Inventors and Inventions

By 23rossd
  • Jethro Tull

    Jethro Tull
    Developed a machine called the 'seed drill', which was a buggy pulled by horses that drilled seeds into the ground in neat rows. He also developed the horse-drawn hoe, which tilled the ground.
  • Abraham Darby

    Abraham Darby
    Used coke to smelt iron and copper, massively improving cost and efficiency of ironwork. He was able to support the heavy charge of iron using coke. He also was able to successfully make thin-cast bronze for things like pots and other hollow ware.
  • James Hargreaves

    James Hargreaves
    A self-taught weaver who developed the Spinning Jenny, which sported multiple spindles to speed up the spinning of textiles to form yarns.
  • James Watt

    James Watt
    Was able to successfully design and develop the a steam engine. He was raised in construction, his father owning a ship and house building business. He became a mathematical instrument maker. He was repairing a Newcomen Steam Engine when he noticed the waste of steam, and decided to improve upon it, opting for a little-waste condensed-steam-run engine.
  • Richard Arkwright

    Richard Arkwright
    Developed and employed a factory system for mass manufacturing, using power-driven machinery. He industrialized textiles, inventing a water-powered tool that produced cotton yarn.
  • Nicolas LeBlanc

    Nicolas LeBlanc
    Discovered how to make soda ash from common salt, which greatly improved the efficiency and cost of paper-making, porcelain manufacturing, glass and soap making with his
  • Eli Whitney

    Eli Whitney
    Famous inventor of the cotton gin, which increased efficiency in separating and cleaning cotton for use. He also invented the concept of interchangeable parts.
  • Robert Owen

    Robert Owen
    Believed that if all employees were treated kindly and given benefits, they would work harder, thus producing more, thus making more money. He provided housing and schools for his workers and his workers' families, kept them at full pay constantly (unlike other factories), stopped employing children so they may attend school, and many other advancements in modern work laws.
  • Alessandro Volta

    Alessandro Volta
    Italian physicist that developed the first electric battery to provide a continuous electrical current.
  • Robert Fulton

    Robert Fulton
    Fulton was a failed artist in England who gained interest in a series of recent paddle boat inventions during his attempts at artistic fame. He came up with a theory that using steam to power rotating paddles, and later in life approached the American and English governments to collaborate in making military and commercial vessels. He designed a system of inland waterways, a submarine, and a steam-powered. The first draft of his submarine "The Nautilus" embarked on July 29th, 1800.
  • Elias Howe

    Elias Howe
    The inventor of the first sewing machine for the home and manufacturing, which increased productivity and efficiency in textile production and helped massively in domestic homes.
  • Karl Marx

    Karl Marx
    Began writing for liberal democratic newspaper Rheinische Zeitung, and later became editor. The paper was banned for radicalism, so he moved to Paris for new opportunities where he met his lifelong partner, Friedrich Engels. At some point, the Prussian government was trying to expel Marx from France, so he and Engels moved to Brussel. The Communist League in London drafted Marx to write the Communist Manifesto, which outlined the effectiveness of doing away with capitalism.