Friday, May 24, 2013

10 Incredible Inventions By The British

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August 26, 2010

The British are very inventive people, but when it comes to marketing inventions and products Americans beat them up. The Americans believe in marketing and making money out of their inventions and products.

I have listed here 10 such inventions which you wouldn’t believe that the British have done.

Elastic Fabric

It was Thomas Hancock who invented elastic fabric by mastication. Mastication is shredding of rubber scraps to allow it to be formed into sheets. Hancock invented elastic fabric for his use of fastening things like suspenders, stockings etc. Ignorantly he also invented the rubber masticator along the way.

Viagra


If you suffer from erectile dysfunction, then you have the British to thank. Andrew Bell, David Brown and Nicholas Terrett were the people who filed a patent in 1991 after investigating drugs for heart conditions.

Greeting Card


Christmas card and greeting card was invented by Henry Cole in 1846. He was the one who got bored with the idea of writing letters to dear ones, therefore he hired an artist to create a pleasant scene, fixed up the lithographic printer he had in the back room and manually coloured in the picture. It proved instant time saver. And he quickly figured out the financial potential of the item and put a thousand on sale.

But about who put the kitten on a card, is still a mystery.

Matches


John Walker invented the first match in 1827. He placed chemicals at the end of a stick which when rubbed against a rough surface burst into flames. He called them “congreves” and didn’t bother much about patenting them. The matches contained antimony sulfide, gum, potassium chlorate and starch. But, unfortunately sales never caught fire like that matches and he died in poverty.

Electric Toaster

It was the British Company ‘Crompton and Co’ which invented the Electric toaster in 1893. But the main problem with the electric toaster was to find a suitable metal. Then, an alloy of nickel and chromium was patented to allow the current to pass and a dissipation of heat to occur without melting of the element. After that a refinement was introduced in 1918 which allowed doors to turn the toast over allowing toasting of both sides.

Afterwards, in 1926 the Americans thought to get in on the act and invented the Toastmaster, which allowed the toast to be popped up automatically when done. And then an American, Otto Frederick Rohwedder, invented sliced bread in 1928.

Flush Toilet


Flush toilet was invented by godson of Elizabeth I – Sir John Harrington in 1567 and not by Thomas Crapper as popular myth promotes. Crapper was a 19th century plumber who promoted bathroom fitting and patented a few of his own, but he didn’t invent the flush toilet. The S bend, an important part of the modern flush toilet was invented by Alexander Cummings in 1775.

Sunglasses

In 1752 the British James Ayscough invented the hinged spectacles along with tinted glasses. These were tinted in blue and green. He also made microscopes.

The 18th century seems as cool and hip as today inventing so many things.

Stereophonic Recording

Alan Blumlein was the one who invented a single-groove system for stereophonic recording and then patented the basics of stereophonic recording and reproduction in 1931.

The ipod just wouldn’t have been so exciting today without stereophone.

Carbonated Soft Drinks

In 1767, Englishmen Dr. Joseph Priestley created the first drinkable man-made glass of carbonated water.

These carbonated soft drinks were frequently flavoured with lemon, making them the forerunner of Lemonade.

The Englishman also discovered Oxygen, nitrous oxide (laughing gas), hydrochloric acid, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and also identified plant respiration and photosynthesis.

Rubber Band

The first rubber band was manufactured in 1845 by Stephen Perry of the rubber manufacturing company Messers Perry and Co., in London. This rubber band was made up of vulcanized rubber. Perry invented the rubber band to hold papers and envelopes together.

So, you can see how many interesting and amazing inventions have been done by British.

Author : Renu “the Traveler”

Renu, a traveler reading, observing and exploring the world with a sensitive and open heart!! Masters in English Literature, at present working with an IM company- Digital Web Solutions as a writer; writing blogs, articles, news, press release etc. Traveling and reading are my passion as both the avenues enrich my knowledge besides bringing to the fore different ways of living.


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17 Responses to “10 Incredible Inventions By The British”

  • Abhishek-seekersfind.com Says:
    18.22.45 at 6:22 pm

    Really this are the incredible work done by britisher.

    Thanks For Sharing
    Abhishek

  • Subrat Says:
    05.00.32 at 5:00 am

    Renu, you should write one more article on “Uncountable Incredible Inventions By The Indians”

    Wish you all the best..

    Subrat

  • 6 Die Says:
    16.51.45 at 4:51 pm

    I bet they didn’t call it a toilet….LU?

  • Rohfun Says:
    03.37.56 at 3:37 am

    Thanks For Sharing

  • anshul Says:
    16.34.10 at 4:34 pm

    hey renu…………
    fantastic piece….. amazing…..
    waiting for the next one…….DESPERATELY……!!!!

