12. Photography
In the 19th century, another invention appeared, without which, it seems, existence is now unthinkable. This photo.
Camera - obscura, a box with a hole in the front wall, has been known since ancient times. Even Chinese scientists noticed that if a room is tightly draped with curtains, and there is a small hole on the curtain, then on a bright sunny day, an image of the landscape outside the window appears on the opposite wall, albeit upside down. This phenomenon was often used by magicians and negligent artists.
But it wasn't until 1826 that Frenchman Joseph Niepce found a more practical use for a box that collects light. On the sheet of glass, Joseph applied a thin layer of asphalt varnish. Then the first photographic plate was installed in the apparatus and ... In order to get an image, it was necessary to wait about twenty minutes. And if this was not considered critical for landscapes, then those who wanted to capture themselves in eternity had to try. After all, the slightest movement led to a spoiled, blurry frame. And the process of obtaining an image was not yet like that which had become familiar in the twentieth century, and the cost of such an image was very high.
A few years later, chemicals more sensitive to light appeared, now there was no need to sit, staring at one point and be afraid to sneeze. In the 1870s, photographic paper appeared, and ten years later, photographic film replaced heavy and fragile glass plates.
13. Gramophone and phonograph
But a device that allows you to record and reproduce sound appeared almost at the turn of the century. At the end of November 1877, the inventor Thomas Edison presented his next invention. It was a box with a spring mechanism inside, a long foil-covered cylinder, and a horn outside. When the mechanism was started, it seemed to many that a miracle had happened. From the metal bell came, albeit softly and unintelligibly, the sounds of a children's song about a girl who brought her lamb to school. And the song was sung by the inventor himself.
Edison soon improved this device, calling it the phonograph. Instead of foil, wax cylinders began to be used. Recording and playback quality has improved.
If instead of a wax cylinder a disc made of durable material is used, the volume and duration of the sound will increase. The disc was first used in 1887 by Emil Berliner. The device, called the gramophone, gained great popularity, because stamping records with records turned out to be much faster and cheaper than recording music on soft wax cylinders.
And soon the first record companies appeared. But this is the history of the twentieth century.
14. Firearms
And of course, technological progress has not bypassed the military either. Of the most significant military inventions of the nineteenth century, one can note the massive transition from muzzle-loading smoothbore guns to rifled firearms. There were cartridges in which gunpowder and a bullet were a single whole. There was a bolt on the guns. Now the soldier did not have to separately pour gunpowder into the barrel, then insert the wad, then push the bullet and again the wad, wielding a ramrod during each operation. The rate of fire has increased several times.
The queen of the fields, artillery, has also undergone similar changes. Since the second half of the nineteenth century, gun barrels have become rifled, dramatically increasing the accuracy and range of fire. The loading now took place from the breech, and instead of the cores they began to use cylindrical shells. Gun barrels were no longer cast from cast iron, but from stronger steel.
Smokeless pyroxylin powder appeared, nitroglycerin was invented - an oily liquid that explodes with a small push or impact, and then dynamite - all the same nitroglycerin mixed with binders.
The nineteenth century gave the generals and admirals the first machine gun, the first submarine, sea mines, unguided missiles and armored steel ships, torpedoes, the soldiers received instead of red and blue uniforms, suitable only for parades, a comfortable and inconspicuous uniform on the battlefield. The electric telegraph began to be used for communication, and the invention of canned food greatly simplified the provision of food to the armies. Many of the wounded were saved by the invention of anesthesia in 1842.
15. Match
In the nineteenth century, a lot of things were invented, sometimes invisible in everyday life. Matches were invented, the most seemingly simple and ordinary thing, but for the appearance of this small wooden stick, the discoveries of chemists and designers were needed. Special machines were created for the mass production of matches.
16. Bicycle
The first bicycle can be considered a two-wheeled scooter patented in 1817 by the German professor Carl von Dres, which he called the “running machine”. Since then, the bicycle has been constantly modernized: 1830 - Thomas McCall from Scotland invents
two-wheeled bicycle; 1860 - Pierre Michaud of France modernizes the bicycle by adding pedals to it; 1870 - James Starley of France creates a modification of a bicycle with a large wheel; 1885 John Kemp of Australia makes the bicycle safer.
