# Humanities & Anthropology > History & Civilisations >  Who invented what ?

## Maciamo

If asked to tell who invented everyday things like the TV, the camera, the automobile or the calculator, most people would be at a complete loss to give an answer (me included). I have therefore made a little research on the topic and found the following.

*Glasses (1280's, Italy)*

*Mechanical clock (1335, Italy)*

*Viol (viola da gamba) and Cello (late 15th and 16th century, Italy)*

*Pocket watch (1510, Germany)*

Invented by Peter Henlein.

*Violin (Early 16th century, Italy)*

*Thermometer*

- 1593 : Invented by Galileo (Italy)
- 1714 : Mercury thermometer invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (Poland/Netherlands)

Invented by Galileo Galilei.

*Microscope (1595, Netherlands)*

Invented by Zacharias Janssen.

*Telescope*

- late 11th century : astronomical lenses (Sweden)
- 13th century : experimental telescopes built by Francis Bacon (UK)
- 1595/1608 : refracting telescope (Netherlands)
- 1609 : improved by Galileo (Italy)

[B]Newspaper (1605, Belgium/France/Germany)

The world's first _printed_ newspapers were the _Relation aller f&#252;rnemmen und gedenckw&#252;rdigen Historien_ published in Strasbourg (Germany at the time, now France), and the _Nieuwe Tijdingen_, published the same year in Antwerp (part of the Spanish Netherlands at the time, now Belgium).

*Calculator* 

- 1623 : automatic calculator invented by Wilhelm Schickard (Germany)
- 1642 : adding machine invented by Blaise Pascal (France)
- 1954 : electronic calculator invented by IBM (USA)

*Barometer (1643, Italy)*

Invented by Evangelista Torricelli.

*Daily newspaper (1645, Germany)*

The _Einkommende Zeitungen_ in Lepizing.

*Pendulum clock (1657, Netherlands)*

Invented by Christiaan Huygens.

*Clarinet (1690, Germany)*

Invented by Johann Christoph Denner.

*Steam engine (1698, UK)*

Invented by Thomas Savery in 1698, and improved by James Watt in 1769. 

*Piano (early 1700's, Italy)*

Invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence.

*Magazine (England, 1731)*

The Gentleman's Magazine was the world's first general-interest magazine.

*Hot air balloon (France, 1782-83)*

Invented by the brothers Josef and Etienne Montgolfier.

*Parachute (1785, France)*  

Invented by Jean Pierre Blanchard 

*Steam boat (1786, USA)*

First built by John Fitch.

*Engine*  

- 1791 : Gas turbine patented by John Barber (England).
- 1826 : Reciprocating internal combustion engine patented by Samuel Morey (USA)
- 1867 : Petrol engine developed by Nikolaus Otto (Germany)
- 1892 : Diesel engine invented by Rudolph Diesel (Germany)
- 1924-57 : Rotary engine developed by Felix Wankel (Germany) 
- 1936-39 : Jet engine developed simultaneously by Frank Whittle (England) and Hans von Ohain (Germany).

*Submarine (1800, USA/France)*

Invented by American Robert Fulton commissioned by Napoleon. First launched in France.

*Ambulance service (early 1800's, France)*

Modern method of army surgery, field hospitals and the system of army ambulance corps invented by Dominique Jean Larrey, surgeon-in-chief of the Napoleonic armies.

*Refrigerator*

- First refrigerator invented in 1805 by Oliver Evans (USA)
- World's first practical refrigerator invented by James Harrison (Australia) in 1856.

*Railway (1820, UK)*

The idea of the railway dates back to Roman times, 2000 years ago, when horse-drawn vehicles were set on cut-stone tracks. In 1802, the first modern horse-drawn train appeared in England, and the first steam powered train was however launched in 1820, also in England.

*Comic strips (1820's, Switzerland)*

Swiss Rodolphe Toepffer was probably the first modern cartoonist.

*Photography* 

- First photograph => 1825, France
- Silver photo => 1840, France 
- Negative => 1840, UK
- Colour photography => 1861 by James Clerk Maxwell (Scotland)

*Gas stove/cooker (1826, England)*

First patented and manufactured by James Sharp.

*Tramway :*

- first horse-drawn carriage on rail in 1828 in Baltimore, USA.
- first cable-car in 1868 in New York.
- first steam-powered tram in 1873
- first electric tram in 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in 1881 in Berlin, Germany.

*Saxophone (1840's, Belgium*

Invented by Adolphe Sax.

*Telegraph (1844, USA)*

Invented by Samuel Morse

*Telephone (1849, Italy)*

The invention of the telephone has long been credited to the Scot Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. However, the Italian Antonio Meucci is now recognised to have invented the device as early as 1849.

*Dishwasher (1850-1886, USA)*

*Steam-powered airship (1852, France)*

- Invented by Henri Giffard.

*Light bulb (1854, Germany)*

The first practical light bulb was invented in 1854 by Heinrich Goebel.

*Metro/Subway (1863, Britain)*

The London Underground was the first rapid transit network in the world.

*Vacuum cleaner (1865, USA)*

*Wrist watch (1868, Switzerland => Patek Philippe & Co.)*

*Radio* 

- Radio waves => 1874, Scotland
- Radio Transmission => 1893-96, USA

*Phonograph (1877, USA)*

Invented by Thomas Alva Edison, although based on France-born Leon Scott's 1857 phonautograph.

*Cash register (1879, USA)*

Invented by James Ritty.

*Television*

- First TV => 1884, Germany 
- TV tube => 1907, Russia 
- Electronic TV & Broadcast => 1927, USA

*Motorcycle (1885, Germany)*

First designed and built by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach

*Car/Automobile (1886, Germany)*

Developed independently and simultaneously by Carl Benz in Mannheim, amd Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart.

*Animation (1892, France)*

First animated film created by Emile Reynaud.

*Cinema (1894, France)*

Cinematograph invented by the Lumiere brothers.

*Electric stove/cooker (1896, USA)*

First patented by William S. Hadaway.

*Traffic lights (1914, USA)*

*Parking meter (1935, USA)*

*Helicopter (1939, Russia)*

Developed by Igor Sikorsky 

*Microwave oven (1947, USA)*

Invented by Percy Spencer.

*Atomic clock (1949, USA)*

*Charge/credit card (1950, USA => Diner's Club)*

*Video Games (1951-58, USA/UK)*

Invention disputed between 3 people, 2 Americans and a Briton.

*Laserdisk (1958, USA; commercialised by MCA and Philips in 1972)*

*Photocopier (1959, USA => Xerox)*

*Soft contact lenses (1961, Czech)*

Invented by Otto Wichterle. 

*Cassette tape (1967, Netherlands => Philips)*

*LCD screen (1968, Germany)*

*Quartz watch (1969, Japan => Seiko)*

*Video tape (1972, Netherlands - Philips, later replaced by JVC's VHS)*

*Walkman (1977, Germany => commercialised by the Japanese Sony from 1979)*

*Compact Disk (1982, Netherlands/Germany - Philips)*

*CD-ROM (1985, Netherlands/Japan => Philips/Sony)*

*Minidisk (1991, Japan => Sony)*

-----------------------

Let's now list inventions by countries.

*USA*

- Steam boat
- Submarine
- Regrigerator
- Telegraph
- Tramway
- Dishwasher
- Vacuum cleaner
- Radio transmission
- Phonograph 
- Cash register 
- Eletric stove/cooker 
- Electronic TV & TV Broadcast
- Microwave oven
- Atomic clock
- Charge/credit card
- Electronic calculator
- Video games
- Laserdisk 
- Photocopier
- Traffic lights
- Parking meter

*Australia*

- Refigerator

*UK*

- Magazine
- Steam engine
- Gas turbine 
- Railway
- Gas stove/cooker 
- Negative & colour photography
- Metro/Subway
- Radio waves
- Jet engine
- Video Games

*France*

- Adding machine
- Hot air balloon
- Parachute
- Submarine
- Ambulance service
- Photography
- Airship 
- Animation
- Cinema

*Italy*

- Glasses
- Viol and cello
- Mechanical clock 
- Violin
- Thermometer 
- Barometer
- Piano
- Telephone

*Switerland*

- Comic strips 
- Wrist watch

*Czech Rep.*

- Soft contact lenses 

*Germany*

- Newspaper
- Clarinet
- Pocket watch
- Automated calculator
- Light bulb 
- TV
- Petrol/gasoline & Diesel engines
- Automobile (+engine, differential gear...)
- Motorcycle
- Jet engine
- LCD screen 
- Walkman

*Netherlands*

- Microscope
- Telescope
- Pendulum clock
- Mercury thermometer
- Audio tape
- Video tape
- CD
- CD-ROM

*Belgium*

- Newspaper
- Saxophone

*Japan*

- Quartz watch
- CD-ROM
- MD

*Russia*  

- Tube TV
- Helicopter

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## misa.j

Those are cool inventions. 

Also,
Cooked food: most important invention of all time. Probably discovered by women, but it could have been discovered by men also. Thousands of years ago when early people first discovered how to prepare cooked food, they made their food much more digestible and reduced wear on their teeth. This increased the life span an average of ten years.

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## No-name

As a historical rule of thumb: If Edison didn't invent it, then the Chinese did.

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## Dutch Baka

WOW many things are from my country,,, SOOO SMALL BUT SO GREAT SOMETIMES... ( not with everything.... grrrr)

im proud

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## Doc

As for the invention of video games dispute, it was actually one American who came up with it. He was in the army at the time, and was trying to come up with a training tool for soldiers in target practice. Not only that, but it was supposed to be for fun and hunting practice. He used a couple of old BB guns for what would be the very first light gun. Later he profected his techniques and later came out what would be a instant senstation around the world, Pong. Man I'm full of useless information.  :Sou ka:  

Doc :Ramen:  :Joyful:

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## Doc

This is not meant to be a double post, but you forgot to add one invention, the internet.  :Smiling:  The US military was the first to invent it during the 50's and it was known at the time as the intranet. Basically it was what we have now, only a little different. It was supercomputers connected to phonelines from around the country and were routed to one another, and would send information in and out from the Pentagon and then newly formed CIA. It wasn't until the early 90's when the internet was invented by Microsoft, the US government, and several other technology firms for commerical use. No one owns the internet and no one fully controls it. There are regulations and money to support it, but that's about it. Man I'm a geek.  :Sad: 

Doc :Ramen:  :Joyful:

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## Mycernius

> As a historical rule of thumb: If Edison didn't invent it, then the Chinese did.


