Inventions

Computer keyboards are peripheral data input devices modeled after the typewriter keyboards era. Since the 1970s, computer keyboards have seen a notable transformation from the traditional paper tape and punched technology to interactions through teleprinters and keypunches. Facts About the Modern Computer Keyboard The development of the first modern computer keyboard was occasioned by the […]

5 Facts about Hard Disk  A hard disk contains numerous substances. Hard disk typically has limited spaces. The world’s smallest hard disk was invented in 2016 by Dutch scientists. Hard disks aren’t airtight. Hard drives can be easily passworded. Hard Disk History Hard disks, otherwise regarded as hard drives or disk drives, are magnetic disks […]

Most people know that the floppy disk was invented in 1967 by a team led by Alan Shugart at IBM. However, you can give its ideation and invention credit to Yoshiro Nakamatsu, a Japanese inventor. Floppy disks have been a crucial storage source at a time when there were no other options. The ideal storage […]

Five Facts about Dynamic Random Access Memory  Robert Dennard invented dynamic Random Access Memory in 1966 at IBM. Dynamic Random Access Memory is dynamic (or active) because it must be refreshed regularly, or the data stored in it will be lost. The most common type of RAM is dynamic random access memory (DRAM). DRAM as […]

3 Facts About the Thermionic Tube The Thermionic tube goes by many names, to include vacuum tubes, vacuum diodes, thermionic tubes, the Fleming valve, and kenotron.  While the device has many names, the actual device only has three components. The device heats electrons, gives them away at one end of the tube, and receives them […]

Modern-day display technologies continue to improve with each passing year, but throughout the mid-1900s, they didn’t really move an inch. While liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), and plasma screens dominate the industry in the 21st century, cathode ray tube (CRT) display technology is what used to be king. While this tech is […]

3 Facts about Compact Disc  Compact discs are 1.2mm thick with a diameter of 120mm. The Eagles 1976 album is the most sold CD ever, with over 38 million copies sold. The Visitors, an album by Abba, a Swedish pop group, was the first-ever created compact disc. Compact Disc History The first workable digital compact […]

3 Facts about Audion Vacuum Tube It was the original vacuum tube with a control grid among the anode plate and the cathode filament (in the shape of a bent wire). Lee De Forest adjusted the current between the filament and the plate using the control grid, resulting in the first functional electronic amplifier. Audion’s […]

Optical character recognition, often abbreviated as OCR, plays an enormous part in the text recognition software many of us rely on today through Adobe Acrobat, Google Drive, and the like. While most would assume that the ability to recognize and translate an image to text would be a modern-day invention based on some contemporary algorithm, […]

3 Facts about the Circuit The Integrated Circuit was technically developed and invented by three different individuals, all unaware of each other’s work. Geoffrey Dummer conceptualized the design, Robert Noyce was granted the first patent, and Jack Kilby’s application was being reviewed while the first patent was granted.  Integrated circuits differ from their predecessors in […]

5 Facts about Tabulating Machine Some significant facts about Tabulating machines are as follows. The tabulating machine was a counting machine used for the first for tabulating U.S. census data in 1890. Herman Hollerith invented the tabulating machine. It kept track of the number of cards that had a hole punched at a specific location. It […]

3 Facts about Mechanical Calculators The 17th century was the beginning of the history of mechanical calculators, the first machine being Pascal’s calculator, which was invented in 1642. The mechanical calculator was first invented after three years of research and 50 prototypes. In the 18th century, the first mechanical calculator that could perform a multiplication […]

Facts About the Pascaline Calculator  This was a calculating device invented in 1642. The calculator went through 50 prototypes.  The calculator was publicly presented in 1645. Blaise Pascal invented the machine to help his father complete tax computations more efficiently. Pascal was only 18 when he invented the calculator. Pascaline Calculator History Blaise Pascal invented […]

Victor Adding Machine – History of the Victor Adding Machine Co. Oliver David Johantgen (8 July 1875, Charleston, Indiana – 11 April 1932 in Evanston, Cook, Illinois) Victor Adding Machine Victor Adding Machine Co. was established in Chicago in 1918, with the chief designer (and one of the 3 owners) Oliver David Johantgen (1875-1932), an […]

Dalton Adding Machine James Lewis Dalton (1866-1926) (see biography of James Lewis Dalton) was a successful businessman and amateur mechanic from Poplar Bluff, Butler county, Mo. He was the owner of the largest department store in the Mid-West, member of Missouri legislature and District Deputy Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge of State of Missouri. […]

4 Facts About Curta Calculator Some major facts about the Curta calculator are as follows Due to its design and mode of operation were dubbed the “pepper grinder” or “peppermill.” Its apparent similarity to a particular hand grenade gained it the title “math grenade.”.  Before getting surpassed by the electronic calculators in the 1970s, Curtas […]

3 Facts about Winter’s Keyboard Adder  Winter’s Keyboard Adder is the first, and so far the only, mechanical calculator that was created and patented by a woman. Winter’s machine survived to modern times in the current form in which it was invented. Other original calculating machines did not continue as patented. Caroline Winter’s device was […]

Long before the hand-held calculators, there was the millionaire calculator machine—a large, clunky, and expensive mechanical machine that performed direct multiplications with only a single turn of a crank. Created in 1893 by Swiss engineer Otto Steiger and patented and marketed by Zurich’s Hans Egli company in 1895, the Millionaire Calculator Machine was the first […]

History of Computers and Computing, Mechanical calculators, 18th century, Victor Schilt’s keyboard adder Victor Schilt The calculating machine of the swiss clockmaker Victor (or Viktor) Schilt (1822-1880) was exhibited in 1851 at the Great exposition of the works of industry of all nations in Crystal Palace, London, and received an honorable mention and a bronze […]

3 Facts About the Saxonia Calculating Machine Over 12,000 Saxonia calculating machines were manufactured and sold from 1895 to 1914. The Saxonia was a device used in addition and multiplication of numbers. It had a movable accumulator enabling the calculator to perform complex multiplication and divisions effectively. The Saxonia calculator was later developed with a […]

History of Computers and Computing, Mechanical calculators, 18th century, Du Bois D. Parmelee’s key adder Du Bois D. Parmelee In 1850 Du Bois (Dubois) D. Parmelee from New Paltz, state of New York, received the US patent №7074, for a single column key-driven adding machine. This is the fourth (known to us) key-driven adding machine […]

3 Facts About the Tate-Layton Machine The Tate-Layton machine was largely based on the work of Thomas de Colmar and other 19th century arithmometers. Charles and Edwin Layton, founders of C. & E. Layton, were originally publishers. The design was largely unchanged from the 1883 version to the end of production in 1910. Tate-Layton Machine […]

Four Facts About Tito Gonnella’s Adding Machines Tito Gonnella invented a dial adder and keyboard adding machine. His keyboard adder made some improvements on the design and is known as one of the seventh keyboard-driven machines. He received a bronze medal at the 1851 London International Exhibition for his keyboard adding machine. Tito Gonnella is […]

4 Facts about the Arithmometer of Thomas de Colmar Thomas de Colmar’s arithmometer was the first commercially successful calculating machine. The inventor, Thomas de Colmar, was a contemporary of Charles Babbage, who created more complex and less commercially successful mechanical calculators. The arithmometer was capable of multiplication, three-digit inputs, and six-digit results. Also known as […]