Timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945)

A timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945) encompasses the innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Progressive Era to the end of World War II, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Copyright protection secures a person's right to the first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
In 1641, the first patent in North America was issued to Samuel Winslow by the General Court of Massachusetts for a new method of making salt. On April 10, 1790, President George Washington signed the Patent Act of 1790 (1 Stat. 109) into law which proclaimed that patents were to be authorized for "any useful art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any improvement therein not before known or used." On July 31, 1790, Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became the first person in the United States to file and to be granted a patent under the new U.S. patent statute. The Patent Act of 1836 (Ch. 357, 5 Stat. 117) further clarified United States patent law to the extent of establishing a patent office where patent applications are filed, processed, and granted, contingent upon the language and scope of the claimant's invention, for a patent term of 14 years with an extension of up to an additional seven years.
From 1836 to 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPT granted a total of 7,861,317 patents relating to several well-known inventions appearing throughout the timeline below. Some examples of patented inventions between the years 1890 and 1945 include John Froelich's tractor (1892), Ransom Eli Olds' assembly line (1901), Willis Carrier's air-conditioning (1902), the Wright Brothers' airplane (1903), and Robert H. Goddard's liquid-fuel rocket (1926).
1890 Stop sign
1890 Tabulating machine
1890 Shredded wheat
1890 Babcock test
1890 Smoke detector
1891 Incandescent lamp
1891 Ferris wheel
1891 Dow process
1891 Tesla coil
1891 Rotary dial
1891 Pastry fork
1891 Schrader valve
1892 Bottle cap
1892 Dimmer
1892 Bicycle seat (padded)
1892 internal combustion-powered tractor
1893 Zipper
1893 Spectroheliograph
1893 Pinking shears
Early 1890s Phantoscope
1894 Stadimeter
1894 Mousetrap
1894 Medical glove
1895 Cyclocomputer
1895 Clipless pedal
1895 Volleyball
1897 Electric Cotton Candy Machine
1897 Muffler
1897 Tapered roller bearing
1897 Ice cream scoop
1897 Charcoal briquette
1897 Billiards cue chalk
1898 Candy corn
1898 Remote control
1898 Semi-automatic shotgun
1898 Semi-truck
1898 Filing cabinet (vertical)
1898 Installer bit
1893 Sousaphone
1899 Wing warping
1899 Flash-lamp
1900 Duckpin bowling
Duckpin bowling is a variation of bowling that uses balls which are significantly smaller than those used in ten-pin bowling, weighing 1–3 kg (2.2–6.6 lb) each, which are without finger holes. The pins are correspondingly shorter and lighter than their ten-pin equivalents. Hence, when the pins are knocked down, they resemble a "flock of flying ducks". While the rules remained almost identical to those of the Ten-pin game, one rule change was made: A bowler is allowed to use three bowls on each turn. Strikes would still be strikes and spares still spares, but when all pins were knocked down on the third ball, it counts as a score of ten. During the summer of 1900, some bowlers at Diamond Alleys in Baltimore thought it might be interesting to resize the pins to match the 6-inch ball. Thus, the inventor of duckpin bowling, John Van Sant, used a wood turner to do exactly that.
1900 Nickel-zinc battery
1900 Merrill-Crowe process
1900 Carbide lamp
1900 Fly swatter
1900 Thumbtack
1901 Key punch
1901 Mercury-vapor lamp
1901 Assembly line
1901 Safety razor (disposable)
1901 Windowed envelope
1901 Radio direction finder
A radio direction finder (RDF) is a device for finding the direction to a radio source. Due to radio's ability to travel very long distances and "over the horizon", it makes a particularly good navigation system for ships, small boats, and aircraft that might be some distance from their destination. The radio direction finder is the earliest form of radio navigation. It was first patented by American physicist John Stone Stone. He filed on January 23, 1901, and was granted the patent (U.S. Patent 716,134) on December 16, 1902.
1902 Hearing aid
1902 Postage meter
1902 Teddy bear
1902 Periscope (collapsible)
1902 Mercury arc valve
1902 Air conditioning
Willis Carrier's invention of air conditioning in 1902 marked a pivotal moment in human history, transforming the way people interact with indoor spaces. Before his breakthrough, buildings were subject to the whims of nature, often becoming unbearably hot and humid during the summer months. Carrier's innovation provided a solution by allowing precise control over both temperature and humidity indoors. Carrier's invention – encompassing the first system to provide man-made control over temperature, humidity, ventilation and air quality, was first installed as a solution to the quality problems experienced at a Brooklyn printing plant, Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company. Air conditioning not only spawned a company and an industry, but also brought about profound economic, social and cultural changes.