A couple of years back the Chinese tried to claim that they had invented Football (soccer) and Golf. The latter much to the annoyance of the Scots. BTW Mary Queen of Scots was said to be a good golfer.

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## bossel

> A couple of years back the Chinese tried to claim that they had invented Football (soccer) and Golf.


If you'd believe *some* Chinese they invented pretty much everything worthwile in the past 5000 years (from human civilisation to space travel).

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## Ma Cherie

Yup, like the Chinese invented the yo-yo, fire works, the Chinese even introduced the orange. I think.  :Doubt:

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## Maciamo

> A couple of years back the Chinese tried to claim that they had invented Football (soccer) and Golf.


As I explained in another thread (see post #44), it is interesting how the Chinese almost didn't invent anything unique or sunstantial in the last 1500 years. The Chinese oft mentioned inventions are alsways the same cast iron, fireworks/black powder (but not gunpowder, as they didn't invent guns), printing, and the others are controversial (compass, paper...). Many inventions are cultural (fans, kites, origami, fireworks, abacus, kanji, acupuncture...) are not 'necessary' contributions to the world. Most of the Chinese inventions date back to the Antiquity. There is hardly more connection between Ancient and Modern China as between Ancient and Modern Egypt, or Babylon and Iraq. And even so, Ancient China invented surpringly few things that have had a direct effect on the present world compared to Ancient Middle Eastern or Mediterranean countries. 




> The latter much to the annoyance of the Scots. BTW Mary Queen of Scots was said to be a good golfer.


The first reference of golf in 1353 was in fact in Flanders, Belgium. I read somewhere else that it was first invented in the Netherlands (Flanders was part of the Netherlands at that time) and exported to Scotland in the 15th century where it became popular.

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## No-name

Most of my favorite foods are ethnic American synergisms- foods that traveled here from somewhere else or were invented by immigrants, but changed a bit sometimes for the better: California Roll, Chop Suey, Pastrami Reuben (w/mustard not thousand island), the Fortune cookie, Hawaiian spam bowl, Hawaiian Bread, the Garbage Burrito, The Cheeseburger, Pizza, California pasta, Tex-mex, California fusion... Now I'm hungry...

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## Pachipro

Yes, but it seems Japan has taken most of those inventions to a higher level. Why is that?

Look at what Bill Gates did for the Computer that IBM didn't want anything to do with. Or the copy machine that, I think, Kodak turned down. If they didn't do it, I think the Japanese would have. 

Why is it that there is not a single American TV manufaturer in the US anymore? Why is it that, if you look closely at the NASA boards during a shuttle launch, they are made by SONY? Why is it that the best copiers, cameras, cars and other technologically advanced products are made by the Japanese? Why is it that the best _anime_  in the world is Japanese? (Maybe, in the not too distant future, by the Chinese.)

I think it was an American Politician that once said back in the late 1800's, paraphrasing here, "Everything that needs to be invented, has already been invented." Heck, American scientists once assumed back in the 1800's that all the people on a train would be suffocated as the air would be pushed out of a train when it started moving.

Even Ford Motor Company purchased the patent and rights to produce a hybrid vehicle from Toyota! (Considered the best in the world at the moment.) Why in hell didn't some American or European company do it?

It just seems to me that the Japanese build on, and improve upon, the inventions, of others and it always bugged me as to why the original inventors didn't do the same. Maybe it has to do with the quarterly earnings report or something where American companies, and maybe most western ones, only look to the the next quarter and expect higher earnings and not much money is put into reasearch and development. Whereas the Japanese take a much longer term approach and don't look for profits for months or years ahead. They look for quality and market share.

In reality, the Japanese really didn't invent anything including their own written language! (save for _hiragana_ and _katagana_) But, most of your better products on the market today have Japanese brand names. Go figure.

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## bossel

> the best copiers, cameras, cars and other technologically advanced products are made by the Japanese?


That's disputable. 




> Why is it that the best _anime_  in the world is Japanese? (Maybe, in the not too distant future, by the Chinese.)


Anime is Japanese, no wonder. For the quality of anime, well... that's probably a matter of taste.

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## Dream Time

http://www.crystalinks.com/chinainventions.html

a large list of Chinese inventions, however it is true that the Chinese invented almost nothing in the past 1000 years or so

there is this myth saying that the Chinese invented ice cream and spaghetti, and Marco Polo brought the ideas to Europe in the 13th century

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## bossel

> http://www.crystalinks.com/chinainventions.html
> 
> a large list of Chinese inventions, however it is true that the Chinese invented almost nothing in the past 1000 years or so


I wouldn't trust this website (of a psychic?) very much. Just having a 1st short look & already found one mistake:

"The first to invent books"
AFAIK, the 1st books (_codices_) were used in antiquity in Rome.

Anyway, I have my problems with such lists. Many of the early inventions were made in different locations (simultaneously or at different times) independent from each other. Being the _1st_ doesn't really mean that much (being the 1st _country_ even less). Sometimes it's interesting, though.

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## Maciamo

> there is this myth saying that the Chinese invented ice cream and spaghetti, and Marco Polo brought the ideas to Europe in the 13th century


If we include food, it's easy to find hundreds or thousands of inventions in almost any major country. As for the spaghetti, the Chinese probably invented noodles (like ramen), but the hundreds of variety of pasta in all their shape and colour (cappelini, spaghettoni, linguine, tagliatelle, macaroni, penne, farfalle, conchiglie, etc.) are Italian inventions. Lasagna could however have first been cooked in England!

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## Maciamo

> Why is it that the best copiers, cameras, cars and other technologically advanced products are made by the Japanese?


Regarding *cars*, even the majority of the Japanese people I know crave for European cars, usually Mercedes, BMW, Porche or Jaguar, or if they are rich Ferrari or Rolls Royce. Interestingly Peugeot is also quite popular in Japan. Japanese people buy European cars at about twice the prices they are sold in Europe, as they can't be manufactured in Japan (to to market protection laws), while Japanese cars sold in Europe are made in Europe, and therefore as cheap as in Japan. The people I know in Europe who buy Japanese cars are usually looking for service and reliability at affordable price. Those who want luxury or design go for European makers. Even those who care about safety and reliability can get a better deal with VW, Audi, Mercedes or Volvo than many Japanese makers. Recently, French cars share a lot in common with Japanese ones: innovative designs, safety, reliability, performance... 

As for *electronics*, do you know brands such as the Danish 'Bang & Olufsen' or the Belgian 'Barco' ? This is very high-quality (and costly) electronic equipment. Barco is almost only for professional use (e.g. videoprojector), while Bang & Olufsen is the luxury version of anything made in Japan. I'd say that Japanese products are not better, but manufactured in such large quantities (first thanks to a home market of 126 million people, as opposed to 5 million in Denmark) that they can sell at very affordable prices, and are then agressively marketed all over the world. The Japanese are born salespeople (a trait that often lacks among Northern European). But look at Samsung from Korea. They are making the same products as the Japanese (which somehow proves that even a less developed country can easily manufacture the same quality of product) at a lower price. What played in favour of Japan is that its labour cost was comparatively lower than Western countries in the 1960's and 70's, so Japanese companies had very competitive prices and managed to get rid of almost all their Western rivals for electronics.




> Why is it that the best anime in the world is Japanese? (Maybe, in the not too distant future, by the Chinese.)


Technically, it seems to me that Walt Disney anime are superior to Japanese anime. They use more images per second, computer graphics (3D effects, etc.), and even the music is taken greater care of (although for the style it is a matter of personal preference).

The same goes for comics. There are hundreds of European comics (especially te Franco-Belgian ones), usually unheard of in Japan and the US, but very popular in Europe. I suppose everyone knows Tintin (which is now over 70 years old), Asterix or the Smurfs. These are the "Astro Boy" generation comics. Modern ones are as varied as the Japanese manga, including "adult comics". The style is quite different though. For example the typical format is A4, not pocket format, and all pages are in colour, while Japanese manga are generally black & white, printed on cheap paper to sell in bigger quantities.

The last time I went to Belgium, I noticed that a supermarket had a 15m-long shelf full of the latest Belgian comics. There are also many comic bookshop, similar to the specialised manga shops in Japan, and the number of Franco-Belgian comics on sale certainly compares well with the number of books in Japanese shops (and Belgium is 13x smaller than Japan, both in area and population, so it's quite a feat). This site can give an idea of the style of new Franco-Belgian comics.

So again, Japanese comics are more famous, mostly because they are more widely commercialised (especialy on TV) and have a bigger home market than Belgian ones. Not because they are better or more varied. There is also the exotism linked to it that attracts the Western reader (while ironically, Japanese readers care little about non-Japanese comics - maybe because of the cultural barriers, although it is not a problem for Western readers to enjoy Japanese manga).

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## Pachipro

Maciamo you are quite correct. Maybe I should've said, "Why is that the *most reliable*  cars, copiers, etc are made by the Japanese?" It has always amazed me that people go for brand names over reliability and quality even when a certain brand name is supposed to equal quality when in fact it doesn't.

If I were to buy a luxury car I would not even consider Cadillac, Lincoln Continental, or Mercedes; Audi AB, Jaguar S-Type, Jaguar XJ8, VolvoS80, BMW 745Li or the BMW530i as their reliability and quality has been among the worst as reported in the latest issue of _Consumer Reports_  regarding cars. However, their satisfaction among owners has been fair. 

Could it be that people are more satisfied with owning a vehicle that gives the image of "I have money or I want you to think I have money?" rather than the vehicles reliability and quality? In the case of Japan and the US I would have to yes. 

If I were to buy a luxury car I would buy a Lexus as their quality and reliability is tops among the worlds luxury cars. But, even though I can afford one I wouldn't buy one as I see no sense in buying a high ticket asset like that that depreciates in value as soon as you drive it off the lot. Also, I think it's rather stiupid and egocentric to advertise one's wealth or the perception of wealth.

