10 Incredible Inventions By The British

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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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