Great Inventions of the 19th Century | Innovative technologies | Other innovative technologies

Various innovative technologies have empowered human society. Some of these inventions were immense and some were tiny, but all of them were important. Electricity is considered the backbone of any modern industrial society.

The 19th century had witnessed many great achievements in putting electric power, with its almost limitless potential, into service. The electric battery was invented as early as 1800. A few years later in 1821 the first electric motor was invented and successfully tested. But the greatest achievements happened towards the end of the century. In 1891 the first electric power station was built in the UK. The basis had been laid for endless practical applications of electricity including transportation, heating, lighting, communications and many others.

Some other smaller but no less significant innovations were introduced during this period such as telescopes, compasses and the fountain pen. The objects of common use are perhaps the best examples of how the innovations and the exchanges of ideas were absorbed by local historical traditions, giving life to an innovative cultural synthesis.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
RO 008Patent for the invention of the fountain pen with a replaceable ink cartridgeNational Museum of Romanian History25 May 1827Among the inventions of the 19th century, one of the most common objects in the world, the fountain pen with replaceable ink cartridge, was invented by the Romanian mathematician, engineer and pedagogue, Petrache Poenaru. He studied in France and obtained a patent from the French government.

FR 037Siever's patent pedestrian carriage for Ladies and GentlemenNational Library of France 19th century The 19th century also saw the invention of new and strange means of transport such as the bicycle. Like trains and the railways, these means of transport caught the imagination through prints and drawings. In France many similar prints and drawings were published throughout the 19th century.

PT 007Lisbon Astronomical Observatory1867 (first observations)Portugal joined the 19th-century trend of regarding technical progress as sign of development. The Astronomical Observatory responded to the need to study the world with the criteria of scientific knowledge and classification.

PT 090Travel notebook for meteorological observationsMaritime Museum1884PaperMeteorological, geographical and anthropological data were collected in notebooks. This notebook belonged to the Portuguese Commander Hermenegildo Capelo, who used it during an expedition to the interior of the African continent from Angola to Mozambique in 1884–85. The colony of Mozambique had an important Muslim community.

TR2 075BarometerIstanbul Railway Museum1888MetalThis barometer is one of the tools used on the new railways built in Turkey after the Crimean War.

MO 017Electric telegraph machineItisalat al-Maghrib Museum 1907During the reign of Sultan Mulay ‘Abd al-Aziz telegraph lines were introduced in Morocco.

UA 031Perpetual calendarSharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation / Sharjah Museums DepartmentHegira 1327 / AD 1909Nielloed silver, copper alloy, iron, wood, printed paper, printed textileThis object is a European calendar designed according to Ottoman, Armenian and Caucasian aesthetics. It displays innovations that entered deeply into everyday life reshaped and adapted in continuity with local artistic traditions.

PT 079Electrical command and control panel for Tejo Power Station I generatorsElectricity Museum1918Later in the 19th century, power stations generated electricity for public use. Electricity was a symbol of industrialisation and modernisation for every country.

TR2 071Morse transmitterIstanbul Postal Museum 1930MetalThe Morse transmitter continued to be crucial for the transmission of information, even after the invention of the telephone.

ET1 042A photo of the Dairy Laboratory at Fu`ad Agricultural MuseumBibliotheca Alexandrina16 January 1938 (Photo taken during the inauguration of the museum)Later in the 20th century, the application of technology to a wide range of sectors, among them agriculture,was common. The changes had been so deep that it was felt necessary to document traditional procedures and new technology and hygiene standards. Technical “progress” was still seen as the milestone in the advancement of the states.