  • TheTrevor Says:
    22.31.41 at 10:31 pm

    Oh, please. Are you serious ? Steam engine, jet engine, penicillin, hovercraft, jump jet. First computer to hold program and data in common RAM, (but we kept it secret from the Septics. Septic Tanks, Yanks) Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:British_inventions
    – by no means an exhaustive list ! But all I can be arsed to do right now. Have you people ever heard of google ?

  • Ian Says:
    08.47.26 at 8:47 am

    What a patronising article. Why do Americans think they’ve invented everything? We were kick-starting the industrial revolution when they were still killing bison in order to starve the indigenous people to death (no they aren’t buffalo BTW – they also exist in Eastern Europe and Asia, and were called bison long before the yanks erroneously called them buffalo).

  • TheTrevor Says:
    06.01.07 at 6:01 am

    Ian, I don’t think this site originates in the US, so you can’t blame the Americans for this. Indian sub-continent is my guess. Didn’t know that about bison, btw.

  • Steve Says:
    11.47.52 at 11:47 am

    Given the sheer quantity of things invented in Britain, why would we not believe that these are by British inventors?

  • Em Says:
    05.54.30 at 5:54 am

    C’mon guys! Be nice! What is it with some of you trashing on Americans all the time?
    Cool list though! thx!

  • sean Says:
    08.10.11 at 8:10 am

    Flush toilets have been around long before then. Then Romans and the Arabs both had flushable toilets before then. Also, I British invented the first computer during WWII Collosus, it was a code breaking computer, that should definitely be on the list too, as it’s a pretty important don’t you think?

  • Michael Says:
    15.01.03 at 3:01 pm

    I like how The Computer and The Internet are not included – yet we are using both to view this page

  • Greg Says:
    18.37.48 at 6:37 pm

    I’m not gonna have a go at Americans here, because firstly it’d be too easy, and secondly it’d be unfair, as America is a relatively young country. All I will say is that it’s a touch patronising to imply that we should be astonished at these inventions from the British. Quick list: Bicycle pedals, the breech-loading rifle, chloroform, the cloud chamber, colour photography, cornflour, the cure for malaria, the decimal point, electro-magnetism, the fountain-pen, hypnosis, hypodermic syringes, insulin, the kaleidoscope, the lawnmower, logarithms, motor insurance, the MRI scanner, the paddle steamer, paraffin, radar, the reflecting telescope, savings banks, the speedometer, tarmac, tubular steel, the typhoid vaccine, the ultrasound scanner, vacuum flasks, wave-powered electricity generators and wire rope. And those are just some of the inventions from Scotland alone.
    Also, if you wanted to be pedantic you could say that since America was colonised by the English and the Germans, all their inventions are technically British or Bavarian… It’s just a shame the UK is such a dump nowadays! I would say though that despite being a small country, we’re still up there with America on the innovation front, getting our asses handed to us by Japan :p
    Still, interesting list, was ALWAYS gonna cause arguments, but hopefully I’ve been fair rather than just straight up troll.
    Although I do believe the Ancient Chinese were the first to come up with a crude flush toilet. And Sean, technically the first programmable computer was designed in 1822 by Charles Babbage, and although the technology didn’t exist to actually make it back then. One was finally produced in 1882, but Babbage had been dead for 11 years by then.

    Hmm, this appears to have been an essay, rather than a comment. Hopefully it’ll provide some interesting reading though, but more likely you’ll get two lines in and be bored to death. Good article though Renu! x

  • Paul James Says:
    13.26.33 at 1:26 pm

    Viagra was discovered in Cork,Ireland at Pfizer during clinical trials, not Britain.

  • Chair Rails Says:
    06.41.10 at 6:41 am

    It is amazing to see these inventions that are all from British sides. If i have to choose any one then i will say that the invention of “Rubber Band” is the ultimate and this is something that everyone uses and its use is still growing. Thanks for the post…

  • david eustace Says:
    16.33.58 at 4:33 pm

    Joseph Priestly for chemistry and Michael Faraday for the electic motor and Sir Humphry Davy for chemistry and the safety lamp should be mentioned.
    Please don`t forget Watt,Richard Trethick,and Walter Hancock for steam traction and mobility.Also Charles Hancock the first to patent Gutta Percha [early plastic]He and his brothers Thomas and Walter invented an extrusion machine that allowed copper wire to be covered with gutta percha and rubber enabling the first underwater and Ocean telegraph cables.If they were Americans the U.S. would have had their pictures on their money and statues carved into Mount Rushmore.

  • aliceinjapanaland Says:
    06.51.41 at 6:51 am

    Actually sunglasses were invented by the Chinese. Wow, just goes to show that Brits do it too! Claim their country invented things that actually were invented by others. Wonder why…? Oh, um, maybe it has something to do with the fact that history is written by those with the most power? Or maybe it has something to do with innovations occuring simultaneously because ideas do not come from thin air, they are linked to ideas of others before jumping off into a new invention. Before the car, there was already an engine.. .etc.

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