As for electronics I've never heard of 'Bang & Olufsen' or 'Barco". Granted, their quality may be the best in the world, but can the average person afford it? Probably not. Japanese products may not be better but, like you said, they are more affordable to the average person and, in my experience, their quality far surpasses anything else on the market for the average consumer. If the Europeans, as you correctly stated, were better salespersons, maybe these high quality items would catch on.

Speaking of Samsung, I purchased one of their LCD TV's last year and I have been very pleased with the product. I did research before I bought it and they offered the most "bang for the buck", so to speak. They were much cheaper than any Japanese brand for the same 17 inch screen size. So they are definetly coming up in the world and, as you stated, their labor costs are what Japan's was some 20 or 30 years ago. But, do you know if the Japanese sold their technology to Samsung or are underwriting them in any way to gain a share of their profits? I don't know, but I would think they have their hand in there some way.

Concerning the _anime_, I would have to say that I base my opinion on what I know and what is available. Granted Disney may produce better quality _anime_ than the Japanese, but there is something about Japanese _anime_ that just draws me to it. Don't get me wrong here, I am no big fan of _anime_, but I do enjoy watching one now and then on TV here. And I do get a better feeling inside my 50 year old body than I do when watching a disney movie. I can't explain it.

I checked out the Belgin link you mentioned concerning the Franco-Belgin comics and I must agree with you, they do look interesting and something I may enjoy reading or watching once in a while. The artwork does look good, but why don't they market it more? They just may find a bigger audience than they could conceive. I am just amazed at the popularity of Japanese anime here in the states. They have whole sections of video and electronic stores devoted solely to Japanese _anime_. But, like you said, it's because they are more commercialized. Other countries should market this genre more as they would probably find a bigger audience.

However, getting back to the topic of this thread I still hold to my opinion that it is the Japanese who have taken others' inventions to the next level, improved upon the product, thereby, making it more available to the general public at a higher quality and more reliable than the original. It may be debatable, but it is proven in almost everything that I own own a daily basis.

One example: I drive an 18 wheeler from my hometown of Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN and back everynight. That's almost 800km per night. I see quite a few broken down cars on the side of the road and I must say less than 1% of those cars are Japanese brands. If I do see a Japanese car it is usually one that is 10-20 years old. I see quite a few Mercedes, BMW's and other so called luxury cars with American brand names, not to mention late model "regular" cars and SUV's for the average American. Most of them late model cars to boot, but nary a Japanese brand name car. Why? 

Some years back Toyota management in Japan went crazy when some Lexus's were recalled for a manufaturing flaw. Since then there has not not been one recall. Could it be that the Japanese care more about satisfying the consumer with a reliable product than the bottom line? "A satisfied consumer, with a reliable product will always return," so they say. 

I can vouch for this as my wife and I have owned 5 brand new Toyotas since returning to the states 17 years ago. One Celica, One Camry Solara and three Camrys. The first three cars (Celica and two Camrys) were all driven over 150,000 miles (240,000 km) and not one single item ever failed or had to be replaced. This included brakes and clutch; water pump, thermostat, air conditioner etc. Nothing had to be repaired! The only thing we ever did was change the spark plugs at 100,000 miles (161,000 km), change the oil every 5,000 miles (8,000 km) and change the timing belt at 80,000 miles (128,000 km). 

To give you some perspective on this, I drive 80 miles (128 km) roundtrip to work and my wife drives 62 mile (99 km) to work everyday. Granted, it is all highway driving, but the point I am making is that the vehicles are reliable and have never failed us. Is it no wonder that Toyota is the best selling car in America? And most are made here? Why are Toyotas more reliable than American made cars when both are made here in the USA by American workers? 

The same could be said for everything else from copiers to cameras. Nothing Japanese named (and Samsung for the TV) has ever failed us. But anything with an American name (except for Kenmore [Sears]) has always failed us within the first year. Why?

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## bossel

> I see quite a few broken down cars on the side of the road and I must say less than 1% of those cars are Japanese brands.


Perhaps your personal experience is not representative? German statistics regarding medium class cars show the following top10 regarding reliability:

1 Toyota Avensis 
2 Mercedes CLK
3 Audi A4/S4
4 Mercedes C-Klasse
5 Mazda 626
6 Mitsubishi Carisma
7 BMW 3
8 VW Passat
9 Citroen C5
10 Nissan Primera

Japanese cars are doing well, but not extraordinary. In the upper & upper medium class, there is no Japanese car in the list, but this is probably due to sales of less than 10000 cars (only above that number reliable statistics are possible, acc. to the source).

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## Maciamo

> If the Europeans, as you correctly stated, were better salespersons, maybe these high quality items would catch on.
> ...
> But, like you said, it's because they are more commercialized. Other countries should market this genre more as they would probably find a bigger audience.


Always the same problem, especially in Belgium. The Dutch and Swiss seem very good at marketing their products around the world, but the Belgian aren't. Even their most famous chocolates, Godiva and Cote d'or, are now owned and markted by American companies. 




> And I do get a better feeling inside my 50 year old body than I do when watching a disney movie. I can't explain it.


This is because Disney anime are almost exclusively destined to children, while Japanese anime/manga (and Belgian comics) aren't. This partly has to do with the stigma on "maturity" in Western countries. Anime are just not considered to be for adults in the West (even in Belgium, although comics are ok, as long as they are not made for a younger audience in the first place). The Japanese do not have this "complex", which explains why the industry has grown so big. They also don't have complex about hentai or other adult-only stuff. People just read that in the train in front of everyone and nobody cares. That's a very big cultural gap with all Western countries.

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## Pachipro

> This is because Disney anime are almost exclusively destined to children, while Japanese anime/manga (and Belgian comics) aren't. This partly has to do with the stigma on "maturity" in Western countries. Anime are just not considered to be for adults in the West (even in Belgium, although comics are ok, as long as they are not made for a younger audience in the first place). The Japanese do not have this "complex", which explains why the industry has grown so big. They also don't have complex about hentai or other adult-only stuff. People just read that in the train in front of everyone and nobody cares. That's a very big cultural gap with all Western countries.


Very good point. Something I haven't given much thought to. You are quite correct in pointing out that that the Japanese and Belgians do not have this complex so prevalent in the west, especially here in America. If one were to read a Japanese hentai manga here on the train or in public they would probably be arrested and labeled a "sex offender." He/she would then have to register with the local police wherever they lived or moved to. I can not, for the life of me, understand this American puritanical obsession that "anything to do with sex is bad." 

This is quite an anomoly here as sexual innuendo is and is so prevelant on TV and in music and such. All one has to do is look at an episode of "Desperate Housewives" or watch any night time sitcom or drama and sex is the main theme! But talk about it in public or look at a hentai magazine and you are labeled a pervert!

One fine example of this hypocrisy is Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and his most popular prime time show "_The O'Reilly Factor_." He always talks about how bad sexual innuendo is and is so prevalent here in the US and how America is going downhill because of it, and he is always rallying against it. But he, _Mr. Perfect_, was caught in a sex scandal a couple of months ago, where he paid millions to the woman he offended with his talk of masturbation and phone sex and such to drop her lawsuit and he refuses to talk about it. What a freakin' hypocrit. And to think I used to listen to what he said because I believed he "was looking out for me"! No more!

I always respected Japan and some other European countries for their practical views towards sex. One can watch a movie in Japan on prime time and see a couple having mild sex or a breast exposed here or there and no one bats an eyelash. But let a microsecond of Janet Jackson's breast be exposed on national TV here in the US, and America goes nuts banning anything to do with sex, verbally on the radio, or visually on TV! What puritanical hypocitical bastards! The rest of the world probably thinks we are nuts!

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## Maciamo

> You are quite correct in pointing out that that the Japanese and Belgians do not have this complex so prevalent in the west, especially here in America.


Err, actually the Belgians are maybe halfway between Japan and the US. It is definitely a no-no to read a hentai comic or porn magazine in public in Belgium, although there are (a few) Belgian hentai comics.




> If one were to read a Japanese hentai manga here on the train or in public they would probably be arrested and labeled a "sex offender." He/she would then have to register with the local police wherever they lived or moved to.


Wow, it's _that_  bad in the States !?  :Shocked:  In Europe people would around would probably laugh to themselves, or feel uncomfortable, or even tell off the person reading porn (especially if there are children around). But the police wouldn't do anything. In Japan people don't react at all and find it natural, even in front of kids. That's one step further.




> This is quite an anomoly here as sexual innuendo is and is so prevelant on TV and in music and such. 
> ... One can watch a movie in Japan on prime time and see a couple having mild sex or a breast exposed here or there and no one bats an eyelash.


Yes, I have never quite understood this American dilemma. More sex in American moviesand TV than in almost any other country's productions, then the puritans make all a fuss about a pop star's breast.

However, I have to say that sex or nudity on Japanese TV is extremely rare. Look at French or Italian TV and you'll see nudity in almost all commercial breaks (eg. soap or shampoo ads). In Japan we may see a nude back, but I haven't seen even a nude breast in commercials. That's also contradictory given that all conveniences stores are filled with porn (even in regular magazines and newspapers) and people don't mind reading it in public. As for sex offenders, it's clear that Japan has a much more relaxed attitude even than Europe, as molesters or people masturbating in trains often don't get anything (maybe because nobody complains, although it's been recently changing).

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## Pachipro

> Err, actually the Belgians are maybe halfway between Japan and the US. It is definitely a no-no to read a hentai comic or porn magazine in public in Belgium, although there are (a few) Belgian hentai comics.


*kirei_na_me*  was right in her signature when she said, "It's funny how the conversation always turns to sex."

Anyway, while we're on it, I guess I misread your your post. 




> Wow, it's that bad in the States !?  In Europe people would around would probably laugh to themselves, or feel uncomfortable, or even tell off the person reading porn (especially if there are children around). But the police wouldn't do anything. In Japan people don't react at all and find it natural, even in front of kids. That's one step further.


Yes, it really is that bad here in the states. Get caught with a porn magazine or something like that in public and you will probably be arrested. They are so caught up in the pedophilia thing now that two young girls were recently murdered in Florida by former sex offenders who failed to register with the local police and the "Christian Right" here just won't let the subject alone.

One can be in serious trouble if they have any kind of porn around and their children find it and say something to others outside the family. 

