Invention

Whalley Viaduct - elegant engineering

This is a magnificent 48-span railway viaduct, crossing the River Calder close to the border of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It was built between 1846 and 1850 in a combination of red and blue bricks.

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Perkin's purple patch - the first mass-manufactured synthetic dye

Young London chemist William Perkin brought a new colour to the world in 1856 with the invention of a vibrant artificial purple. He was actually trying to create a completely different product ...

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The Torpedo - an Anglo-European collaboration led by Robert Whitehead

The first self-propelled, 'modern' torpedo, that has since become a staple weapon in naval warfare, was devised in 1866 by English engineer Robert Whitehead, working in partnership with an Austro-Hungarian Giovanni Luppis.

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The Reflecting Telescope

Devised by Isaac Newton in 1668, the reflecting telescope changed the field of astronomy forever. Instead of using several lenses as in a refracting telescope (such as the type Galileo created), a reflecting telescope uses mirrors to focus light.

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The jet age - begun by Frank Whittle

The invention of the jet engine revolutionised aviation. It began in Britain under military sponsorship in the 1930s and ’40s, all building on the original imaginative work by Royal Air Force airman Frank Whittle. Though it hardly featured in the Second World War, thereafter the technology began to become the key element of both civilian and military aviation.

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Britain's first drinking fountains - gifts of a Liverpool merchant

The first free drinking fountains in Britain were installed in Liverpool in the 1850s by Anglo-Swiss cotton merchant Charles Pierre Melly. Soon other cities, including London, were following his lead. Between 1750 and 1900 the population of Great Britain increased four and half times from 9 million to 41 million.

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The Scotsman who pioneered the hypodermic syringe

Manufactured in billions every year, the hypodermic syringe could arguably be the greatest medical device ever invented - especially in the context of the current global vaccination endeavour. A Scottish physician was a pioneer of this concept.

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Great Orme Tramway

The Great Orme Tramway in Wales is Britain's only surviving cable-operated street tramway, and one of the few street-running funiculars in the world.

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Pulteney Bridge - Bath's unique shop-lined river crossing

Pulteney Bridge crosses the River Avon in the city of Bath. Designed by neoclassicist architect Robert Adam in a Palladian style in 1774, it is exceptional in having shops built across its full span on both sides, one of only four bridges in the world with this characteristic. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.

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Sound thinking from David Hughes gave us the microphone

David Edward Hughes is generally acknowledged to have invented the first practical working carbon microphone in 1878, though other inventors were producing similar methods of amplification. A Welshman by birth, Hughes is believed to have been born in Corwen, north Wales in 1831.

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The Mechanical Shower

Of course, the idea of the shower has been around ever since the first person in need of a wash stood under a waterfall, but the first mechanical shower was patented in England in 1767 by William Feetham.

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The First ATM

It is widely accepted that the world's first ATM was installed at a Barclays Bank in Enfield Town, London in 1967. This was the product of John Shepherd-Barron and his team of engineers.

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The first Thames Tunnel - an engineering triumph

The pioneering Thames Tunnel connects Rotherithe and Wapping, underneath the River Thames in London. Built between 1825 and 1843 by father & son engineers Marc and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it is the first tunnel known to have been successfully installed beneath a navigable river.

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Calder Hall - the world's first commercial nuclear power station

Calder Hall at Sellafield, Cumbria, was the world's first and longest-serving nuclear power plant used for commercial electricity generation. Opened in 1956 and designed to last 20 years, it was operational for 47 years before closing in 2003.

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Ffestiniog Railway - pioneering Welsh slate mine link, now tourist delight

The Ffestiniog Railway is a narrow-gauge heritage railway in north Wales. It runs from Porthmadog on the coast to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, travelling through forested and mountainous scenery.

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Linoleum - the product that floored a nation

Not long ago, in most houses in Britain, you could find the ubiquitous product linoleum, familiarly known as lino. Lino's glory days are now over, but for around a century, it was the material of choice for kitchen and bathroom floors and other rooms where it was a cheaper alternative to carpet.

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Let There Be Light! - The Match struck first in Stockton

In 1826, John Walker, a chemist from Stockton, County Durham, finally solved the age-old problem of producing reliable and safe fire starters. Several chemical mixtures were already known which would ignite by a sudden explosion, but there was an obvious need for something a bit less tempestuous.

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The Lawnmower - a boon for Budding gardeners since 1830

Manicured lawns are an English tradition, though the perfect lawn was once the preserve of the very rich due to the tedious labour-intensive activity required to maintain it. Then the world's first lawnmower was developed by Edwin Budding from Stroud in 1830, apparently then regarded as such a bizarre contraption that he had to test it at night so no one could see it.

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Bell Rock Lighthouse - first to take on the cruel sea

The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, constructed at beginning of the 19th century, is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse - one built out at sea, often on a rock or reef.

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Growing Underground - the subterranean farm below South London

A glimpse, perhaps, of an industrialised farming future lies far below the surface of London. Out of reach from any fresh air and sunlight, the Growing Underground project uses innovative LED lighting to grow produce in a former World War II bomb shelter.

