59 American Inventions List: Inventions That Will Blow Your Mind!

Over the years, the United States provided us with many essential inventions that paved the way for modernization and made our lives easier.

The list of inventions of the United States dates back to the time of Colonial rule. Inventions reached a peak during the gilded age.

Both native and non-native Americans took part in inventing new things ranging from food items to appliance tools. The first patent in North American history was awarded to Samuel Winslow in 1641 for inventing a new method of making salt.

The onset of the gilded age was marked by the invention of one of the first and most important discoveries of that period, the carbon microphone. Thomas Alva Edison invented the carbon microphone in 1878 and after a lengthy court battle had it patented under his name.

This microphone converted a sound signal to an electrical audio signal by two plates that were separated by carbon granules. The sound waves, when they struck the metal plates, caused pressure on the carbon granules which resulted in the production of electrical resistance.

The direct current passed from one plate to the other which changed the sound wave into an electrical signal. This was a very important invention.

If you are looking for similar types of content on American history, then do check out the articles about famous people from New York state. 

American Inventions That Revolutionized Manufacturing

Americans and American inventions had an exceeding impact on people and the market around the world. The manufacturing industry of both past and present have witnessed the effects of many such American inventions that revolutionized technologies and shaped modern industries.

• In 1853, James Finley invented the world's first modern suspension bridge. This bridge was named Jacob's Creek Bridge and was located in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
• Prior to that, suspension bridges made of wooden plans and ropes were also seen in many primitive civilizations. However, this invention modernized the construction of concrete suspension bridges.
• Around 1870, many American inventors were working to manufacture a device through which sound could be transmitted.
• Alexander Graham Bell was one such inventor who was trying to create a device to help the hearing impaired and came up with the telephone.
• The telephone became a very famous invention and Graham Bell filed a patent request for this invention in 1876.
• The electric light bulb was created by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879.
• After creating the electric light bulb, America's most famous inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, demonstrated how to use the bulb himself in 1879.
• He wanted to invent a light bulb that would last for a long time before burning out. He found a way to light a bulb using electrical energy by transmitting electricity with a strong conducting filament.
• George Eastman invented photographic film for the first time in 1885 and set up his company Eastman Kodak, which is known by the name Kodak by the world today. Photographic film was an extraordinary invention that has helped in the formation and creation of images ever since.
• In 1887, Emile Berliner created the disc record or the Gramophone record in America for the first time.
• Thomas Edison's phonograph sounded better when used with these disc-shaped vinyl records, otherwise, the phonograph produced distorted sound because of the gravitational pressure that acts on the stylus.
• Emile Berliner sold this invention to the Bell Telephone Company.
• Henry Ford launched the moving assembly line in 1908 for the first time. The moment the model T of the assembly line was introduced, he realized that the line was a hit.
• Initially, Ford had a small plant in Michigan that produced only 11 cars in a month. Gradually as the demand increased, he moved the industry to a bigger place and used a higher number of laborers to make the production process more efficient and fast.
• The creation of the Ford assembly line altered the manufacturing industry in America and paved the way for the automobile industry. However, the course of automobile history was set when the internal combustion engine was invented in Germany.
• Willis Carrier, an American engineer invented the modern air conditioning system in 1902. This invention launched an industry that fundamentally improved our way of living especially in places where the temperatures are high.
• The Wright brothers, Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright, invented the first airplane ever. They built and flew the first-ever airplane in 1903.
• The plane designed by the Wright brothers was the first sustained and controlled flight that was heavier than the air pressure. The plane was named Kitty Hawk.
• A smaller and less-known invention of 1903 was the mousetrap. Willian C. Hooker invented the mousetrap for the first time which is regularly used in many households today.
• The first electric traffic light was installed in 1914.
• Garrett Morgan was given the credit and patent to design traffic lights based on his T-shaped design but the first electric traffic light that was installed was based on the design of James Hoge.
• Around 93 years ago, Robert Goddard became the first person ever to launch a liquid-fuel rocket. In 1926, he set out to do this impossible task and gained success in the expedition.
• The first digital computer was invented in 1938. George Stibitz invented the modern digital computer but it could not be used as the personal computer yet.
• The personal computer started to be invented much later during the '50s. John Blankenbaker invented the personal computer in 1971.
• According to scientific research, in 1945, Robert Oppenheimer invented the first nuclear bomb. During the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory and he designed the first-ever atomic bomb.
• In 1945, another revolutionary invention was made in the field of present-day electrical appliances. Percy Spencer created the first microwave oven. He used radar technology in microwaves and it became a common household appliance by 2000.