They are so crazy here that a few years ago the parents of a child were arrested because they took pictures of their 2 year old girl while she was being given a bath by the mother! A pretty normal thing by my standards. They sent the film to a local department store to have it developed and they were turned in and arrested for child pornography! Can you believe it? It's crazy!




> However, I have to say that sex or nudity on Japanese TV is extremely rare. Look at French or Italian TV and you'll see nudity in almost all commercial breaks (eg. soap or shampoo ads). In Japan we may see a nude back, but I haven't seen even a nude breast in commercials.


That really has changed. I've noticed that also these past few visits. Back in the day, nudity on TV was quite prevailent. There was a show on NTV Ch4 everynight called "The 11pm Show" that used to highlight the best porn movies. I also remember a prime time show during New Years a few years back that allowed women into a popular rock concert for free if they would show their breasts to the camera. I watched it with my my wife and her parents and it was just as if it was a normal thing. No embarrassment, or comments such as "How filthy. Turn this off." or something to that effect. We all watched it and tried to guess which girls who were asked would do it.
I even remember when porn magazines were sold openly in vending machines in Japan. Much like beer. High school boys used to buy them and no one would think it was unusual. I don't see them anymore. Maybe JApan is getting too westernized.

I have no experience, but I have heard that the French, Italians, Swedes, and Dutch were much more open about those things on TV. We never hear about it here. America is really going over the deep end on something that is so natural. Why it is kept a secret and hidden and looked down upon when the innuendo is all over the place is beyond my comprehension. Must be the "Christian Right." Maybe that explains the high rate of teen pregnancy.




> As for sex offenders, it's clear that Japan has a much more relaxed attitude even than Europe, as molesters or people masturbating in trains often don't get anything (maybe because nobody complains, although it's been recently changing).


I'm glad to see that's changing. I always though it quite disgusting to do something like that out in public!  :Shocked:

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## Pachipro

> Perhaps your personal experience is not representative? German statistics regarding medium class cars show the following top10 regarding reliability:
> 
> 1 Toyota Avensis 
> 2 Mercedes CLK
> 3 Audi A4/S4
> 4 Mercedes C-Klasse
> 5 Mazda 626
> 6 Mitsubishi Carisma
> 7 BMW 3
> ...


I think it is. According to the most recent issue of "Consumer Reports" here in the USA they list the *Most Reliable Cars*  (listed by catagory with top scorers first. All are much better than average) as follows:

*Small Cars*
1. Toyota Echo
2. Toyota Corolla
3. Scion xB (Toyota) (2nd most satisfying small car)

*Hybrids*
1. Toyota Prius (Most satisfying small car)
2. Honda Civic Hybrid (3rd most satisfying)

*SportyCars/Convertables*
1. Lexus SC430 (Most satisfying)
2. Toyota Celica
3. Acura RSX

*Sedans*
1. Lexus IS300
2. Toyota Camry (4-cyl.)
3. Lexus LS430 (Most satisfying upscale/luxury sedan)

*Sport-Utility Vehicles*
1. Mitsubishi Endeavor
2. Toyota Land Cruiser (Most satisfying Large SUV)
3. Toyota Highlander (3rd most satisfying mid-sized SUV)

*Pickup Trucks*
1. Toyota Tundra (Most satisfying pickup truck, Nissan Titan at #2)


The most *LEAST RELIABLE*  Cars (listed by catagory with worst scorers first):

*Small Cars*
1. Volkswagen Golf (turbo)
2. Volkswagen New Beetle

*Sporty Cars/Convertibles*
1. Mercedes-Benz SL (2nd most satisfying, although 1st in unreliability)
2. Hyundai Tiburon
3. Mercedes-Benz CLK

*Sedans*
1. Merceds-Benz S Class
2. Jaguar S-Type
3. BMW 7 Series

*Sport-Utility Vehic*les
1. Lincoln NAvigator
2. Land Rover Freelander (Also the least satisfying SUV)
3. Volkswagen Touareg

*Minivans*
1. Nissan Quest
2. Mazda MPV

*Pickup Trucks*
1. Ford F-150 (4WD)

Please understand that Consumer Reports Magazine takes no advertising from no one at all and pays sticker price for every car they purchase. They put the cars through their own rigorous tests and they also survey their hundreds of thousands of readers on a yearly basis. They are completely unbiased. Their money comes from subscriptions and donations only. If it is found that a donation comes from someone related to a particular industry that money is returned.
Their findings are confirmed by the types of cars I have seen broken down throughout the entire Unites States these past 7 years that I have been driving. It is rare indeed to see a Japanese labeled car broken down.

I ask anyone out here to explain why not a single American or European vehicle is listed in the top 3 of most reliable cars here in the USA. Maybe the quality is different in Europe, I don't know. It is just something that I have been trying to find an answer to. Especially when Toyotas, Nissans, Fords, Chevys, Mercedes-Benz's, etc. are built here in the USA. Could it be that the Japanese have higher standards when it comes to quality control? I don't know. I'm just looking for a logical explaination.

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## Meiki

> WOW many things are from my country,,, SOOO SMALL BUT SO GREAT SOMETIMES... ( not with everything.... grrrr)
> 
> im proud




Nah, it's nothing compared to other countries. 

In the ancient times it was China and Greece and China.

older times, England, France, Germany, Italy

Modern times, USA, Japan, Korea (look at those mobiles, wooot)

kind of in general


But Japan has a great musicscene, next to the american and british one.
Chinese is good too.

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## bossel

> I think it is. According to the most recent issue of "Consumer Reports" here in the USA they list the *Most Reliable Cars*  (listed by catagory with top scorers first. All are much better than average) as follows:


Interesting differences to Germany (although not completely comparable since the division into classes seems a bit different), but in Germany customer satisfaction is not included, so that may make the difference. The lists according reliability only:

*Small Cars*
1. BMW Mini
2. Mitsubishi Colt
3. Toyota Yaris
4. Opel Corsa
5. Citroen Saxo

*Lower Medium Class*
1. Audi A2
2. Mercedes A-Class
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Corolla
5. Ford Focus

*Medium Class*
- see above

*Upper Medium Class*
1. Audi A6/S6
2. Mercedes S-Class
3. Mercedes E-Class
4. BMW 5
5. Volvo S60/70/80/V70
6. Opel Omega

*Sports Cars*
1. Mercedes SLK
2. BMW Z3
3. Mazda MX 5
4. Audi TT

*All-Terrain Vehicles (Sport-Utility Vehicles?)*
1. Toyota RAV4
2. Mercedes ML
3. Mitsubishi Pajero
4. BMW X5

*Vans*
1. Nissan Almera
2. Mazda Premacy
3. Citroen Xsara Picasso
4. Mitsubishi Space Star
5. Volkswagen Transporter T4

In most lists the least reliable cars are either Italian or French brands. Statistics are by the ADAC (General German Automobile Association), also a non-profit organisation.

Interesting that Mercedes S-class in Germany is 2nd most reliable, while in the US it's most unreliable. Admittedly I don't drive very much, but I have never seen a broken down Mercedes.

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## Maciamo

> In the ancient times it was China and Greece and China.
> 
> older times, England, France, Germany, Italy


China didn't invent _so_ much, even in ancient times. Greece gave us geometry, philosophy, political science, democracy, physics, biology, etc. although these are not properly "inventions", but rather "knowledge" or academic disciplines.

Don't forget the Romans, who invented the arch (extremely important to build high bridges, or high buildings like the Colloseum). In fcat, the Greek invented the arch, but it was refined and mostly used by the Romans. Some sources also mention that the Greeks invented the first flush toilets, floor heating or running water canalisations. Otherwise there were quite a few ancient inventions from the Middle/Near East (see list of inventions)




> Modern times, USA, Japan, Korea (look at those mobiles, wooot)


Well, the Netherlands got more inventions, and more important ones than Japan in the list, and Japan is 10x bigger and 10x more populous. From about 1600 to 1867, the Japanese got their knowledge of science, medicine, etc. from the Dutch.

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## Pachipro

> Interesting that Mercedes S-class in Germany is 2nd most reliable, while in the US it's most unreliable. Admittedly I don't drive very much, but I have never seen a broken down Mercedes.


Yes it is. Very interesting list. And quite contradictory to the US. I'm still curious as to why. It's also interesting that the Mercedes S-class, although the most "unreliable" in it's class here, is the 2nd most satisfying car also! Quite a contradiction.

I'm also curious as to the differences in claimed reliability. I'll have to check and see if the S-class is manufactured here at Mercedes' new factory in Alabama.

Thanks!  :Wavey:

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## Maciamo

> Yes it is. Very interesting list. And quite contradictory to the US. I'm still curious as to why.


Different reviewers. Or because someone paid one group of reviewers to have their cars get a better ranking ?




> I'm also curious as to the differences in claimed reliability. I'll have to check and see if the S-class is manufactured here at Mercedes' new factory in Alabama.


Maybe that's just that. Different factories may explain an actual difference of reliability for the same car.

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## Shuujin

Americans invented 1337. Pwnage. The greatest linguist weapon in wartime -- backslash x forward slash zero zero t.

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## Meiki

> China didn't invent _so_ much, even in ancient times. Greece gave us geometry, philosophy, political science, democracy, physics, biology, etc. although these are not properly "inventions", but rather "knowledge" or academic disciplines.
> 
> Don't forget the Romans, who invented the arch (extremely important to build high bridges, or high buildings like the Colloseum). In fcat, the Greek invented the arch, but it was refined and mostly used by the Romans. Some sources also mention that the Greeks invented the first flush toilets, floor heating or running water canalisations. Otherwise there were quite a few ancient inventions from the Middle/Near East (see list of inventions)
> 
> 
> 
> Well, the Netherlands got more inventions, and more important ones than Japan in the list, and Japan is 10x bigger and 10x more populous. From about 1600 to 1867, the Japanese got their knowledge of science, medicine, etc. from the Dutch.




Yeah, the Dutch got their knowledge from other countries. I think that a lot of things were invented in China, but they didn't cross the border.
A lot of things were taken from the Greeks and Romans by the countries surrounding them. So I think Greeks and Romans contributed a lot. Without their influence a lot of countries in Europe would still be very ehm, barbaric.
Oh, and if you study some things about China, you will know that they were active in those disciplines, like mathematics, biology and such.

