Inventions In The Last 100 Years

Wipers that keep your headlights lights clean were originally invented by General Motors back in the early 1960s.This was an excellent idea that enabled drivers to see in bad weather.The invention would divert a jet from the windshield washer to spray the lenses and wipe them with a blade whose pivot point would be ratcheted […]

December 1963…The airfoil section of this proposed Japanese railcar provides lift to reduce effective weight by two-thirds. This buoyancy, plus streamlining and lowered rolling resistance, will give the 80-passenger car a top speed of 125 miles per hour, the inventor says.Recently demonstrated in model form, the pneumatic-tired Sky Car would run on two light elevated […]

December 1963…You have to see this transistorized pygmy portable TV to believe it. It’s only four inches wide, five inches high, nine inches long, and weighs 7½ pounds. The batteries to operate it are inside the package. There are no dangling cords or separate battery packs.Astonishingly bright, crisp pictures, measuring 4½ inches on the diagonal, […]

December 1963…New screws an eighth of an inch long can be set in pistons, connecting rods, and other moving engine parts to check operating temperature without the expense of thermocouples.Developed in England by Shell Research, the alloy Templugs screw into tapped holes, and record heat by a permanent change in their hardness.Measurement on removal indicates […]

July 1963…Tiniest car seats a grown man. At barely four feet long, this three-wheel midget weighs only 130 pounds and can be tilted up by the front bumper for parking in those tight places.Designed in England for short-range commuting and shopping, the Peel P-50 houses its three-speed, four-horsepower engine on the right side of its […]

April 1963…Phones that dial a spoken number, typewriters that print out whatever you say to them, underwater ears that identify a hostile submarine – these are just a few of the uses foreseen for a new signal-recognizing “brain.”In a recent demonstration of its talents, an engineer talked into a microphone connected to a tabletop version […]

October 1963…About half the thickness of human hair, the strip of the tin plate is basically the same kind that protects your tomato juice. U.S. Steel scientists turned out this sample using a new rolling process. It can also be made opaque and may one day become commonplace for tin cans.But how practical it would […]

June 1963…Spinning wing lifts plane.A rotating annular wing, according to this recent Lockheed patent, would act as a gyro to stabilize a plane in supersonic flight.The wing’s upper and lower surfaces would provide lift, and centrifugal force would deliver fuel to ramjet engines in the wings.Intake air flow would be smoothed as it broke around […]

November 1963…To replace the large number of floodlights usually needed to illuminate a wide area, this recent patent would mount a single high-powered light on a revolving, motor-driven yoke. Although the beam would light only a portion of the area at a time, by rotating fast it would give the effect of complete coverage.

May 1963… Rock and roll while you stroll with this new battery-powered radio-phonograph which will play 45-r.p.m. records while being carried. It will even play when turned upside down. Both radio and record player operate on a single battery of four D-size flashlight cells. Records are held on a freely turning spindle with spring clips. […]

May 1963…Rails brace moving cargo. Slotted rails and telescoping, spring-loaded poles, according to this recent patent, might speed cargo handling, reduce in-transit damage and lessen the need for placing items in crates.The rails would be fastened to the roof, floor, and sides of the truck or freight car. Snapping pole ends into holes would keep […]

July 1963…This projector turns words into pictures.The New York police are now using a quick-identification projector invented by one of their own members.It puts together from coded slides a verbal description of a wanted man and projects his image on a screen where it can be photographed and distributed.It works from slides offering 600 combinations […]

Anybody can operate a new machine that prints 1,500 show cards a day, for it works as easily as a typewriter.No setting of type is necessary. The device is provided with a row of holes, each representing a letter or figure.Cards may be printed in two colors at a single operation.According to the inventor, the […]

November 1963…A new mortar containing plastic lets builders bond bricks together into panels that can be lifted into place in any weather. Panels were braced in steel frames 4 by 5 to 4 by 14 feet, raised to the roof of an eight-story Denver building, and welded to become penthouse walls.The extra-strength mortar was made […]

April 1963…Plug-in vest heats from dashboard.Riders in open cars, boats, tractors, or on motorcycles can now keep warm on cold days, says the inventor of this plug-in vest.It has flexible heating elements enclosed in plastic front and back panels and it plugs into a cigarette-lighter receptacle connected to a 6, 12, or 24-volt battery.Normally worn […]

July 1963…Platform rolls like a ship’s landing deck. An experimental platform that tilts up to fifteen degrees is used by the British Navy to enable them to test the capabilities of new helicopters for landing on ships at sea.Shown here is a Westland Wasp which was the latest anti-submarine helicopter back in 1963. It can […]

Innovation from December 1963.The tiny white button in the lens can detect and amplify, by 100 times, signals carried to it on less than a billionth of a watt of light.The transistor-like device, a quarter-inch in diameter, would be the heart of a matchbox-size receiver, enabling space systems to pick up light-borne signals beamed from […]

July 1963…Para-anchor steadies your boat in all kinds of weather. It works on the same drag principle as the parachute.It holds the bow into the wind, resisting drift and reducing roll in deep water. A lifesaver if an engine failure occurs in rough water.Of nylon construction and unaffected by salt water, the anchor is 24 […]

