Inventions of the Gilded Age
Isabel Andrew
Braille
The inventor, Louis Braille, was blinded as a child and invented this ground breaking system in his early teens. His invention is still used today world wide.
Electric motor
The electric motor, invented by Thomas Davenport, was a huge invention for the time period. Davenport invented the first commercially successful electric motor in 1834 and established a small electric railway in 1835. Electric motors and electric railways are still very useful today. Examples of this invention are San Francisco's miles of electric railways carrying cable cars across the city.
Dishwasher
The first dishwasher was patented in 1850 by Joel Houghton; his machine was a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes - unfortunately, it wasn't very effective at washing dishes. The first working automatic dishwasher was invented by Mrs. Josephine Garis (W. A.) Cochran, of Shelbyville, Illinois, in 1889. Her dishwasher was a wooden tub with a wire basket in it - the dishes went in the basket, and rollers rotated the dishes. As a handle on the tub was turned, hot, soapy water was sprayed into the tub, cleaning the dishes. Cochran's machine was first shown at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. At first, her machine was only bought by some restaurants and hotels. Cochran's small company was eventually associated with the KitchenAid company. The dishwasher didn't become widespread as a labor-saving machine until the 1960s.
Kelvins
Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1824 - 1907) designed the Kelvin scale, in which 0 K is defined as absolute zero. We still use this today in science
Sewing machine
Elias Howe was an American inventor who patented an improved sewing machine in 1846. His revolutionary machine used two separate threads, one threaded through the needle, and one in a shuttle; it was powered by a hand crank. We still use this machine today
Dutch Chocolate
Coenraad Johannes Van Houten (1801-1887) was a Dutch chemist and chocolate manufacturer who in 1828 invented the process that is used to turn roasted cacao beans (the source of chocolate) into cocoa powder (this process is now called Dutching, Dutch processing or alkalinisation). His method was an inexpensive way of removing much of the cocoa butter from the nib (center) of the beans, using a hydraulic press, and adding alkaline salts (potassium carbonate or sodium carbonate) so that the cocoa powder would mix readily with water or milk (the alkali neutralized the acidic chocolate). The resulting cocoa powder can be used to make chocolate milk and other delicacies.
Steam Boat
Henry Bell (1767-1830) was a Scottish engineer and inventor who built a steam-powered boat in 1812. His 12-foot (3.5-meter) steamboat, called the Comet, was the first commercially successful steamship in Europe. This boat regularly sailed between Greenock and Glasgow (Scotland) along the River Clyde. The Comet was the beginning of a revolution in navigation.
Light
Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was an English scientist who invented the first electric light in 1800. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery.