, 1800. Italian physicist Volta (1745-1827) was the inventor of the voltaic pile, an early battery and the first source of current electricity

Wallace Hume Carothers, American industrial chemist, c1927-1937. Carothers (1896-1937), seen here in the laboratory, discovered nylon while working for the Dupont Company in 1927

Thomas Saverys steam pump or the miners friend, 1702 (1726). Saverys steam powered pump was used for draining water out of mines. From Lexicon Technicum, by John Harris, 1726

Joseph-Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard loom, c1850. Woven silk portrait of French silk-weaver Jacquard (1752-1834), produced on a Jacquard loom

Steam engine by James Watt, 1915. Watt (1736-1819), Scottish engineer and inventor, greatly improved the efficiency of the steam engine by inventing the separate condenser

Six early forms of bicycle, c1870. 19th century hobby horses, fore-runners of the bicycles, including the Dandy Horse, Gompertzs velocipede, the Dublin velocipede and the Bone-Shaker

Weaving shed fitted with Jacquard power looms, c1880. French silk-weaver and inventor Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom which used a punched card system to weave complicated patterns in textiles

Hedleys Puffing Billy, 1813 (1901). William Hedleys railway locomotive Puffing Billy was patented in 1813. It began work in that year and continued in use until 1872

Casting the cylinder of the Britannia Press at the Bank Quay Foundry, Warrington, 1851. Casting the cylinders for the hydraulic press (lift)

Casting a mortar at Grissells Regents Canal Ironworks, City Road, London, 1855. A Nasmyth safety ladle (invented 1838) is being used. From The Illustrated London News, December 29 1855

Schematic view of a Newcomen steam engine, early 19th century. Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729) designed his atmospheric or steam engine in 1712

Bells reaping machine, 1851. Artist: GH Swanston
Bells reaping machine, 1851. Scottish clergyman and inventor Patrick Bells (1799-1869) reaping machine of 1826 was the first successful reaping machine, but was not commercialised

Threshing machine by Andrew Meikle, Scottish inventor and millwright, 1811. Top: original form of the machine powered by horses. Bottom: improved form powered by a water wheel

Richard Trevithick, English engineer and inventor, 1816. Artist: John Linnell
Richard Trevithick, English engineer and inventor, 1816. The painting shows him seated before a window, pointing to a view of mountains

Jacquard power loom, 1915. In 1801 the Frenchman Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) invented a method of weaving intricate patterns by encoding them on punched cards

Catapults, c. 1490. Found in the Collection of Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana

Gatling rapid fire guns, 1862. Artist: William George Armstrong
Gatling rapid fire guns, 1862. Various models of the machine gun patented by American inventor Richard J Gatling in 1862. The weapon, a hand-cranked multiple-barrelled rotary gun

Rumfords fireplace, c1880. Devised by Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814), Anglo-American scientist and administrator

Archimedes screw for raising water from one level to another, 1815. This device, invented by Archimedes (c287-212 BC), Ancient Greek mathematician, is still used for irrigation today

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