Talk:List of United States inventions

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somebody needs to fix these links, i'm fixing a few, but i'm not doing a good job of it, but it's better than nothing 68.55.186.70 00:35, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Needs somebody to go through and check as I have found a number of items on this list that incorrectly attribute inventions to americans, when they were infact invented by others. I have deleted those I have found. Also some sources are needed especially for those items without a wiki article. 130.246.132.26 15:15, 20 December 2006 (UTC)


I am a little curious about the following inventions and WHY they are not listed:

  • First Steam-Powered Iron Clad Ship [The French built the first one... 87.113.20.144 21:37, 17 September 2007 (UTC)]
  • None-lighter than air aircraft flight (aka the airplane -- NOT the hot air baloon) [Lots of countries developed them at similar times, as with the lightbulb87.113.20.144 21:37, 17 September 2007 (UTC)]
  • Telephone [The telephone got a US Patent first because Bell happened to be in the 'States at the time. 87.112.10.240 08:00, 18 September 2007 (UTC)]
  • Vacuum tube [The first was built in the UK, though it didn't work...87.113.20.144 21:37, 17 September 2007 (UTC)]
  • Transistor (source of debate -- Lilienfeld or Shockley?)
  • Internet (ARPAnet - DoD) -- yes, it was American and no, I am not talking about the http/html protocol done by Lee.
  • First TCP/IP network
  • Non-lethal Heat Raygun (DoD)

The transistor had a lot of German input. It wouldn't really be accurate to call it "American." Ehinson56 21:14, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Lilienfeld had applied for three patents early on. However, there is no evidence that he ever created such a device. Yet some stuff I read indicates that he might have had created the device while in he US and Canada at a later time. This seems to be a source of debate at the moment.

I found no evidence that Thomas Blanchard, who invented a kind of lathe in 1818, was from Middlebury, Connecticut. Bradford E. Smith's compilation of vital records of Middlebury, Connecticut, lists no Blanchard among residents in Middlebury, and the United States Census records (<Ancestry.com) list no Blanchard in Middlebury from 1810 to 1930. Instead, he was apparently from Worcester County, Massachusetts (see other Web sites describing Blanchard such as <http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/machine_3.htm> and <http://www.americanprecision.org/hof2004pressrelease.html>. Robraff 05:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

this article read like it was copied straight from a badly written and researched did you know book.

[edit] Subjective by its nature

Listing inventions by nationality is fraught with issues, as people become subjective. Additionally many inventions were invented by groups, --172.203.154.49 21:30, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

There are many issues with coupling inventions with nationality. A lot of innovations, especially after world war 2 were made by various groups who moved around and latter in the century a lot of corporations had their R&D work done outside in many different countries. It would be better to list the most basic inventions with it's inventor, which can also be an issue since he or she may not identify with that particular nationality. User:guess4life 10:19 17 November 2007


[edit] Dubious claims - and developments not inventions

1801 Steam-Powered Pumping Station - What makes this different from Newcomen's or Watts engine, which were used for pumping 40-80 years earlier?

1888 Camera - Eastman was the inventor of photographic film, not of the camera.

1972 Calculator - Should read "electronic calculator"

1979 Human-Powered Flight - development - not an invention. And others had done similar - just not "done the prescribed course". And what about hot-air balloons? [And not to mention Gliders... They've been flying for centuries and are heavier-than-air. 87.112.10.240 08:05, 18 September 2007 (UTC)]

1981 Space Shuttle - development -not an invention

1990 Hubble Telescope - devlopment -not an invention

2000 Human Genome Project - Thats not an invention.

This needs a big clean up. And I am sure the list is only scratching the surface. --172.203.154.49 21:48, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

The Top Quark wasn't invented. It was discovered at Fermilab 5 years after it was predicted at CERN. Plus, I don't see how the Nuclear Submarine is an invention... Neither the Submarine nor the Nuclear Reactor was invented by United States' scientists. AND the Wright Brother's didn't invent the Aeroplane, A Brit flew a plane in New Zealand in 1902 (but crash-landed, hence not successful) and the French had tested designs too. The Aeroplane was invented by many nations, the Brothers just completed a flight and landing first. 87.113.20.144 21:31, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

1836 Revolver - The Revolving Chambered Pistol was invented in London in the 1670's and featured a flintlock hammer, a single barrel and 4 rotating chambers. The six-shooter was also developed in the UK around 1810, but was still a flintlock and was nowhere near as sophisticated as the first American revolvers of 25 years later. 87.112.10.240 08:14, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

1988 Graphic User Interface Apple creates the first modern GUI. Not so: Xerox PARC got there first.

[edit] Irrelevances

" American inventors have made many advances since the 18th century. This is a list of key American inventions[citation needed]. " - This bit needs getting rid of altogether. It's totally irrelevant and simply serves to inflate American egos. 87.113.20.144 22:11, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

I had much fun reading this article, claiming inventions as "UNITED STATES INVENTIONS" even when they were made before the US were founded :-) so much propaganda ... --84.141.37.44 (talk) 17:38, 10 June 2008 (UTC)