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The first picture show - London, 1896

The first public film shows in the UK to a paying audience took place in London in 1896. On 21st February that year, the Polytechnic Institute on Upper Regent Street near Oxford Circus hosted a display of the Lumière brothers' new moving-picture device, the Cinématographe.

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Pontcysyllte Aqueduct - dramatic pioneering canal crossing of the River Dee

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is an impressive navigable water course that carries the Llangollen Canal across the River Dee in the Vale of Llangollen in northeast Wales. The 18-arched stone and cast iron structure was completed in 1805 having taken ten years to design and build, to connect local industries to the main British canal network.

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Clayton & Bell - Victorian glass window makers

The London firm of Clayton and Bell was probably the most successful and prestigious stained glass window makers of the Victorian era.

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Collapsible Baby Buggy

Owen Maclaren, a former test pilot and designer of the Supermarine Spitfire undercarriage, was inspired to invent the collapsible baby buggy when his daughter visited from Moscow with his first grandchild.

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The telephone - ringing from America thanks to Scottish Bell

Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell patented his concept of the telephone in 1876, having emigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of 23 and much of his scientific work took place there and in the United States.

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The World Wide Web - a Briton's free gift to the world

The World Wide Web is generally acknowledged to have been invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee (pictured) whilst working at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory in Geneva. He also created the first website.

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The Thermos Flask - filling a vacuum

Sir James Dewar, a Scottish chemist and physicist at Oxford University, invented the first vacuum flask in 1892, which became the accepted way to keep hot and cold liquids at their original temperatures. Though it was not Dewar, but the professional glass blower he hired to help him to make it, who patented the invention himself and named it 'thermos'.

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The Tin Can - first made in England 1810

That ubiquitous and useful object - the tin can - came into existence remarkably early. English merchant Peter Durand patented the invention of the tin can for food preservation in 1810. It probably saved many a sailor's life in the Royal Navy, and, perhaps, sometimes killed them too ...

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The arrival of the domestic chimney in Britain

From the late Norman period onwards, the arrival of the chimney gradually changed both domestic architecture and social life.

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Edward Jenner and the invention of the vaccine

Englishman Edward Jenner is considered the founder of vaccinology in the West in 1796, after he inoculated a 13 year-old-boy with vaccinia virus (cowpox), and demonstrated immunity to smallpox. In 1798, the first smallpox vaccine was developed.

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999 - the world's first emergency telephone number

The world's first emergency telephone service was introduced on 1st June 1937 In London - allowing callers to dial 999 to make an emergency call to the police, fire or ambulance.

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Tarmacadam: an invention given an essential tweak

The tarmac that covers our roads is famously credited to the Scottish engineer and inventor John Loudon McAdam. However, county council surveyor Edgar Hooley is the man that pioneered the world’s first tarmac road in Nottingham.

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Cluedo - well-loved murder mystery game, born in Birmingham

Cluedo is one of Britain's best-loved board games. It was invented by Birmingham-born musician Anthony Pratt, who played piano in European country mansions during the interwar years, and observed guests play-acting dastardly crimes. He later came up with and patented his observations into Cluedo, which would become a global multi-million seller.

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The Modern Fire Extinguisher

The first fire extinguisher ever patented was in 1723 by English chemist Ambrose Godfrey. However, it is the superior device created by fellow Englishman Captain George William Manby in 1818 that is the ancestor of the modern fire extinguisher.

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The Steam Engine - first steps to the Industrial Revolution

Early experiments in steam power are recorded as far back as Roman Egypt in the First Century AD. However, the first practical patent for an atmospheric pressure steam engine was filed by Thomas Savery, an inventor from Devon, in 1698.

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John Taylor & Co. The largest bell foundry in the world

Since 1859, Loughborough Bellfoundry, home to John Taylor & Co bellfounders, has cast more than 25,000 bells hung in the cathedrals, churches, universities and public buildings of over 100 countries.

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John Logie Baird - TV pioneer

It's hard to believe, but television is still less than a hundred years old. Scottish engineer John Logie Baird gave the world's first demonstration of the concept before 50 scientists in an attic room in central London on 26th January 1926. His early experiments deploying quite crude mechanical picture transfer took place in the seaside town of Hastings in East Sussex and he wrote that his ideas came to him whilst walking in the hills beyond the town.

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Forth Bridge - Scotland's rivetting engineering triumph

The world's first major steel structure, the Forth Bridge across the Firth of Forth in Scoland, is a milestone in railway civil engineering. Completed in 1890 and designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, it is 2,467 metres long. It became Scotland's sixth UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, and its construction resulted in a continuous East Coast railway route from London to Aberdeen.

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The invention of traffic lights - but a long delay followed

The official birth date of the traffic light was 10th December 1868, where an installation was made at Parliament Square in London. The concept was invented by John Peake Knight – a railway manager from Nottingham – in response to numerous traffic accidents in the capital.

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The Toothbrush - Great result from a spell in jail

The toothbrush we are all familiar with today was invented sometime between 1770 and 1780 by William Addis. The idea came to him whilst in jail for causing a riot in Spitalfields.