American Inventions That Changed Agriculture

Just the way American inventions had a fair share of contributions in the manufacturing and growth industries of the world, similarly there were many agricultural innovations that shaped the nation's, as well as the world's, agricultural industry in modern times.

• The cotton gin was one of the most useful inventions that helped in manufacturing cotton quickly by removing seeds from the fiber with the help of the machine.
• It was invented and patented by Eli Whitney in 1794.
• The first commercial reaper or binder was invented in 1831 by Cyrus H. McCormick.
• It was a milestone invention in the history of American inventions.
• Automatic reapers made grain harvesting much easier than previous methods of harvesting that were practiced for past centuries.
• The American Agricultural Revolution lasted from 1862 to 1875. This period is marked by many developments and innovations in the agricultural field within America.
• The transformation from hand power to horses marked the start of the Agricultural Revolution. This took the farmers off their feet and let them cultivate vast stretches of land while being seated.
• The first gasoline-powered engine, what we call the tractor in the present day, was invented in 1892 by John Froelich. He built a one-cylinder steam traction engine which came to be known as the Froelich tractor.
• The dietary uses of peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes were discovered by George Washington Carver between 1900-1910. This opened up a diversified choice of food items for citizens.
• The first genetically modified plant cell was developed in 1982 by Monsanto Company scientists.
• A new gene was introduced in the plant kingdom, this scientific development is still under research and new modifications take place every day in scientific laboratories.

The First Thing Invented In The United States

Some discoveries were made during the colonial rule of America.

• The first-ever invention that was reported from America during its colonial rule was swim fins. The swim fins of flippers are blade-shaped flaps that are worn on hands and feet and aid movement inside water.
• Benjamin Franklin invented swim fins for the first time in 1717. It is used extensively even in the present days for underwater diving and surfing.
• In contrast to the current rubber or plastic swim fins, the swim fin invented by Benjamin Franklin was made of wood. The swim fin that he invented was also meant for the hands rather than the more commonly used foot flippers we see today.
• Franklin and his invention have been honored by being included in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
• The first thing that was invented in the post-independence era was the swivel chair. Thomas Jefferson invented the chair in 1776 by taking inspiration from the English-style Windsor chair.
• These swivel chairs had wheels attached to the base which would allow the person sitting on them to glide from one place to the other.
• A lot of electrical appliances were invented for the first time in America. During the civil war, the list of American inventions grew exponentially. One of the most important inventions that helped during the Civil War was the machine gun. It was also one of the first American inventions during this war period.
• The first machine guns were hand-cranked. Richard Gatling invented and patented these earliest precursors to a machine gun in 1861 and name it the Gatling gun.
• This first gun had to be operated manually and hand-cranked until the discovery of the maxim machine gun in 1884.
• Finally, the Gilded Age started in the United States in 1878. This age was marked by many innovative American inventions and the rapid economic growth of America.
• The wages of workers grew higher as the markets flourished with newly invented goods and the development of modern communication technologies.

Major American Inventions From 1950-1990

Just as the early American inventions paved the way for modernization, there are also some well-known American inventions after the '50s that helped in the medical and scientific fields. Some noteworthy American inventions from 1950-1990 are mentioned below.

• After the atomic bomb, the invention of the nuclear submarine revolutionized naval warfare. Hyman Rickover invented the world's first nuclear submarine in 1954 which could go thousands of miles below the land surface.
• The magnetic stripe card was invented by Forrest Parry who was the IBM manager in 1960. With these inventions, the modern practice of storing data came into existence.
• In this invention, a piece of magnet strip is used to store secure data. This technology is still used today in important documents such as credit cards and debit cards.
• Theodore H. Maiman invented the laser for the first time in 1960.
• Jack Russel got an idea to revolutionize the music industry. He acted upon that idea and ultimately in 1965, Jack Russel developed the compact disc.
• Jack Kilby invented the handheld calculator in 1967 for performing mathematical calculations. It differed from a computer by its limited abilities to solve problems and the interface was not built for programming.
• In 1970, Gary Keith created the first laser printer. Starkweather came up with a fully functional networked printer by 1971.
• Three famous inventors, Robert Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz, created the fiber optic cable in 1971.
• The American Physician, Dr. Raymond Damadian, invented the MRI machine in 1977. This medical device was one of the greatest breakthroughs of modern medicine and its diagnostic abilities helped gather diagnoses and saved the lives of many.
• George Mueller created and designed the Space Shuttle Program with NASA in 1982. It was a spacecraft that was operated by NASA.
• Francis Collins, with the help of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), discovered the human genome map while working under the human genome project in 1990.
• The GPS, discovered by the USA air force was one of the greatest inventions of the last 100 years.