Great British Inventions

According to
Japanese research
40% of discoveries
originated from the
United Kingdom

Many of these British inventions have had an enormous impact on the world
imagine how different life would be today if Michael Faraday had not built the first simple electrical generator

if James Watt had not developed the steam engine
James Watt

Leading British author
Terry Deary has discovered
some other pretty spectacular
British 'firsts', some of which
have not been traditionally
attributed to the British

2003 - the Dayton & Montgomery County Public Library celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers invention of the first powered airplane

The first powered airplane
the Wright Brothers

1903 - the first successful
flight occurred at Kill Devil
Hills in Kittyhawk, North
Carolina

Brit Percy Pilcher designed a
powered triplane and built it in
1899

By the last day of September 1899, Pilcher's
powered triplane was very nearly
ready for flight, but on that day Pilcher was gliding in his "Hawk." His previously reliable "Hawk" suffered a structural failure, fell, and Pilcher died two days later. Pilcher's powered triplane was never flown.

Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb. He began his experiments in 1878 and by 1879 he made a working electric light bulb.

BUT…
Sir Joseph Swan of Newcastle announced that he had made a working light bulb in 1878

The first telephone message was made at 5 Exeter Place, Boston, Massachusetts on 10 March 1876
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell called to his assistant, “Come here, Watson, I want you”

But … Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He moved to Canada when he was 23 and only then migrated to the USA. He was British so Brits can rightly claim the telephone is a British invention

The submarine
1700s - David Bushnell
created the first usable
submersible,
christened “The Turtle”

It’s purpose was to sneak up on British ships in the American War of Independence and screw a mine into the wooden hull. Unfortunately when it tried to attack HM Eagle the submariners discovered the hull covered in copper. They couldn’t bore into it. The mine went off but the only victims were an unlucky shoal of fish.

1600s – there was an English submarine that was not only demonstrated but gave a test-ride to King James I

The design was created in 1578 by William Bourne, a mathematician