1903 Tea bag
1903 Offset printing press
1903 Airplane
1903 Windshield wipers
1903 Wood's glass
1903 Wood's lamp
1903 Baler (round)
1904 Automatic transmission
1904 Banana split
1904 Pantograph (diamond-shaped)
1904 Dragline excavator
1905 Batting helmet
1905 Liquid ring pump
1905 Ice pop
1906 Typesetting
1906 Flushometer
1906 Audion tube
1907 Curtain rod
1907 Electrostatic precipitator
1907 Paper towel
1908 Candy apple
1909 Skee ball
1909 Paper shredder
1909 Suppressor
1909 Gin rummy
1910 Headset
1911 Fifth wheel coupling
1911 Erector Set
1911 Binder clip
1911 Automobile self starter
1911 Road surface marking
1912 Articulated tram
1912 Autopilot
1912 Electric blanket
1912 Traffic light (electric)
1913 Formica (plastic)
1914 Regenerative circuit
1914 Traffic coneTraffic cones, also called toddlers, road cones, safety cones, construction cones, pylons, or witches' hats, are usually cone-shaped markers that are placed on roads or sidewalks to temporarily redirect traffic in a safe manner. Traffic cones were invented in 1914 by Charles P. Rudabaker.
1914 Fortune cookie
1915 Skeet shooting
1915 Single-sideband modulation
1916 Hamburger bun
1916 Lincoln Logs
1916 Supermarket
1916 Cloverleaf interchange
1916 Tow truck
1916 Condenser microphone
1916 Light switch (toggle)
1917 Stream cipher
1917 Marshmallow creme
1918 Superheterodyne receiver
1918 French dip sandwich
1918 Torque wrench
1918 Crystal oscillator
1918 Grocery bag
1918 Hydraulic brake
1919 Blender
1919 Silica gel
1919 Toaster (pop-up)
1920 Eskimo Pie
1920 Jungle gym
1921 Polygraph
1921 Flowchart
1921 Adhesive bandage
1921 Headrest
1921 Garage door
1922 Blowout preventer (ram)
1922 Convertible
1922 Water skiing
1922 Radial arm saw
1922 Audiometer
1922 Neutrodyne
1923 Bulldozer
1923 Cotton swab
1924 Locking pliers
1924 Cheeseburger
1924 Earth inductor compass
1924 Gas chamber execution
1924 Moviola
1924 Radio altimeter
1925 Automatic volume control
1925 Masking tape
1925 Reuben sandwich
1926 Tilt-A-Whirl
1926 Garage door opener
1926 Power steering
1926 Drive through
1926 Liquid-fuel rocket
1927 Bread slicer
1927 Jukebox
1927 Garbage disposal
1927 Pressure washer
1927 Resonator guitar
1927 Kool-Aid
1927 Corn dog
1927 Negative feedback amplifier
1927 Quartz clock
1928 Recliner
1928 Ice cube tray
1928 Bubble gum
1928 Clip-on tie
1928 Electric razor
1928 Iron lung
1929 Freon
1929 Tampon (applicator)
1929 Eyelash curler
1929 Sunglasses
1929 Frozen food
1929 Cyclotron
1930 Tiltrotor
1930 Car audio
1930 Cheesesteak
1930 Bathysphere
1930 Chocolate chip cookie
1930 Thermistor
1931 Electric guitar
1931 Strobe light
1931 Aerogel
1931 Bug zapper
1932 Miniature snap-action switch
1932 Toilet brush
1932 Golf cart
1932 Staple remover
1932 Radio telescope
1932 Tape dispenser
1933 Landing Vehicle Tracked
1933 Multiplane camera
1933 Frequency modulation
1933 Impact sprinkler
1934 Trampoline (modern)
1934 Acrostic (puzzle)
1935 Richter magnitude scale
1935 Black light
1935 Parking meter
1935 Surfboard fin
1935 pH meter
1935 Gomco clamp
1936 Reed switch
1936 Phillips-head screw
The Phillips-head screw is a crosshead screw design lying in its self-centering property, useful on automated production lines that use power screwdrivers. The Phillips-head screw was invented and patented by Henry F. Phillips in 1936.
1936 Stock car racing
1936 Programming languages
1936 Compact fluorescent lamp
1936 Chair lift
1936 Strain gauge
1936 Bass guitar
1937 O-ring
1937 Photosensitive glass
1937 Digital computer
1937 Shopping cart
1937 Sunglasses (polarized)
1937 Klystron
1937 Cyclamate
1938 Beach ball
1938 Fiberglass
1938 Xerography
1938 Nylon
1938 Operant conditioning chamber
1938 Soft serve ice cream
1938 Teflon
1939 Yield sign
1939 VU meter
1939 Starting gate
1939 Twist tie
1939 Automated teller machine
1939 Vocoder
1940 Fluxgate magnetometer
1941 Aerosol bomb
1941 Deodorant
1941 Acrylic fiber
1941 Electric guitar (solid body)
1942 Bazooka
1943 Magnetic proximity fuze
1943 Modern coal-burning steam locomotive
1943 Slinky
1945 Microwave oven
1945 Cruise control
1945 Block heater
Timelines of United States inventions
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