Inventions During Presidential Terms

I have put in bold the inventions that I think are the most important. Things highlighted yellow (if you
are familiar with last year’s invention list, you may not want to read this explanation) are those
inventions which, since I do not know the month that they were invented, could conceivably be in the
president previous, because presidents went into office in March back then. However, the chance is
very slim, so if you want, you can ignore the yellow.
George Washington #1:
• 1791: Artificial teeth: Nicholas Dubois De Chemant
• 1793: Cotton gin: Eli Whitney
John Adams #2:
• 1798: Vaccination: Edward Jenner
• 1798: Lithography: Alois Senefelder
Thomas Jefferson #3:
• 1801: Jacquard loom: Joseph Marie Jacquard
• 1802: Screw propeller steamboat Phoenix: John Stevens
• 1802: Gas stove: Zachäus Andreas Winzler
• 1804: Locomotive: Richard Trevithick
• 1805: Submarine Nautilus: Robert Fulton
• 1807: Steamboat Clermont: Robert Fulton
• 1808: Band saw: William Newberry
James Madison #4:
• 1809: Arc lamp: Humphry Davy
• 1814: Steam Locomotive (Blücher): George Stephenson
• 1816: Miner's safety lamp: Humphry Davy
• 1816: Stirling engine: Robert Stirling
• 1816: Stethoscope: Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec
• 1816: The Bicycle
James Monroe #5:
• 1817: Draisine or velocipede (two-wheeled): Karl Drais
• 1817: Kaleidoscope: David Brewster
• 1821: Electric motor: Michael Faraday
• 1823: Electromagnet: William Sturgeon
• 1824: Portland cement: William Aspdin
John Quincy Adams #6:
• 1826: Photography: Joseph Nicéphore Niépce
• 1826: Internal combustion engine: Samuel Morey
• 1827: Friction match: John Walker
Andrew Jackson #7:
• 1830: Lawn mower: Edwin Beard Budding
• 1830: Stenotype on punched paper strip: Karl Drais
• 1831: Multiple coil magnet: Joseph Henry
• 1831: Magnetic acoustic telegraph: Joseph Henry (patented 1837)
• 1831: Reaper: Cyrus McCormick
• 1831: Electrical generator: Michael Faraday, Ányos Jedlik
• 1834: The Hansom cab is patented
• 1834: Louis Braille perfects his Braille system
• 1834: Refrigerator: Jacob Perkins
• 1834: Combine harvester: Hiram Moore
• 1835: Revolver: Samuel Colt
• 1835: Electromechanical Relay: Joseph Henry
• 1835: Incandescent light bulb: James Bowman Lindsay
• 1836: Sewing machine: Josef Madersberger
Martin Van Buren #8:
• 1837: US electric printing press patented by Thomas Davenport (February 25)
• 1837: Steel plow: John Deere
• 1837: Standard diving dress: Augustus Siebe
• 1837: Camera Zoom Lens: Jozef Maximilián Petzval
• 1837: Magnetic telegraph: Samuel Morse
• 1838: Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone (also Samuel Morse)
• 1838: closed diving suit with a helmet: Augustus Siebe
• 1839: Vulcanization of rubber: Charles Goodyear
• 1840: Artificial fertilizer: Justus von Liebig
John Tyler #10:
• 1842 Superphosphate fertilizer: John Bennett Lawes
• 1842: Anaesthesia: Crawford Long
• 1843: Typewriter: Charles Thurber
• 1843: Fax machine (kind of like a telegraph back then): Alexander Bain
• 1843: Ice cream maker: Nancy Johnson
James K. Polk #11:
• 1845: Pneumatic tire: Robert Thomson (inventor)
• 1846: Sewing machine (different model): Elias Howe
• 1846: Rotary printing press: Richard M. Hoe
Millard Fillmore #13:
• 1849: Safety pin: Walter Hunt
• 1849: Francis turbine: James B. Francis
• 1849: Telephone: Antonio Meucci
• 1852: Airship: Henri Giffard
• 1852: Passenger elevator: Elisha Otis
• 1852: Gyroscope: Léon Foucault
Franklin Pierce #14:
• 1855: Bunsen burner: Robert Bunsen
• 1855: Bessemer process: Henry Bessemer
• 1856: Celluloid: Alexander Parkes
James Buchanan #15:
• 1858: Undersea telegraph cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne
• 1858: Mason jar: John L. Mason
• 1859: Oil drill: Edwin L. Drake
• 1859: Lead acid battery: Gaston Plante
• 1860: Linoleum: Fredrick Walton
• 1860: Repeating rifle: Oliver F. Winchester, Christopher Spencer
• 1860: Self-propelled torpedo: Giovanni Luppis
Abraham Lincoln #16:
• 1861: Ironclad USS Monitor: John Ericsson
• 1861: Siemens regenerative furnace: Carl Wilhelm Siemens
• 1862: Revolving machine gun: Richard J. Gatling
• 1862: Mechanical submarine: Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol
• 1862: Pasteurization: Louis Pasteur, Claude Bernard
• 1863: Player piano: Henri Fourneaux
Andrew Johnson #17:
• 1865: Roller Coaster: LaMarcus Adna Thompson
• 1865: Barbed wire: Louis Jannin
• 1866: Dynamite: Alfred Nobel
• 1868: Practical typewriter: Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W.
