Skip to content

Did you know?

You may use this every day.

Not a list of surprising facts — a list of things you have already used this week, with the documentation attached.

1843 & 1846Verified

Refined sugar, powdered milk, paper pulp and desalinated water are all produced with descendants of this process.

Why it matters: Fuel consumption fell dramatically and product quality rose; the design spread through Louisiana, Cuba and Mexico.

Multiple-effect evaporator · Patent 4,879

See the evidence
1872Verified

Every car engine you have ever ridden in lubricates itself while running.

Why it matters: Trains and factory engines ran longer between stops; freight economics changed.

Automatic engine lubricator · Patent 129,843

See the evidence
1882Verified

Street lighting and the electrification of ordinary homes.

Why it matters: Cheaper, more durable bulbs made large-scale public and domestic electric lighting practical.

Process for manufacturing carbon filaments · Patent 252,386

See the evidence
1883Verified

Affordable ready-made shoes.

Why it matters: Output rose by an order of magnitude and shoe prices fell within reach of ordinary wage earners.

Automatic shoe-lasting machine · Patent 274,207

See the evidence
1885Verified

Sofa beds and fold-away desks.

Why it matters: Practical dual-use furniture for dense urban housing.

Cabinet bed · Patent 322,177

See the evidence
1887Verified

Every elevator you step into closes its own doors.

Why it matters: Removed one of the most common causes of death in early elevator buildings.

Automatic elevator door mechanism · Patent 371,207

See the evidence
1887Verified

Contactless communication with moving vehicles — the same principle underlies inductive coupling in transit systems.

Why it matters: Dispatchers could warn trains of obstructions ahead; collisions fell.

Railway induction telegraph · Patent 373,915

See the evidence
1892Verified

The ironing board in the cupboard.

Why it matters: Made professional-quality garment pressing possible at home.

Improved ironing board · Patent 473,653

See the evidence
1914Verified

Firefighter breathing equipment.

Why it matters: In 1916 Morgan and his brother used the hoods to rescue workers trapped in a tunnel explosion under Lake Erie.

Safety hood (breathing device) · Patent 1,113,675

See the evidence
1923Verified

The yellow light on your commute.

Why it matters: General Electric acquired the rights; the clearance interval became standard practice.

Three-position traffic signal · Patent 1,475,024

See the evidence
1940–1941Documented

Any transfusion, anywhere.

Why it matters: Blood for Britain shipped thousands of litres of plasma across the Atlantic; the Red Cross programme followed.

Banked blood and plasma distribution

See the evidence
1949 patentVerified

Fresh produce out of season, and refrigerated vaccine delivery.

Why it matters: Fresh food, and later blood and medicines, could travel long distances; wartime field hospitals used the units.

Truck-mounted mechanical refrigeration · Patent 2,475,841

See the evidence
1962–1964Verified

The microphone in the phone in your pocket.

Why it matters: Microphone cost collapsed and size shrank to millimetres.

Foil-electret microphone · Patent 3,118,022

See the evidence
1969Verified

Video doorbells and home CCTV.

Why it matters: Described, in 1969, every functional element of a modern video doorbell.

Closed-circuit home security system · Patent 3,482,037

See the evidence
1986Verified

A summer staple in millions of households.

Why it matters: One of the highest-grossing toys in history.

Pressurised water gun (Super Soaker) · Patent 4,591,071

See the evidence
1988Verified

Cataract surgery is among the most common operations performed on earth.

Why it matters: Made cataract removal faster and less traumatic; Bath reported restoring sight to patients blind for decades.

Laserphaco Probe for cataract surgery · Patent 4,744,360

See the evidence
1981–1984Verified

Any desktop where you can add a graphics card.

Why it matters: Created the entire PC peripheral industry.

The ISA bus and the open PC architecture

See the evidence
1970s–1980sDocumented

The blue dot on your map.

Why it matters: Improved the accuracy of the reference models underlying GPS.

Geodetic Earth modelling for satellite positioning

See the evidence
1990s–2000sVerified

Every internet call and video meeting.

Why it matters: Long-distance calling costs collapsed; audio and video calling became a default expectation.

Voice over Internet Protocol systems

See the evidence