July 1963…One-man electronic garage parks cars by pushbutton.Theater-goers in New York’s Times Square have something new to talk about: a garage that can park or unpark 27 cars in 10 minutes with only one attendant on duty. It’s all done by pushing a button and it works this way:Drive up in your car onto a […]

July 1963… New boat can either fly or sail. Towed by a powerboat, this craft takes to the air under its flex-wing sail. On its own with the wing tilted to catch the breeze, it sails like a catamaran. A plane type stick controls the wing in flight; rudder pedals steer the boat on the […]

December 1963… How do they take those movies of skiers winding down the slopes? Professional photographer Red Allin does it this way. He attaches his camera to his helmet (for a total weight of 18 pounds) and takes his pictures while skiing with his subjects. He is shown at Mount Snow, Vt., while shooting a […]

Back in April 1963, this midget scooter was built for transportation, fun or a combination of the two. It was able to squeeze 125 miles from a gallon of gas and can speed along at 35 miles per hour while doing it. Known as the Wren it had a 38-inch wheelbase, weighed 62 pounds, and […]

May 1963… Light up and listen to your favorite music with this miniature radio-lighter combination, only slightly larger than an ordinary lighter it contains a two-transistor radio with built-in antenna and battery. The radio comes on when you plug in the earphone. The standard mercury cell battery makes the device last for about two-hundred hours. […]

Back in 1963 a laser cutting wood was one of the latest innovations. The University of Michigan had developed a tool to cut through maple and other hardwoods. At the time cutting wood with beams of light was thought to be almost science fiction, in fact, it was described as similar to a disintegrating ray […]

October 1963… The latest thing to hit the jukebox-set at taverns and bowling alleys is movies: three minutes of sound film for a quarter. The screen looks like any 21-inch television set; the console under it resembles an ordinary jukebox with individual panels listing forty titles and a slot for your coin. You make your […]

December 1963… In water sometimes no deeper than three inches, this 42-foot boat will cruise at 25 m.p.h. with 55 people aboard. Propelled by two Berkeley jet pumps powered by a pair of 409 Crusader engines, it makes daily runs down the Colorado below Moab, Utah, where the water is too shallow in places for […]

June 1963… Indoor golf with outdoor view. A giant color picture of a fairway flashes on the backstop net as in the picture above. The golfer does a full swing and slams the ball into the net. Next a microphone picks up the sound and starts a computer, which works out where the shot would […]

A Modern Small Wheeled Bike (Photo Credit owenfinn16)   The small wheel bike was invented by British designer Dr. Alex Moulton back in 1963. At the time it was thought to be one of the biggest bicycle design changes in over seventy years. The bicycle had sixteen-inch wheels and an ultra-rigid frame of oval tubing. Many […]

October 1963…Look closely at the picture above and you will notice that there is no pilot in the cabin of this “bailed-out” eleven year old Army helicopter. Instead, it has been fitted with radio controls developed by Bell Helicopter so it can be operated by a ground unit.It’s shown flying unmanned at 2,000 feet above […]

Hanging a building in the air sets a new style. Innovation idea from December 1963. Up went a pair of hollow concrete towers. Concrete beams joined them. Next came steel trusses, crosswise. From the ends, tubular steel hangers dropped nearly to the ground. Floor joists of steel were welded to the hangers, and to steel […]

German inventor creates robot… When a German inventor found the task of dialling telephone numbers too burdensome, he did not bewail the mechanization of the service in the interests of efficiency.Instead, he went one better than the telephone engineers and invented an automatic dialler.Stops, on this device, are preset for the fifty numbers most frequently […]

December 1963…You wouldn’t have to inch your way to a pump at a busy gas station that had track-mounted pumps like these. The recently patented system would let you park in any vacant bay at the service island and wait (in or out of the car) for the pump to come to you. Reel-up hoses […]

October 1963…Sunken ships might be raised quickly and economically, according to this recent patent, by pumping in foam. A diver would locate or prepare a closed compartment, insert a hose and nozzle. Pumps on a salvage ship would force in resin and catalyst. Combined at the nozzle, they’d set up to form a buoyant, closed-cell […]

December 1963… Tiny hydrofoil wings attached to these skis enable the skier to bank, dip, climb, and glide at speeds up to 35 miles per hour. The foils start lifting at eight miles per hour, ride two feet above the water. CosmoDynamics Inc., Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, developed Dynaflite hydrofoils. Under the skis are a […]

There are several speculations as to the inventor of the hearing aid. Hearing aids have been around since time immemorial and perhaps it is easier to find out who the inventor of the modern hearing aid is. Hearing aids have a long history, ever since the prehistoric times. It is believed and rightly so that […]

Not many people understand much about the invention of video games or the history of video games even though many people across the globe love playing them on a regular basis. Those who grew up in the late 1970s and 1980s will have had the opportunity to play many, varied video games and also will […]