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The Hovercraft - an idea that came out of the air

The Hovercraft, or more technically, the air-cushioned vehicle (ACV), was devised by English engineer Christopher Cockerell in 1953, but took many further years to bring to fruition, as his idea was then locked away by the British Government.

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Anderton Boat Lift - 'Cathedral of the Canals'

The Anderton Boat Lift is a unique industrial structure that solved a problem of getting canal barges between two different levels of waterway. The two-caisson lift lock near the village of Anderton, Cheshire was built in 1875.

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Ribblehead Viaduct - a Yorkshire engineering feat

The Ribblehead Viaduct carries the Settle–Carlisle railway across Batty Moss in Ribble Valley, Yorkshire. Completed in 1874, the 400 metre-long viaduct was built to tackle the route's challenging terrain.

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Flying research lab probes the atmosphere

The Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM), based at the Cranfield University campus alongside Cranfield Airport in Bedfordshire, conducts pioneering research about weather activities and air conditions with a specially equipped aircraft.

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Electric kettle - an innovative element of Birmingham enterprise

The first electric kettle was actually developed in the United States, but the idea was perfected in Birmingham by the creation of an innovative way of placing the heating element in the water.

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The Marine Chronometer - John Harrison's perfect timepiece

Once international trade began to flourish in the Age of Sail from the 16th century, a problem with navigation became pressing. Latitude (a ship's north-south position relative to the poles and the equator) could be reasonably determined by skilled navigators using a sextant, but longitude (the relative position east to west) was much more difficult.

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Home of the Chocolate Bar - Fry's of Bristol

The first solid chocolate bar came into our lives in 1847, the invention of JS Fry and Sons in Bristol, founded by Quakers. Then in 1866, the first mass-produced chocolate bar, Fry's Chocolate Cream, was launched.

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DNA Forensics - first used to catch a Leicestershire murderer

The use of DNA profiling and evidence has revolutionised the detection of criminals since its first use in Britain in 1985.

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The Scout Movement - British creation by Robert Baden-Powell

The Scouts youth movement is a British invention, created in August 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, a decorated soldier, talented artist and actor, who wanted to bring youngsters from different backgrounds together, with the opportunity to test their abilities and learn new skills.

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The electricity pylon

Electricity pylons (or towers) have been part of the British landscape for almost 100 years, but are often taken for granted despite being an important part of the nation's energy system and an iconic design achievement. The number of pylons in the UK is over 90,000.

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The glass age - begun with Pilkington's float process

The built environment in which we live today, with expansive glazed shop windows and construction epitomised by glittering glass high-rises like London's Shard, owes much of its existence to Sir Alistair Pilkington’s float process which made it far easier and cheaper to make high-quality glass.

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Robert Thomson - the Scotsman who first patented pneumatic tyres

The first patent for what became known as the pneumatic tyre was filed in 1847 by Scottish inventor and engineer Robert William Thomson, who also invented the fountain pen. Thomson produced his 'Aerial Wheels' some 43 years before John Dunlop’s re-invention of the air-filled tyre.

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Cat's Eyes - a bright idea from Yorkshire

A cat's eye (or road stud) is a retroreflective safety device, widely used in road markings, and invented by Yorkshireman Percy Shaw. It was patented in 1934, and was the first of a range of raised pavement markers from Shaw's company.

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Drawing the tourists - the Derwent Pencil Museum

The Derwent Pencil Museum is located in Keswick, Cumbria. It tells the story of graphite production and pencil-making, which was a major industry in the Lakeland area. The company behind the Keswick factory produced pencils for nearly 200 years, and this now continues in nearby Workington at a new premises. The museum houses what is said to be the world’s largest coloured pencil.

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Quorn - meatlike marvel from Marlow

The familiar meat substitute Quorn, now a global product, is a British invention, created by Marlow Foods in Buckinghamshire towards the end of the 20th century. It was first sold in 1993, after 10 years of evaluation.

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The Carting Lane Sewer Lamp - London's last methane burner

When the sewerage system upon which Londoners still rely was first put in place at the end of the 19th century, a series of street lamps were installed above to help with ventilation, and to burn off noxious fumes. One still remains on Carting Lane, just off the Strand, next to the Savoy Hotel.

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The First Factory: the Lombe Brothers Derby Silk Mill

Englishman John Lombe opened what is generally regarded as the first fully mechanised factory ever recorded in 1771 in Derby. It was built to manufacture silk, and resulted from a real life tale of espionage by Lombe when touring Italy, where he obtained the knowledge he needed of the best method for silk production.

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James Young - Scotland's pioneering oil baron

Perhaps surprisingly, Scotland was once the largest producer of refined oil in the world, and it even boasted the world's first commercial oil refinery - in Bathgate, West Lothian.

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Coade stone - Mrs Coade's wonderful building material

For about 50 years, from the 1770s, the streets and buildings of Britain were greatly enhanced by the decorative use of Coade stone, an artificial stone made to a secret recipe.

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The Met Office - producing the world's first daily weather forecasts

The Meteorological Office, usually known as the Met Office, has been going for nearly 170 years. Originally created as a service to mariners, the Met Office has also been crucial to military planning in two World Wars and provides an essential service to international aviation.

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