56 Items Tagged

Inventors

An articulated view of a Discopter in flight, floating through the night sky above the San Francisco Bay.

The Long, Strange History of People Filing Flying Saucer Patents

From the "Discopter" of Alexander Weygers to a soaring car.

Ernie Smith October 27, 2017

Front of the old Tabulating Machine Co. building on 31st Street.

Washington, D.C.

The Tabulating Machine Co.

The early data processor factory founded in Washington for the 1890 U.S. Census went on to become IBM.

Stockings were a necessary leg covering in the 18th century.

A Machine That Made Stockings Helped Kick Off the Industrial Revolution

Queen Elizabeth I wanted none of it.

Sarah Laskow September 19, 2017

This Bizarre '50s 'Rhino' Vehicle Was Designed to Replace the Tank

The U.S. military never bought it.

Michael Waters June 5, 2017

Washington, D.C.

Daguerre Monument

Go take a picture with the inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process.

Interesting Things at their traveling Museum

New York, New York

The Museum of Interesting Things

A hands-on traveling collection of the innovative devices of yesteryear.

Adelaide Helene Shelby's skeleton-based confession device.

crime and punishment

Would You Confess Your Criminal Misdeeds to This Skeleton?

Back in the 1920s, the inventor Helene Adelaide Shelby was pretty sure you would.

Cara Giaimo May 16, 2017

VECTORR in the Mendocino vineyard

Ukiah, California

Vectorr Train Prototype

A working model of a pressure-driven, high-speed rail whizzes around a private vineyard.

The Emerson-Bromo Tower at night, lit from within.

Baltimore, Maryland

Bromo-Seltzer Arts Tower

Baltimore's classic clock tower was once topped by a rotating, 20-ton medicine bottle.

3/4 scale replica of Gorrie's patented ice machine, on display at the Museum.

Apalachicola, Florida

John Gorrie Ice Machine Museum

Of course the guy with the first patent for an ice machine lived in Florida.

A neon sign and Tesla coil at L.A.'s Griffith Observatory.

Tesla Didn't Invent the Neon Sign, He Imagined Something Even Better

For the inventor, it was all about the possibilities of wireless power.

Eric Grundhauser April 6, 2017

An inspiration to sick goldfish everywhere.

The Goldfish That Got a Wheelchair

It helps it stay underwater.

Eric Grundhauser March 15, 2017

Aircraft on display.

College Park, Maryland

College Park Airport and Aviation Museum

The world's oldest continuously operating airport was founded by the Wright Brothers.

Caresse Crosby takes a ride around the grounds of her castle, Rocca Sinibald, in 1964.

The Improbable Life of the Inventor of the Modern Bra

She was also a pioneering publisher and, later, a princess.

Mackenzi Lee February 15, 2017

31 days of halloween

Dial-a-Ghost on Thomas Edison's Least Successful Invention: the Spirit Phone

Building devices to talk with the dead was a popular diversion for inventors in the 1920s.

Natalie Zarrelli October 18, 2016

If Da Vinci had his way, we'd all be swimming in these.

objects of intrigue

Leonardo da Vinci Designed a Nightmare Scuba Suit

The perfect summer outfit for your dystopian marine nightmares.

Cara Giaimo July 19, 2016

Leonardo Da Vinci Was a Wedding Planner

He really was a Renaissance man.

Bob Eckstein July 13, 2016

Women exercising in bloomers, circa 1914.

The 'Itchless' Innovation that Made Minneapolis the Capital of Underwear

Undergarments used to be made of wool.

George Pendle March 7, 2016