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## No-name

A lot of geometry, philosophy, political science, physics, biology and medicine have origens in several diffent societies at several diffent times. Some of these "discoveries" have a direct connection and unbroken thread to modern counterparts. Other civilizations have had their discoveries entirely forgotten.

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## Meiki

True.

Anyway, I think the most prestigious european brands are often French, Italian, British and German. But I don't think they should be referred to as european brands. Because other countries in Europe have no **** to do with the status of those brands. 
I wouldn't like to see other people lifting on my countries succes. French is French, Italian is Italian. Most of the loser countries want to see it like european brands, so they can have the idea they got some good too.

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## Maciamo

> Anyway, I think the most prestigious european brands are often French, Italian, British and German. But I don't think they should be referred to as european brands. Because other countries in Europe have no **** to do with the status of those brands. 
> I wouldn't like to see other people lifting on my countries succes. French is French, Italian is Italian. Most of the loser countries want to see it like european brands, so they can have the idea they got some good too.


I disagree. Nowadays most major European companies employ Europeans from various countries, and have branches in several countries. For example, Philips, which is Dutch, employs many Germans and Belgians too, and has branches and research labs in these countries. It's very easy with the EU to recruit other Europeans, as they don't need a visa and the qualifications have been quite harmonised between EU countries (at least EU-15). True that Eastern European countries have been less part of the game so far. We should maybe talk about Western Europe or EU-15 according to the situation.

Some prestigious "brands/makes" or companies or projects/inventions involve more than 1 country. The Eurostar & Eurotunnel are Franco-Belgo-British, the Thalys involves France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The concorde airplane was a Franco-British project, and the most famous European plane company, Airbus, is a consortium of companies in several European countries (France, Germany, UK, Spain...). 

If you are looking at older inventions, country names really do not matter, as the borders were completely different, say 500 or 1000 years ago as now. You should know that as the Netherlands were respectively part of the Roman Empire (well the Sout at least), then Charlemagne's Empire, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, then became Burgundian, then Austro-Spanish, Spanish, then Dutch, then French, then Dutch-Belgian, then Dutch. The Netherlands also shared a common king & queen with the UK (William III of England).

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## Ma Cherie

I was wondering, there's been some scientific debate about who invented the clock. The mechanical clock, because from I've read, the Arabs relied on the sundail and because of their knowlegde of astronomy. And the Chinese had knowlegde of mechanical clocks. So, in 999-1003 A.D. a man named Gerbert--who later on became Pope Sylvester II supposidly built the first mechanical clock in the West. How true is this?  :Doubt:

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## Matsubara_san-fan

> In reality, the Japanese really didn't invent anything including their own written language! (save for _hiragana_ and _katagana_) But, most of your better products on the market today have Japanese brand names. Go figure.


Some information about patent applications (these figures are from 1996:
laser technology:
USA: 365
Germany: 381
Japan: 3.481

communication technology:
Germany: 2.787
USA: 6.379
Japan: 33.391

cars related:
USA: 3.081
Germany: 6.123
Japan: 20.463

computer science and storage technology:
USA: 7.233
Germany: 1.725
Japan: 36.020

And so on ... 

Many informations on Japan are based on biases, I suppose. It's the same in Germany. Most people here claim the Japanese can't invent things but only copy them. They can't explain how you can be the market leader by copying, but they claim it nevertheless. - Go figure.

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## Pachipro

> Many informations on Japan are based on biases, I suppose. It's the same in Germany. Most people here claim the Japanese can't invent things but only copy them. They can't explain how you can be the market leader by copying, but they claim it nevertheless. - Go figure.


I cannot dispute that the Japanese have more patents, but are the products patented original, something the world has never seen before? Or are they original products invented by someone else and then back engineered and built in a different way so as not to infringe on the originals' patent?
I ask this as I have direct experience with the Japanese back engineering products and then manufacturing a wholly new product with a new patent. Please refer to my post here to get at what I am talking about.

BTW welcome to the forums  :Wavey:

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## bossel

> Many informations on Japan are based on biases, I suppose. It's the same in Germany. Most people here claim the Japanese can't invent things but only copy them. They can't explain how you can be the market leader by copying, but they claim it nevertheless. - Go figure.


Well, you can be a market leader without inventing very much on your own, look at China. For Japan, I doubt that the informed public in Germany actually has the bias you see, since the patent numbers are always reported in the news. There is a certain stereotype, but most people probably wouldn't say that Japan only copies (or maybe that's just the people I talk to, who knows).

For the actual numbers of patents, I found a very informative website by the EPO. 

BTW, if you only look at patents granted in Europe, you see that the US has leadership, Germany is 2nd, while Japan is 3rd. It all depends...

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## Matsubara_san-fan

> I cannot dispute that the Japanese have more patents, but are the products patented original, something the world has never seen before? Or are they original products invented by someone else and then back engineered and built in a different way so as not to infringe on the originals' patent?


Well, everything depends on how you define it, doesn't it?

The light bulb was not something really new - we all knew the torch before. So it was just back engineered. And it was even a step backward, because you could not carry it with you. 
And the internet? It is nothing new at all. It is "the internet formerly known as parcel post". 
And so on ...  :Wink: 

I don't care who is first, second, third. But I think the general statement about the Japanese unable to invent anything is, huh, a little bit ... false. It would be a very interesting discussion why Americans/Europeans claim that so often. Very interesting, but a different topic/thread. 

Thanks for welcoming  :Wavey: 


TO: bossel
Thanks for the link. A useful one for me.

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## Pachipro

> The light bulb was not something really new - we all knew the torch before. So it was just back engineered. And it was even a step backward, because you could not carry it with you.


Granted, both items do light ones way, but the light bulb *was* something new in that it used a new form of energy. Instead of fire it used electricity. It really was not a step backward in that batteries were invented that allowed you to carry the "electric torch" with you. 

How could the torch be back engineered into an electric light bulb anyway? Did someone say, "Here is a torch. Take it apart, find out how it works, do not infringe on the makers patents, make it smaller and less dangerous. Oh, by the way, do not use fire. Invent something else." 




> And the internet? It is nothing new at all. It is "the internet formerly known as parcel post".


Parcel post refers to packages, not messages. Parcel post would be what UPS (*U*nited *P*arcel *S*ervice) or Fed Ex, or Kuro neko Yamato bin, does. They deliver packages (parcels). 

The internet *is* something new in that I can communicate with someone thousands of miles away in a matter of seconds. I can do enormous amounts of research in minutes without leaving my home, in my underwear, if I prefer. In the past I would have to get up, get dressed, go to a library, read many books, do much copying or writing, and take it home. That is if I did find all the books and such I needed. Back then my search was very narrowed to a few local libraries which may, or may not, have had the books I was looking for. I can do shopping, listen to music or sports. Download movies or music. Send letters. All in a matter of minutes. Something unheard of before. 

However, as of late I cannot send or receive parcels via the internet.

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## Maciamo

Here are a few Slovak inventions :

- The camera zoom lens, invented by Jozef Maximilian Petzval in the mid 19th century.
- The wireless telegraph, invented by Jozef Murgas in 1909
- The (military) parachute, invented by Stefan Banic in 1913

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## Minty

Actually the Chinese contrived things like paper, the premier printing (block and removable), the stirrup on a horse's saddle, the directional compass, gunpowder, lasting and primal moulds of incessant flamethrowers, cannons, and landmines.

How was silk initially innovated to the Roman Empire? During the premature Middle Ages the Byzantines affirmed a monopoly on silk production because it was the Arabs who introduced the Chinese covert of mulberry worms transuding the valuable content to meander into silk, conglomerating immense fortunes for the Byzantine Emperors. The Emperors concealed the silk looms in their castle at Constantinople. During this time they were trading silks to European royal families and aiding to finance their soldierly endeavours against the enlargement of primal Mohammedanism and the upkeep of the centenarian Roman regulation. The economical success of the subsequent middle ages silk manufacturers E.G. gCordobah (Spain) or the silk loom manufacturers in North part of Italy would fair in merchandising had it not been for the Chinese. 

In the Chinese era known as Jin, the innovation of the stirrup iron on a saddleback journeyed to Europe in the time of Charlemagne. Overturning European war in conditions of saddled horse evermore.

When the innovation of paper during Cai Lun's Han-era was transferred
by Abbasid Arabs to Europe. Earlier on the Europeans banked on the pricy and scarce Papyrus plant available only in Egypt to indite on, differently they merely indite on slips of sheepskin to commemorate events and people. When inexpensive, effective, and mint fabricated paper came through suddenly Europe was lifted out of the dark ages with the coming of the circulation of additional noesis. 

The Chinese contrived the ruder and the south-pointing compass in the Han Dynasty, and created furtherance to them since then onwards. The primal certify of a rudder being utilized in Europe was dated to 1180 in a church engraving. Merely a couple years later the Europeans "noticed" the compass from journeys to the east. This is more than a thousand years subsequently the Chinese devised the compass and rudder, and not startlingly they would both be detected in Europe at approximately the corresponding period, conceiving that it is a compass that points in the guidance required, and the rudder utilised to channelize in that direction, thence the two would go hand in hand.

The Chinese under the 9th century AD Tang Dynasty impart, a method of intensify their ancient recipe for "black powder," exploring of an elixir for eternal life (It is believed that the first Emperor of Qin dynasty passed away from intoxication of mercury due to the reason that he trusted mercury to be the elixir. What the Chinese invented was a great deal of detonating equation including sulphur, charcoal, and saltpetre. The Chinese discovered to cut down the potassium nitrate in the equation, and they discovered the ancient Chinese manuscript known as gEssentials of the Marvellous Way of Perfect Primordialh, described in the mid 800s which is 9th century AD.
People were arse around and jesting with it, until the Chinese agnized to utilize this for warfare purposes. 

The premier advert of a cannon or gun subsist in Europe is during the primordial 14th century which is the 1300s in a nobleman's armoury of munitions and additional papers discovered in Europe. Earlier on, the Englishman Franciscan Friar Roger Bacon (1214-1294) journeyed towards East and disclosed to his European coevals the Arabian noesis of black powder. 