Soule, with assistance from James Densmore
• 1868: Air brake (rail): George Westinghouse
• 1868: Oleomargarine: Mege Mouries
Ulysses S. Grant #18:
• 1869: Vacuum cleaner: I.W. McGaffers
• 1870: Magic Lantern projector: Henry R. Heyl
• 1870: Stock ticker: Thomas Alva Edison
• 1871: Cable car (railway): Andrew S. Hallidie
• 1872: Adding machine: Edmund D. Barbour
• 1873: Railway knuckle coupler: Eli H. Janney
• 1873: Modern direct current electric motor: Zénobe Gramme
• 1874: Electric street car: Stephen Dudle Field
• 1875: Dynamo: William A. Anthony
• 1875: Magazine (firearm): Benjamin B. Hotchkiss
• 1876: Carpet sweeper: Melville Bissell
• 1876: Gasoline carburettor: Daimler
• 1876: Loudspeaker: Alexander Graham Bell
Rutherford B. Hayes #19:
• 1877: Stapler: Henry R. Heyl
• 1877: Induction motor: Nikola Tesla
• 1877: Phonograph: Thomas Alva Edison
• 1877: Microphone: Emile Berliner
• 1878: Cathode ray tube: William Crookes
• 1878: Rebreather: Henry Fleuss
• 1879: Pelton turbine: Lester Pelton
• 1879: Cash register: James Ritty
• 1880: Photophone: Alexander Graham Bell
• 1880: Roll film: George Eastman
• 1880: Safety razor: Kampfe Brothers
• 1880: Seismograph: John Milne
Chester A. Arthur #21:
• 1881: Metal detector: Alexander Graham Bell
• 1882: Electric fan: Schuyler Skaats Wheeler
• 1883: two-phase (alternating current) induction motor: Nikola Tesla
• 1884: Linotype machine: Ottmar Mergenthaler
• 1884: Fountain pen: Lewis Waterman
• 1884: Punched card accounting: Herman Hollerith
• 1884: Trolley car, (electric): Frank Sprague, Charles Van Depoele
Grover Cleveland #22:
• 1885: Automobile patent granted (internal combustion engine powered):
Karl Benz, first automobile put into production
• 1885: Maxim gun: Hiram Stevens Maxim
• 1885: Motorcycle: Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach
• 1885: Alternating current transformer: William Stanley
• 1885: Safety bicycle: John Kemp Starley
• 1886: Dishwasher: Josephine Cochrane
• 1886: Gasoline engine: Gottlieb Daimler
• 1886: Improved phonograph cylinder: Tainter & Bell
• 1887: Monotype machine: Tolbert Lanston
• 1887: Contact lens: Adolf E. Fick, Eugène Kalt and August Muller
• 1887: Gramophone record: Emile Berliner
• 1887: Ceiling fan: Philip Diehl
• 1888: Polyphase AC Electric power system: Nikola Tesla (30 related patents.)
• 1888: Kodak hand camera: George Eastman
• 1888: Ballpoint pen: John Loud
• 1888: Harvester-thresher: Matteson (?)
• 1888: Kinematograph: Augustin Le Prince
Benjamin Harrison #23:
• 1891: escalator: Jesse W. Reno
• 1891: Thermal cracking process: Vladimir Shukhov
• 1891: Zipper: Whitcomb L. Judson
• 1891: Carborundum: Edward G. Acheson
• 1892: Color photography: Frederic E. Ives
• 1892: Automatic telephone exchange (electromechanical): Almon Strowger - First
in commercial service.
Grover Cleveland #24:
• 1893: Carburetor: Donát Bánki and János Csonka
• 1893: Wireless communication: Nikola Tesla
• 1893: Radio: Nikola Tesla
• 1894: Radio transmission: Jagdish Chandra Bose in Bengal
• 1895: Diesel engine: Rudolf Diesel
• 1895: Radiotelegraph: Guglielmo Marconi
• 1896: Vitascope: Thomas Armat
• 1897: Modern escalator: Jesse W. Reno