17. Stethoscope
Remember going to the doctor - the therapist. A cold touch to the body of a metal round, the command "Breathe - do not breathe." This is a stethoscope. He appeared in 1819 due to the reluctance of the French physician Rene Laennec to put the ear to the body of the patient. At first, the doctor used paper tubes, then from wood, and then the stethoscope was improved, it became even more convenient, and modern devices use the same operating principles as the first paper tubes.
18. Metal nibs
The nineteenth century brought relief to the geese as well. In the 1830s, metal feathers appeared, now there was no need to run after these proud birds in order to borrow a feather, and there was no need to edit steel feathers. By the way, the penknife was originally used for the constant sharpening of bird feathers.
19. ABC for the blind
While still a toddler, the inventor of the alphabet for the blind, Louis Braille became blind himself. This did not stop him from learning, becoming a teacher, and inventing a special method of volumetric printing, now the letters could be felt with your fingers. The Braille alphabet is still used today, thanks to it, people who have lost their sight or have been blind since birth were able to gain knowledge and get an intellectual job.
20. Combine harvester
In 1836, an interesting structure appeared in one of the endless California wheat fields. Several horses pulled a wagon that made noise, creaked, screeched, frightened crows and respectable farmers. Cogwheels spun randomly on the wagon, chains rumbled, and knife blades gleamed. This mechanical monster was devouring wheat and spitting out straw that no one wanted. And the wheat accumulated in the belly of the monster. It was the first grain harvester. Later, harvesters became even more productive, but they also required more and more traction power: up to forty horses or oxen were pulled through the fields of mechanical monsters. At the end of the nineteenth century, the steam engine came to the aid of horses.
21. Sewing machine
The first sewing machines also appeared in the nineteenth century. Initial designs were far from ideal, for example the fabric had to be fed vertically and the feed rate was manually controlled. Inventor Isaac Singer eliminated many of the shortcomings and soon established his own production. The Singer brand still exists today.
22. Pneumatic tires
Well, and pneumatic tires, invented by the Scot John Dunlop, an avid cyclist, although he first equipped his son's tricycle with tires.
And actually rubber, a derivative of rubber, is also an invention of the middle of the century before last. By itself, rubber, with all its virtues, became tanned in the cold and sticky to the hands in the heat. But the addition of sulfur and soot corrected this shortcoming.
23. Steel plow
In 1830, the American blacksmith - well done John Deere forged the first steel plow, farmers began to harvest more, and it became easier for the horses. And under the John Deere brand, tractors and other agricultural equipment are still being produced.
24. Diving suit
In 1840, fish and other aquatic life became alarmed. A terrible two-legged creature with several huge round eyes walked along the bottom. The monster had a pair of tentacles and a long, thin intestine extending upwards. From time to time, the monster exhaled many air bubbles with a roar. The inhabitants of the water world did not know that they had witnessed the testing of the first diving suit.
25. Safety pin
Even the simple safety pin was invented in 1849. Although it was invented by a completely American enterprising engineer, and was the first to receive a patent, but the Englishman Charles Rowley was able to promote this invention and now it is a safety pin.
26. Syringe
Syringe. And it appeared in the nineteenth century. And almost simultaneously, in 1853, two doctors, the Scot Wood and the Frenchman Pravans, created one of the most sought-after medical devices.
27. Reinforced concrete
The Frenchman Monnier, a gardener, was engaged in the cultivation and sale of various exotic vegetation. He planted small trees in cement tubs. But here's the problem - tubs often burst. One day, a gardener tied a frame out of iron rods and filled it with cement mortar. The tubs stopped cracking. So, according to the official version, reinforced concrete was invented.
28. Jeans
The guys who were far from fashion wanted comfortable and wearable work clothes, but they got jeans and trousers made of strong cotton fabric. In 1873, a patent was obtained for jeans. They were especially liked by California gold diggers, and eventually appeared in every wardrobe.
29. Margarine
Margarine, which became a substitute for butter, appeared in the seventies of the nineteenth century. In the chemical laboratory, they managed to mix vegetable fat, water, dyes and salt into a single whole. Now the invention of French chemists is used by housewives, cooks and huge transnationalline companies.