The Arabs in this era were considerably cognizant of the Chinese and their inventions, and in one of history's tiny wheezes (and like middlemen before them), hold a classified from the Europeans, labelling the Chinese saltpetre "Chinese Snow." Furthermore, when the Mongols had just seized the Jin of north part of China, and were assailing East part of Europe. Roger Bacon was in Kievan Rus Russia and in a holograph described by him in 1248; he accounts for the premier time in European History the noting of a cannon and its blaring, ear-splitting noise and desolating consequence. The Mongols utilised many of Chinese technologists on their westbound crusades, including technologists on how to construct Chinese grip arbalests, double-acting- Bellows flamethrowers, and cannons. 

In the time where the Tang Dynasty tumbled, the Chinese had conceptualized the double-acting-bellows flamethrower. During the 10th century (900s) the Chinese had gestated uses for their newfound recipe of explosive black powder, making combusted fire arrows and detonating bombs hurtled from trebuchets. They continued on their inventions. After they pioneered little handheld bombs illumed by a liquefy, noxious and toxicant
Improvers to the gunpowder recipe, including mercury and arsenic, fundamentally starting the premier mould of chemical warfare. In 1044 AD, a book named gCollection of the Most Important Military Techniquesh acknowledged the cannon for the premier time in human history. 

By 1259 the primal cite of projectile arms with bamboo or copper pipes were utilized to impel pebbles, small rocks, and little metallic shrapnel at the foe in South of Song, and the most antediluvian cannon in China dates back to 1298.The antique bronze version of the cannon dates back to 1332. 

The Chinese innovated the primal mud strafed furnaces in approximately the year 500 BC, in the ancient Zhou Dynasty state of Wu; it could arrive at well over 1000 degrees Celsius in temperature interior. Once the interior of the furnace arrived at roughly 1130 Celsius, iron would thawed and commingle with 4.3% carbon, once the metal is liquefiable, they could be forged and shaped into all forms wanted. E.G. Iron swords or equipage bolt.

In the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD), steel contriving sprung up, with the coming of trimming down the amount of carbon by 2 divergent methods, the 100 measure ameliorating method and working unthawed pool of calorific and
runny iron to aerate the admixture and decarburize it, primary creating steel. 
Mud strafe furnaces wouldn't be noticed until the 19th century Industrial Era that the West could rival the production of steel in the Chinese Song Dynasty. 

In the Song Dynasty (960-1277 AD), there was an intermediate of 100,000 tons of steel produced in 1 year or decennary to man standing armies of over a million warriors and render millions of citified denizens countrywide with steel merchandises basal to quotidian life. In the meantime the European domain was a gloomy and dreary medieval place; too occupy burning witches and cursing hoi polloi from the church for one sappy matter to some other or to agnise the comprehensiveness and walloping enlargement of the Chinese creation to the east, which by this level already had ocean-going merchandize meshwork with East Asia, India, Persia, Arabia, and East Africa.

While Europe was tardily and fastidiously replicating every church philosophy by hand, a mean number of bible exchanged to the affluent or royal family monetary value was nearly a fortune in cost because of this, there was a bookshop and library situated in every sizable Chinese urban centre even by the end of Tang era. This was due to the fact the Chinese innovated printing. In the beginning, it was only the crude woodblock printing, conceptualize within the Tang Dynasty, where every single blockade of wood had engraved written material, and would thence typify 1 page. 

The following and more astonishing sort, this is earlier than Johannes Gutenberg's metal type printer in Germany. A Chinese man in the Song Dynasty era called Bi Sheng innovated removable type print. This was primarily a singular metal element tray that could be hot up and chill down when desired to withdrawal and wedge the Chinese writings to the frontal part of the metal cover, the writings themselves created out of wood or mud, and there were evidently thousands of them regarding the Chinese linguistic communication and composition.

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## Minty

> there is this myth saying that the Chinese invented ice cream and spaghetti, and Marco Polo brought the ideas to Europe in the 13th century


I don't think the invention of ice-cream is from China. 

I don't think in Chinese deserts there is anything like ice-cream. Most of Chinese deserts are made from red beans, mung beans, sesame seeds, rice flours, glutinous rice, wheat flour, oil, eggs and sugar. Milk is hardly used in our cuisine. Some Cantonese restaurants today sell deep-fried ice-cream but I believe they either invented that dish after ice-cream is introduced by the West to Chinese or they adopted it from somewhere else. After all when Hong Kong was under the British rule they had all sorts of foreigners going there in comparison to say the mainland or Taiwan.

With spaghetti, spaghetti is basically noodle and noodle comes from China. 
_c50cm-long, yellow strands were found in a pot that had probably been buried during a catastrophic flood.Radiocarbon dating of the material taken from the Lajia archaeological site on the Yellow River indicates the food was about 4,000 years old. Scientists tell the journal Nature that the noodles were made using grains from millet grass - unlike modern noodles, which are made with wheat flour.._

The materials that are used to make the Chinese noodle are not the same kind as the ones they have used to make spaghetti or pasta. The Chinese noodle is usually made from wheat flour, rice flour or bean flour with salt and water and sometimes itfs added with eggs. The Italian pasta is made from Semolina, durum wheat (much harder and takes longer time to cook) and water or some are added with milled potatoes. The sauces to go with the Italian noodle (pasta) and the Chinese noodles are not the same. Hence dishes like spaghetti Bolognese or Chicken fettuccini (sp?) are definitely Italian inventions.

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## cursore

Strange, since the unification of Italy my country hasn't invented much... even the Marconi's Radio was made in Britain...

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## Gwyllgi

The toilet seat was invented in England (but with Scottish help) 

The HOLE in the toilet seat was invented by us Welsh!

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## Wilhelm

Some Spanish inventions :

- Mop

- Barocyclometer

- Nephoscope

- microseismograph.

- Cryolathe

- Gyroplane

- Capstan

- Laryngoscope

- Air-independent propulsion

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## Starship

1897: first Army-commissioned *submarine* by John Philip Holland 


OK not the first submarine but the first Army comissioned sub was designed by an Irish man - now theres something I never knew. :Petrified:

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## Aristander

> The toilet seat was invented in England (but with Scottish help) 
> 
> The HOLE in the toilet seat was invented by us Welsh!


 :Laughing:   :Good Job:

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## Carlitos

*Inventions of Spain.*

-Stapler.
-sharpening pencils.
-Mop.
-Guitar.
-Talgo train.
-Autogiro.
-The lavender water.
-El mus.
-The Pearl was a prototype electric-powered submarine made by the Spanish Navy as draft Isaac Peral.
-Arcabuz. (firearm)
-The Chess Player El Ajedrecista was an automaton built in 1912 by Leonardo Torres Quevedo.
-Futbolín.
-Galleon.
-Laryngoscope.
-Telekino.
-Digital Calculator.
-The Semi Rigid Airship
-Cable car
-Chupa-chups.
-Spanish dragonfly.
-capstan.
-disposable hypodermic syringe.
-Air Independent Propulsion
-Molotov Cocktail.
-Destroyer (ship contratorpedero)
-Garrote vil.
-Sugus candy.
-Cigarrette.

-Barociclómetro is like a barometer
conventional, but has the ability to acknowledge with
more precisely the proximity of typhoons or hurricanes,
which also measures its intensity.

-Nefoscopio. is useful to note and identify
apparent speed and direction of movement
clouds. This makes calculating the time
takes to cross between different lattices of a telescope.

-Microsismógrafo is
essentially a conventional seismograph but
high sensitivity, which can record.

-PORTABLE SOLAR FREEZER Although the name of this invention looks like a
contradiction, it is not at all: rather, take
solar energy, through a conversion
PV, produce cold is a great innovation
applied to a portable system. This invention, Fernando
Correa, facilitate health and vaccination campaigns

-Inhibitor of cell phones.

-THE SPACE SUIT ASTRONAUT A new pioneer maligned and forgotten by history. Emilio Herrera Linares designed the first space suit in history, but like so many other pioneers of our country, has only been recognized outside our front. Scientific and aviator (he was a senior Republican Army during the Civil War), worked with Juan de la Cierva and Leonardo Torres Quevedo in his research. His spacesuit was used as preliminary design of modern astronaut suits, but their membership of the losing side of the Spanish Civil War and his presidency of the Government of the Spanish Republic in exile, caused his ostracism and persecution in Spain during Franco. He died in Geneva in 1967.