The invention of coca-cola can be attributed to a struggling pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia named John S. Pemberton; he concocted the first batch coca-cola syrup back in May 1886 in a three-legged iron pot in his back yard. Two of the ingredients for coca-cola at the time were dried coca leaves of a South American […]

The invention of cable television in the late 1940s has radically changed the way that the world communicated. Not only did it provide a source for entertainment and news, it disseminated an ideal of a middle-class world that to many people, was just a dream; a depiction of normal life portrayed on the screen. Being […]

The steam engine inventor was James Watt who issued a patent for his invention in 1769. James Watt was born in Scotland in the little town of Greenock on the banks of the Clyde in 1736. At the age of sixteen, he had a short 2-year apprenticeship working for a mechanic/mathematical instrument specialist. After his […]

Without the invention of electricity, none of us would have the power to use computers, turn on a light, or keep the food in our refrigerator from spoiling. Electricity is a wonderful part of all of our lives that we use every single day. When someone wonders about where electricity came from, the icon image […]

Invention of the radio occurred early in the twentieth century and if you are wondering which inventor invented the radio it was Guiseppe Marconi. Back in the 1890’s he referred to radio as wireless telegraphy. Because at the time this innovation was so radical in its nature Marconi could only see commercial opportunity for his […]

Paint brushes are cleaned quickly by means of a new electric whirling device. A brush is first dipped in a cleansing solvent, and then attached by its handle to the whirler, as shown in the image. When the motor is switched on, the brush whirls at high speed, paint being automatically removed by means of […]

Imagine how easy this would be to carry around the golf course! I wonder why it didn’t take off? I personally have never seen this in modern day golf. One shaft and seven detachable heads housed in a lightweight canvas kit replace a whole golf bag full of heavy clubs, in a novel plan devised […]

November 1963… Parallel mainsails on the 15-foot British boat above were designed and patented by a retired Welsh naval commander. The two masts are half the usual height and the boom are linked by a crossbar. They apply a chimney effect to create a draft; Commander Guy Bagot can keep his craft moving when others […]

Do you have three boys or three girls and only a small room for them to sleep in? Then perhaps you need this great idea that I stumbled across…A triple decker bunk bed – perfect for say a small room in your holiday home.It’s clever, space saving design prevents your children from banging their heads […]

Only Luck Can Win In New Electric Game InnovationPure chance controls an amusement device known as the “thyratron speed trap,” Recently designed by electrical engineers. The object of the game is to roll a steel ball representing an automobile, down a runway without lighting any one of three lamps. Should a player succeed, he is […]

July 1963… Abrasive gloves rub the skin off of potatoes. Wash potatoes or root vegetables with these German gloves on, and you can peel them in water running at the kitchen sink. When the spud is worked under the tap like a cake of soap, emery particles vulcanized in the rubber rub off dirt and […]

December 1963…What does it feel like in space? Engineers working on Project Apollo at Honeywell’s Aeronautical Division in Minneapolis can find out by thrusting an arm into a pressure-suit glove set in a small Plexiglas vacuum chamber and working a hand control unit. Experiencing the handicap of a pressurized space suit helps them in designing […]

July 1963… This electroluminescent belt generates its own light. Electroluminescent panels replace reflectors on a new Sam Browne traffic-safety belt. They emit flashes from a rechargeable battery at the side.

December 1963… A 227-foot tower not only supplies the historic city of Roskilde, near Copenhagen, with water but contains a restaurant on top and a swimming pool at the bottom. And Ford gets in a bit of advertising, too. The million-gallon water tank, 93 feet in diameter, is held up by eight T-shaped columns, each […]

October 1963…A safety gate mounted on the bumper of this school bus swings out hydraulically to keep children from crossing until the driver sees that all lanes are clear. Then he switches off a red light, swings the gate back, and permits them to pass by.Superior Coach Corporation, Lima, Ohio made the gate.

Photocopying is done by a machine that can make copies of paper documents and other visual images. They typically do this using a standard copying process called xerography which uses electrostatic charges on a light-sensitive photoreceptor. The photoreceptor attracts and then transfers powder toner particles onto the paper exactly representing the image being scanned. The […]

July 1963… Bugs make juice to run a radio. Now you can buy a battery that harnesses the energy of millions of harmless bacteria to produce enough electric current to run a small transistor radio. The biological fuel cells are available as a kit that makes a battery of twelve cells, delivering about forty milliamps […]

Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are also known as automated banking machines or cash machines or cash points or even the hole in the wall! ATMs are electronic telecommunication devices that are interfaced directly with the banks in order to enable banking customers to perform financial transactions such as withdrawals, deposits and balance inquiries. The customer […]

May 1963…A talking notebook… A tiny tape recorder only a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes records up to an hour on one re-useable, indexed, reel of tape.A built-in microphone in the Memocord lets you record interviews or notes without external wires. It uses one nine-volt battery and one 1.5 colt penlight cell.

Air canopy protects the tractor driver. An air curtain shields British tractor and combine-harvester operators from dust, chaff, and insects in the field, making goggles or special clothing unnecessary.A fiberglass dome over the open cab has a built-in fan that blows a sheet of encircling air through a gap at the rim. The canopy also […]