1801: THE FIRST STEAM LOCOMOTIVE

Cornish steam pioneer Richard Trevithick was the first to develop a high-pressure
engine capable of carrying passengers. He built steam-powered locomotives between
1801 and 1802, building the “Puffing Devil” which carried passengers along a road,
before later that year developing plans for a rail locomotive. He fully realised the
creation of a steam train in 1804 with an engine capable of hauling ten tonnes of iron.

1804: FIRST GENERAL ANAESTHETIC

Japanese surgeon Hanaoka Seishū developed the first general anaesthetic that was
used to perform the removal of a breast tumour in 1804 and later more than 100
operations. However, the technique never spread widely due to Japan's isolation, and
the first major general anaesthetic, ether, was developed in the US in the 1840s.

1807: FIRST AUTOMOBILE WITH INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

The first ever automobile powered by an internal combustion engine was first invented
by Swiss-French inventor Isaac de Rivaz. Rivaz placed a prototype hydrogen gas
engine on a carriage, which was able to power the vehicle over short distances. Rivaz
patented the engine in 1807.

1810: FIRST CANNED FOOD

Following a competition by the French army to find new ways of preserving food,
Nicolas Appert developed a method of sealing food in glass bottles and boiling the
contents. His method preserved the food and was so successful that later that year
British inventor Peter Durand issued a patent for sealing food in the UK, this time in tin
cans.

1816: THE FIRST ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH

The very first electric telegraph was created by English inventor Francis Rolands in
1816 at his home in Hammersmith. This was later developed by other pioneers such as
Samuel Morse who patented his recording electric telegraph in the US in 1837.

1822: FIRST MECHANICAL COMPUTER/ THE BABBAGE DIFFERENCE

ENGINE/ANALYTICAL ENGINE
was the basis for the modern computer we all use today.
Designs for the first mechanical computer were first proposed in 1822 by Charles
Babbage, who is considered "the father of computing". While his "Difference Engine",
which would create complex mathematical tables, was ultimately never completed, a
working replica was later built and is housed in the Science Museum.

1824: FIRST RUBBER BALLOONS

to be used in his hydrogen experiments at the Royal Institution in London. Faraday
made them by cutting two sheets of tacky rubber and pressing the edges together to
seal them.
While balloons made from pigs bladders had been around for centuries, British inventor
Michael Faraday created the first rubber balloons. These were later popularised almost
a century later.

1826: THE FIRST FRICTION MATCH

Chemist John Walker developed a means of creating fire easily and quickly by striking a
match coated in a mixture including sulfides and potassium chlorate that would create a
flame when stuck against sandpaper. Scottish inventor Isaac Holden made
improvements to the matches, and these were ultimately sold commercially, taking on
the nickname "Lucifers".

1836: FIRST REVOLVER

Samuel Colt patented the first commercially successful revolver in 1836 which featured
a revolving chamber and stationary barrel. The first model held five shots and later
designs were used in American wars throughout the 19th Century and have remained
popular.

1839: FIRST PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Daguerreotypes were the first successful form of photography, remaining the main
process for around two decades. The process involved treating silver with mercury
vapour to produce a picture. Discovered by Louise Daguerre in France, the process
followed on from the very first photoengraved images, which were created by fellow
inventor Nicéphore Niépce.

1852: FIRST POWERED AIRSHIP

The first powered flight on an airship took place in 1852 on a floating craft developed by
French inventor Henri Giffard. The airship featured a flammable, hydrogen filled balloon
and was powered by a steam engine.

1853: FIRST GLIDER

Sir George Cayley, sometimes known as "the father of aviation", developed many of the
principles for heavier-than-air flight. He also invented the first glider, which completed its
first flight at Wyndale Hall in Yorkshire in 1853.
Sir George Cayley (1773-1857) built the world's first hand-launched glider in 1804. It
was five feet long and was the first example of the configuration of a modern aircraft,
with separate systems for lift and control. Cayley deserves to be remembered as the
first aeronautical engineer.

1876: TELEPHONE IS PATENTED

While there is a great deal of dispute over the first invention of the telephone, it is widely
attributed to Scottish-American inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who developed a
technique using electromagnets and electrical signals to transmit vibrations. Bell
competed against fellow inventor Elisha Gray, who filed his patent for a similar device
using a water transmitter that same day.

While Italian innovator Antonio Meucci pictured at left is credited with inventing the first
basic phone in 1849, and Frenchman Charles Bourseul devised a phone in 1854,
Alexander Graham Bell won the first U.S. patent for the device in 1876.

1879: FIRST COMMERCIAL LIGHTBULB

British inventors Joseph Swan and American inventor Thomas Edison made many
simultaneous developments for electric lights on both sides of the Atlantic. The designs
used a glowing filament in a vacuum tube. The pair later worked together on lighting
designs, while Swan's lightbulbs were ultimately fitted in public buildings such as the
Savoy in the early 1880s.

1884: THE MAXIM GUN

The Maxim Gun was the first recoil operated machine gun and became a notorious
symbol of imperial warfare. It used the recoil of firing to eject a spent cartridge and load
a new one. Later versions were used in colonial wars and World War One.
1885: FIRST MODERN BICYCLE
The first modern bicycle, known as the safety bicycle, followed on earlier designs such
as the penny-farthing, which featured a large front wheel. John Starley of Coventry
developed his "Rover" bicycle, which became popular and widely imitated and could be
easily used by men and women, unlike penny-farthings which were cumbersome and
oversized.

1886: COCA-COLA
After an injury in the American Civil War, pharmacist John Pemberton became addicted
to opium due to a war wound and set about developing medicines to treat his condition.
His first tonic was in fact a wine containing cocaine, later refined to a drink of
carbonated water and syrup. It was ultimately hugely successful, but never cured
Pemberton of his addiction.

1893: FIRST ZIPPER

American inventor Whitcomb Judson developed a "clasp locker", primarily for use in
boots and corsets. Despite founding the Universal Fastener Company to market his
design, it had little commercial success in his lifetime but became ubiquitous just a few
decades later.

1895: FIRST CINEMA SCREENING

Several inventors including Thomas Edison worked on developing the first film
screenings, but French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière were the first to invent a
machine to successfully project film for a large audience. The cinematograph they
created was able to record films and project them, leading to the world's first cinema
screenings in Paris. The Lumières gave their first paid public screening on 28
December 1895, at Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris.

1895: FIRST X-RAY

German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen developed the first medical X-ray after
experimenting with a device called a Crookes tube. The voltage applied created a type
of radiation emission, which he found would travel through paper and card. He
ultimately took a photographic X-ray of his wife's hand, since bones contain high levels
of calcium which absorbs the rays better than flesh.
1896: FIRST PRACTICAL MOTOR CAR
Karl Friedrich Benz developed a "horseless carriage" which was purposefully designed
to fully generate its own power, using a four-stroke engine. In 1888 Benz's wife Bertha
took the three-wheeler on a 66mile drive with her two children, coming up with several
improvements for the automobile and helping gain publicity on the first long-distance car
journey.