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## bud

Inventions from Australia taken from Wikipedia

*1838 - Pre-paid postage* - Colonial Postmaster-General of New South Wales, James Raymond introduced the world's first pre-paid postal system, using pre-stamped sheets as envelopes.
*1843 - Grain stripper* - John Ridley and John Bull of South Australia developed the world's first grain stripper that cut the crop then removed and placed the grain into bins.
*1856 - Refrigerator* - Using the principal of vapour compression, James Harrison produced the world's first practical ice making machine and refrigerator.
*1874 - Underwater torpedo* - Invented by Louis Brennan, the torpedo had two propellers, rotated by wires which were attached to winding engines on the shore station. By varying the speed at which the two wires were extracted, the torpedo could be steered to the left or right by an operator on the shore.
*1876 - Stump jump plough* - Richard and Clarence Bowyer Smith developed a plough which could jump over stumps and stones, enabling newly-cleared land to be cultivated.
*1877 - Mechanical clippers* - Various mechanical shearing patents were registered in Australia before Frederick York Wolseley finally succeeded in developing a practical hand piece with a comb and reciprocating cutter driven by power transmitted from a stationary engine.
*1889 - Electric drill* - Arthur James Arnot patented the world's first electric drill on 20 August 1889 while working for the Union Electric Company in Melbourne. He designed it primarily to drill rock and to dig coal.
*1892 - Coolgardie safe* - Arthur Patrick McCormick noticed that a wet bag placed over a bottle cooled its contents, and the cooling was more pronounced in a breeze. The Coolgardie safe was a box made of wire and hessian sitting in water, which was placed on a verandah so that any breeze would evaporate the water in the hessian and via the principle of evaporation, cool the air inside the box. The Coolgardie safe was used into the middle of the 20th century as a means of preserving food. 
*Hargrave and Swain demonstrate the manlift kites
1894 - Powered flight* - Lawrence Hargrave discovered that curved surfaces lift more than flat ones. He subsequently built the world's first box kites, hitched four together, added an engine and flew five metres. Hargrave corresponded freely with other aviation pioneers, including the Wright Brothers. Unlike the Americans who commercialised their ideas, Hargrave never patented his. Because it promised public access, Hargrave left all his research and prototypes to the Munich Museum.
*1902 - Notepa*d - For 500 years, paper had been supplied in loose sheets. Launceston stationer J.A. Birchall decided that it would be a good idea to cut the sheets into half, back them with cardboard and glue them together at the top.
*1903 - Froth flotation* - The process of separating minerals from rock by flotation was developed by Charles Potter and Guillaume Delprat in New South Wales. Both worked independently at the same time on different parts of the process for the mining company Broken Hill Pty. Ltd. (BHP) [16][17]
*1906 - Feature film* - The world's first feature length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was a little over an hour long.[18]
1906 - Surf life-saving reel - The first surf life-saving reel in the world was demonstrated at Bondi Beach on 23 December 1906 by its designer, Bondi surfer Lester Ormsby.
*1907 - Thrust bearing* - Fluid-film thrust bearings were invented by Australian engineer George Michell. Michell bearings contain a number of sector-shaped pads, arranged in a circle around the shaft, and which are free to pivot. These create wedge-shaped regions of oil inside the bearing between the pads and a rotating disk, which support the applied thrust and eliminate metal-on-metal contact. The small size (one-tenth the size of old bearing designs), low friction and long life of Michell's invention made possible the development of larger propellers and engines in ships. They were used extensively in ships built during World War I, and have become the standard bearing used on turbine shafts in ships and power plants worldwide.
*1910 - Humespun pipe-making proces*s - The Humespun process was developed by Walter Hume of Humes Ltd for making concrete pipes of high strength and low permeability. The process used centrifugal force to evenly distribute concrete onto wire reinforcing, revolutionising pipe manufacture.
*1910 - Dethridge wheel* - The wheel used to measure the water flow in an irrigation channel, consisting of a drum on an axle, with eight v-shaped vanes fixed to its outside, was invented by John Dethridge, Commissioner of the Victorian State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.
*1912 - Surf ski* - Harry McLaren and his brother Jack used an early version of the surf ski for use around the family's oyster beds on Lake Innes, near Port Macquarie, New South Wales, and the brothers used them in the surf on Port Macquarie's beaches. The board was propelled in a sitting position with two small hand blades, which was probably not a highly efficient method to negotiate the surf. The deck is flat with a bung plug at the rear and a nose ring with a leash, possibly originally required for mooring. The rails are square and there is pronounced rocker. The boards' obvious buoyancy indicates hollow construction, with thin boards of cedar fixed longtitudinally down the board.
*1912 - Tank* - A South Australian named Lance de Mole submitted a proposal to the British War Office, for a 'chain-rail vehicle which could be easily steered and carry heavy loads over rough ground and trenches' complete with extensive drawings. The British war office rejected the idea at the time, but De Mole made several more proposals to the British War Office in 1914 and 1916, and formally requested he be recognised as the inventor of the Mark I tank. The British Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors eventually made a payment of £987 to De Mole to cover his expenses; promoting him to an honorary corporal.
*1912 - Self-Propelled Rotary Hoe* - At the age of 16 Cliff Howard of Gilgandra invented a machine with rotating hoe blades on an axle that simultaneously hoed the ground and pulled the machine forward.
*1913 - Automatic totalisator* -The world's first automatic totalisator for calculating horse-racing bets was made by Sir George Julius.
*1928 - Electronic Pacemaker* - The heart pacemaker had a portable apparatus which 'plugged into a lighting point. One pole was applied to a skin pad soaked in strong salt solution' while the other pole 'consisted of a needle insulated except at its point, and was plunged into the appropriate cardiac chamber'. 'The pacemaker rate was variable from about 80 to 120 pulses per minute, and likewise the voltage variable from 1.5 to 120 volts.' The apparatus was used to revive a potentially stillborn infant at Crown Street Women's Hospital, Sydney whose heart continued 'to beat on its own accord', 'at the end of 10 minutes' of stimulation.
*1930 - Clapperboard* - The wooden marker used to synchronise sound and film was invented by Frank Thring Sr of Efftee Stdios in Melbourne.
*1934 - Coupé utility* - The car body style, known colloquially as the ute in Australia and New Zealand, combines a two-door "coupé" cabin with an integral cargo bed behind the cabin—using a light-duty passenger vehicle-derived platform. It was designed by Lewis Brandt at the Ford Motor Company in Geelong, Victoria. The first ute rolled off the Ford production lines in 1934. The idea came from a Geelong farmer's wife who wrote to Ford in 1933 advising the need for a new sort of vehicle to take her 'to church on Sundays and pigs to market on Mondays.
*1938 - Polocrosse* - Inspired by a training exercise witnessed at the National School of Equitation at Kingston Vale near London, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hirst of Sydney invented the combination polo and lacrosse sport which was first played at Ingleburn near Sydney in 1939.
*1940 - Zinc Cream* - This white sun block made from zinc oxide was developed by the Fauldings pharmaceutical company.
*1943 - Splayd* - The combination knife, fork and spoon was invented by William McArthur after seeing ladies struggle to eat at barbecues with standard cutlery from plates on their laps.
*1948 - Rotary Clothes Line* - The famous Hills Hoist rotary clothes line with a winding mechanism allowing the frame to be lowered and raised with ease was developed by Lance Hill in 1945, although the clothes line design itself was originally patented by Gilbert Toyne in Adelaide in 1926.
*1952 - Lagerphone* - The lagerphone is a musical instrument made by nailing beer caps onto a stick. The first recorded witnessing of this instrument was at an amateur's night near Holbrook, New South Wales. During the 50s it was popularised by the Heathcote Bushwackers as an alternative to the American wobbleboard.
*1952 - Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer* - The atomic absorption spectrophotometer is a complex analytical instrument incorporating micro-computer electronics and precision optics and mechanics, used in chemical analysis to determine low concentrations of metals in a wide variety of substances. It was first developed by Sir Alan Walsh of the CSIRO.
*1953 - Solar hot water* - Developed by a team at the CSIRO led by Roger N Morse
*1955 - Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)* - Invented and developed by Edward George Bowen of the CSIRO, the first DME network, operating in the 200 MHz band, became operational in Australia.
*1956 - Pneumatic broadacre air seeder* - Invented and patented by Albert Fuss in 1956, the lightweight air seeder uses a spinning distributor, blew the seeds through a pipe into the plating tynes. It was first used that same year to sow wheat near Dalby in Queensland.
*1957 - Flame ionisation detector -* The flame ionisation detector is one of the most accurate instruments ever developed for the detection of emissions. It was invented by Ian McWilliam. The instrument, which can measure one part in 10 million, has been used in chemical analysis in the petrochemical industry, medical and biochemical research, and in the monitoring of the environment.
*1957 - Wool clothing with a permanent crease* - The process for producing permanently creased fabric was invented by Dr Arthur Farnworth of the CSIRO.
*1958 - Black box flight recorder* - The 'black box' voice and instrument data recorder was invented by Dr David Warren in Melbourne.
*1960 - Plastic spectacle lenses* - The world's first plastic spectacle lenses, 60 per cent lighter than glass lenses, were designed by Scientific Optical Laboratories in Adelaide.
*1961 - Ultrasound* - David Robinson and George Kossoff's work at the Australian Department of Health, resulted in the first commercially practical water path ultrasonic scanner in 1961.
*1965 - Inflatable escape slide* - The inflatable aircraft escape slide which doubles as a raft was invented by Jack Grant of Qantas.
*1965 - Wine cask* - Invented by Thomas Angove of Renmark, South Australia, the wine cask is a cardboard box housing a plastic container which collapses as the wine is drawn off, thus preventing contact with the air. Angroves' original design with a resealable spout was replaced with a tap by the Penfolds wine company in 1972
*1970 - Staysharp knife* - The self-sharpening knife was developed by Wiltshire.
*1971 - Variable rack and pinion steering* - The variable ratio rack and pinion steering in motor vehicles allowing smooth steering with minimal feedback was invented by Australian engineer, Arthur Bishop.
*1972 - Orbital engine* - The orbital internal combustion process engine was invented by engineer Ralph Sarich of Perth, Western Australia. The system uses a single piston to directly inject fuel into 5 orbiting chambers. It has never challenged the dominance of four-stroke combustion engines but has replaced many two-stroke engines with a more efficient, powerful and cleaner system. Orbital engines now appear in boats, motorcycles and small cars.
*1972 - Instream analysis* - To speed-up analysis of metals during the recovery process, which used to take up to 24 hours, Amdel Limited developed an on-the-spot analysis equipment called the In-Stream Analysis System, for the processing of copper, zinc, lead and platinum - and the washing of coal. This computerised system allowed continuous analysis of key metals and meant greater productivity for the mineral industry worldwide.
*1974 - Super Sopper* - Gordon Withnall at the age of 56 invented the Super Sopper, a giant rolling sponge used to quickly soak up water from sporting grounds so that play can continue.
*1978 - Synroc* - The synthetic ceramic Synroc that incorporates radioactive waste into its crystal structure was invented in 1978 by a team led by Dr Ted Ringwood at the Australian National University.
*1979 - Digital sampler* - The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie in Sydney, Australia.
*1979 - RaceCam* - Race Cam was developed by Geoff Healey, an engineer with Australian Television Network Seven in Sydney. The tiny lightweight camera is used in sports broadcasts and provides viewers with spectacular views of events such as motor racing, which are impossible with conventional cameras.
*1979 - Bionic ear* - The cochlear implant was invented by Professor Graeme Clark of the University of Melbourne.
*1980 - Dual flush toilet* - Bruce Thompson, working for Caroma in Australia, developed the Duoset cistern, with two buttons, and two flush volumes as a water-saving measure, now responsible for savings in excess of 32000 litres of water per household per year.
*1980 - Wave-piercing catamaran* - The first high speed, stable catamarans were developed by Phillip Hercus and Robert Clifford of Incat in Tasmania.
*1981 - CPAP mask* - Professor Colin Sullivan of Sydney University developed the Continuous Positive Airflow Pressure (CPAP) mask. The CPAP system first developed by Sullivan has become the most common treatment for sleep disordered breathing. The invention was commercialised in 1989 by Australian firm ResMed, which is currently one of the world's two largest suppliers of CPAP technology.
*1983 - Winged Keel* - Ben Lexcen designed a winged keel that helped Australia II end the New York Yacht Club's 132 year ownership of the America's Cup. The keel gave the yacht better steering and manoeuvrability in heavy winds.
*1984 - Frozen embryo baby*- The world's first frozen embryo baby was born in Melbourne on 28 March 1984
*1984 - Baby Safety Capsule* - Babies in a car crash used to bounce around like a football. In 1984, for the first time babies had a bassinette with an air bubble in the base and a harness that distributed forces across the bassinette protecting the baby. New South Wales public hospitals now refuse to allow parents take a baby home by car without one.
*1986 - Gene shears* - The discovery of gene shears was made by CSIRO scientists, Wayne Gerlach and Jim Haseloff. So-called hammerhead ribozymes are bits of genetic material that interrupt a DNA code at a particular point, and can be designed to cut out genes that cause disease or dangerous proteins.
*1989 - Polilight forensic lamp* - Ron Warrender and Milutin Stoilovic, forensic scientists at the Australian National University in Canberra, developed Unilite which could be set to just the right wavelength to show fingerprints up well against any background. Rofin Australia Pty Ltd, developed this product into the portable Polilight which shows up invisible clues such as fingerprints and writing that has been scribbled over, as well as reworked sections on paintings.
*1991 - Buffalo fly trap* - In 1991 the CSIRO developed a low-tech translucent plastic tent with a dark inner tunnel lined with brushes. When a cow walks through, the brushed flies fly upwards toward the light and become trapped in the solar-heated plastic dome where they quickly die from desiccation (drying out) and fall to the ground, where ants eat them.
*1992 - Multi-focal contact lens* - The world's first multi-focal contact lens was invented by optical research scientist, Stephen Newman in Queensland.
*1992 - Spray-on skin* - Developed by Dr Fiona Wood at Royal Perth Hospital
*1993 - Underwater PC* - The world's first underwater computer with a five-button hand-held keypad was developed by Bruce Macdonald at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
*1995 - EXELGRAM* - The world's most sophisticated optical anti-counterfeiting technology was developed by the CSIRO.
*1995 - Jindalee Radar System* - Developed by Scientists at the CSIRO, the Jindalee Radar System detects stealthy aircraft and missiles by searching for the turbulence generated by such vehicles.
*1996 - Anti-flu Medication* - Relenza was developed by a team of scientists at the Victorian College of Pharmacy at Monash University in Melbourne. The team was led by Mark von Itzstein in association with the CSIRO. Relenza was discovered as a part of the Australian biotechnology company Biota's project to develop antiviral agents via rational drug design.
*2000 - Wi-Fi* - Using the mathematical formulas known as Fourier transforms, John O'Sullivan, Graham Daniels, John Deane, Diethelm Ostry and Terry Percival, working under the CSIRO and another organisation, Radiata, developed the first wireless transfer of data in a local area network. 
*2002 - Scramjet* - On July 30, 2002, the University of Queensland's HyShot team (and international partners) conducted the first ever successful test flight of a scramjet. This test was conducted at the rocket range in outback South Australia called Woomera.
*2003 - Blast Glass* - A ballistic and blast resistant glass system was invented by Peter Stephinson. Unlike conventional bullet proof glass it incorporates an air cavity to absorb the shock wave of explosions, and was effective in protecting the Australian Embassy in the Jakarta bombings of 2004.

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## Mikester

Looking at the original list by country, the list for Britian looks really small. I've read a couple of books recently and was absolutely amazed at what was invented / discovered there. I would suggest that as Britian is the country most responsible for the modern world we live in , the list could almost be greater than the rest combined

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## Maciamo

> Looking at the original list by country, the list for Britian looks really small. I've read a couple of books recently and was absolutely amazed at what was invented / discovered there. I would suggest that as Britian is the country most responsible for the modern world we live in , the list could almost be greater than the rest combined


Actually I have had to size down the contributions of each country and stick to the most useful and everyday-use inventions (I think that Bud's list of Australian inventions illustrates what I am trying to say). But it is certainly true that proportionally to their national population British people invented more than any other country on Earth.

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## Reinaert

Sorry, but not true. The British are the greatest copy cats in the world, and after them the Americans, the Japanese and the Chinese.

If the British are so great inventors, why can't they build a reliable car?
Name me one other English product on the European market!

Ok, they invented the microwave for radar purposes.
But they had to steal German supplies to get radar turn round and round. 

The modern microwave oven is an offspring of that invention, but the British were standing aside.

It makes little sense to invent something, and never profit from marketing it.

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## Mikester

> Sorry, but not true. The British are the greatest copy cats in the world, and after them the Americans, the Japanese and the Chinese.


Are you for real. I'll leave someone else to defend the americans and our friends in Aisa, surely you don't believe that statement about the British. So all the multiple inventions that allowed the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions to happen were copied. So the fact the British have by far more Nobel prize winners per capita than anyone else was because they copied someone else. 

Lets look at the humble flushing toilet invented by a Brit, but I guess they may have copied someone. It went like this

1) Some Brit saw some german, french or belgian cave man digging a hole - great idea lets do that
2) The first modern flushing toilet was built by Joesph Bramath in 1778 (although Queen Liz 1 had one but it was a novelty) - but it didn't work that well - sometimes it backfired, and it stunk. It never really caught on
3) In the 1840/50s along came a Brit called Thomas Crapper (yes that was his name  :Wary: ) who came with up two great little features. The elevated water cistern for flushing, and the U-bend pipe that gave us the water trap at the bottom, and more importantly stopped the smell from coming out

My point is that things develop overtime and its hard to state anyone person invented the whole concept without copying someone else along the way.

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## Mikester

> If the British are so great inventors, why can't they build a reliable car?


Sad but probably true when it comes to mass production. But they do build some great elite cars - for example the Aston Martin. I'm not a F1 follower, but I think a lot of the top racing teams are based in the UK - so they do have some talent




> It makes little sense to invent something, and never profit from marketing it.


Yes the Brits have lost there way somewhat when it comes marketing their inventions. It can be strongly agued the first electronic computer was invented in the UK (based on code breaking devises), and the World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee who gave it to the world for free). But beyond that the Americans have taken computers to another level and most people think the americans invented it all

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## DavidCoutts

> As a historical rule of thumb: *If a Scot* didn't invent it, then the Chinese did.


Fixed that for you. No need to thank me. :Grin:

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## Reinaert

> Actually I have had to size down the contributions of each country and stick to the most useful and everyday-use inventions (I think that Bud's list of Australian inventions illustrates what I am trying to say). But it is certainly true that proportionally to their national population British people invented more than any other country on Earth.


Well, you'd better say the English could and did "nick" more than any other people on Earth.  :Laughing: 
BTW, there is no British people. There are English, Welshmen and Scots. 
The Irish aren't even British at all!

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## cycle

Penicillin - Sir Alexander Fleming
Television - John Logie Baird
The lucifer friction match - Sir Isaac Holden
The Refridgerator - William Cullen
Radar - Robert Watson-Watt
Steam Engine - James Watt
Bicycle - Kirkpatrick MacMillan

Now admit it Reinaert you wear clogs and like sniffing tulips.

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## ultralars

germany > usa

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## ultralars

People don't credit the islamic countries inventions, as they are basic. But without most of the ground stones that those early inventions act as, would the modern country really invent so much as we had?

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## bertrand

Maciamo,
How does a new thread get to the top of the list? I just posted one but it is lost in the boonies....
Shouldn't the last contributed thread get to the top of the list?
By the way, congrats on this site... very good and a lot of great info. You probably spend most of your time on it.

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## Mzungu mchagga

@bertrand
For some reason the section 'History&Civilisations' is sorted by thread-rating and not by thread start time. You can change this below in 'Thread Display Options'. 
But me aswell would be glad if this could generally be changed to thread start time from the beginning.

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## bertrand

ok, thank you!

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## Vallicanus

> Fixed that for you. No need to thank me.


 I'm afraid modern inventions come from lands other than Scotland or China.


In 2003 patents issued simultaneously in the USA, Japan and Europe gave:

USA - 37pc
Japan - 26pc
Germany - 14pc
France - 5pc
UK - 4pc
Others - 14pc

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## Reinaert

> I'm afraid modern inventions come from lands other than Scotland or China.
> 
> 
> In 2003 patents issued simultaneously in the USA, Japan and Europe gave:
> 
> USA - 37pc
> Japan - 26pc
> Germany - 14pc
> France - 5pc
> ...


Sorry, but these figures don't say anything about the quality, only about the quantity.

For instance this British patent for a dog carrier.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djj_pictures/4178848145

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## crudshoveller

A few British inventions to add to the list are the vending machine, caterpillar tracks, the artifical hand, the heavier than air flying machine and golf. 
One false discovery attribution seems to be Edward Jenner's smallpox innoculation. He was preceeded in the endeavour by Benjamin Jesty of Dorset (whose work was later acknowledged by some award), by the Welsh doctor Wright, by the American Cotton Mather, by attempts at perfecting the method in Germany, Denmark, Holland, Italy and France, plus, naturally, the Chinese, who were already trying this method of averting smallpox in the millenum BEFORE the last.
Jesty and Wright had also both commented that it was well known by country people that if cowpox could be induced in an individual that person would generally become immune to smallpox. Jenner just seems to have picked up the ball and run with it.
You can say that inventions come along in their proper time, but I find it interesting how some original ideas and unexpected inventions arose at precisely the same time in places far apart, whose inventors had proceeded upon their own lines of enquiry in isolation and were unaware of other investigations - the 'theory of evolution' from Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin is one, Walsharts and Heusinger steam locomotive valve gear is another, the theory of heredity is another.

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## DavidRojer

Bundle of thanks for this sharing and information.That is really useful and let me tell you one thing that please stay in touch and keep sharing because i have remembered this information here and want to know more.

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## Brink28

> Well, you'd better say the English could and did "nick" more than any other people on Earth. 
> BTW, there is no British people. There are English, Welshmen and Scots. 
> The Irish aren't even British at all!


If anyone in Great Britain 'nicked' inventions it was the Scots. The English were the ones that gave away inventions like STDs at the end of the world.

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