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What has capitalism done for you lately? The incomplete list of United States inventions.

Written on:April 6, 2011

Not everything in this list will be a direct result of capitalism. And in all fairness, the  United States is not the only capitalist nation around, especially not recently. Well, that’s another issue for another time. The point is that in the U.S. we have (or had) the  ability to benefit from, and do with as we please, whatever we create. We have also been able, for the most part at least, been able to keep the what we earn from our labor and intellectual property. That environment has led to a massive collection of inventions and innovations. we all benefit from capitalism, true free trade, and property rights.

So what’s your favorite innovation or invention? Is it on this list?

This list is surely incomplete and very much a work in progress, as I will be returning from time to time to update or correct it. If you find any errors or omission’s, please comment or contact me and I’ll fix or add it. For that matter, if you agree or disagree with my assertions here, comment and tell me why, I would love to know.

  1. Swim fins
  2. Octant
  3. Mail order (1744)
  4. Lightning rod
  5. Flexible urethral catheter
  6. Armonica (glass harmonica)
  7. Swivel chair
  8. Flatboat
  9. Bifocals
  10. Artificial diffraction grating
  11. Automatic flour mill
  12. Cracker
  13. Cotton gin
  14. Wheel cypher
  15. Rumford fireplace
  16. Suspension bridge (1801)
  17. Fire hydrant (1801)
  18. Burr Truss
  19. Self-propelled amphibious vehicle (the Oruktor Amphibolos)
  20. Vapor-compression refrigeration (1805)
  21. Coffee percolator
  22. Circular saw
  23. Dental floss
  24. Milling machine
  25. Profile lathe
  26. Detachable collar
  27. Graham cracker
  28. Platform scale
  29. Flanged T-Rail
  30. Electric doorbell (1831)
  31. Mechanical reaper
  32. Morse code
  33. Lock-stitch sewing machine
  34. Threshing machine
  35. Combine harvester
  36. Steam shovel
  37. Wrench (or spanner)
  38. Solar compass
  39. Electric relay
  40. Circuit breaker (1836)
  41. Self-polishing cast steel plow
  42. Corn sheller
  43. Sleeping car (railroad)
  44. Vulcanized rubber
  45. Howe truss
  46. Anesthesia
  47. Grain elevator
  48. Hand cranked ice cream maker
  49. Multiple effect evaporator
  50. Rotary printing press
  51. Pratt truss
  52. Maynard taoe primer
  53. Baseball
  54. Printing telegraph
  55. Doughnut
  56. Safety pin
  57. Gas mask
  58. Inverted microscope
  59. Fire alarm box
  60. Elevator brake
  61. Potato chips
  62. Clothespin
  63. Breast pump
  64. Condensed milk
  65. Equatorial sextant
  66. Rolled mass produced toilet paper
  67. Brown truss
  68. Pepper shaker
  69. Monkey wrench
  70. Mason jar
  71. Pencil eraser
  72. Vacuum cleaner
  73. Escalator
  74. Burglar alarm
  75. Twine knotter
  76. Ironing board
  77. Lever-action repeating rifle
  78. Twist drill
  79. Postcard
  80. Pin tumbler lock
  81. Machine gun (hand cranked)
  82. Breakfast cereal (1863)
  83. Ratchet wrench
  84. Roller skates
  85. Spar torpedo (1864
  86. Cowboy hat
  87. Web rotary printing press
  88. Restroom urinal
  89. Chuckwagon
  90. Motorcycle
  91. Paperclip
  92. Barbed wire
  93. Ticker tape
  94. Water-tube boiler
  95. Refrigerator car
  96. Paper bag
  97. Tape measure
  98. American football
  99. Pipe wrench
  100. Clothes hanger
  101. Rotary can opener
  102. Sandblasting
  103. Hand cranked mixer
  104. Diner
  105. Railway air brake
  106. Jeans
  107. Knuckle coupler (railroad)
  108. Earmuffs
  109. Fire sprinkler
  110. Ice cream soda
  111. Quadreplex telegraph
  112. Forstner bit
  113. QWERTY keyboard/typewriter layout
  114. Electric dental drill
  115. Mimeograph
  116. Synthesizer (1876)
  117. Airbrush
  118. Tattoo machine
  119. Phonograph
  120. District heating
  121. Carbon microphone
  122. Free jet water turbine
  123. Bolometer
  124. Cash register
  125. Oil burner
  126. Electric chair
  127. Metal detector
  128. Electric iron
  129. Christmas lights
  130. Electric fan
  131. Solar cell
  132. Thermostat
  133. Dissolvable pill
  134. Thermostat
  135. Machine gun
  136. Lap steel guitar
  137. Popcorn machine
  138. Photographic film
  139. Skyscraper
  140. Fuel dispenser (you know, the gas pump)
  141. Dishwasher
  142. Horizontal filing cabinet
  143. Telephone directory
  144. Slot machine
  145. Softball
  146. Gramophone record
  147. Comptometer
  148. AC motor
  149. Kinetoscope
  150. Trolley pole
  151. Drinking straw
  152. Stepping switch
  153. Revolving door
  154. Telautograph (like a fax machine but in 1888)
  155. Payphone
  156. Stop sign as it is today in much of the world;
  157. Tabulating machine;
  158. Babcock test, the first inexpensive test to determine fat content of milk
  159. Smoke detector
  160. Jackhammer
  161. Ferris wheel
  162. Dow process Herbert Henry Dow’s second revolutionary electrolytic process for generating bromine from brine
  163. Zippers
  164. Schrader valve (the valve universally used on tires around the world
  165. Bottle Cap
  166. Dimmer (ariable-voltage devices used for various purposes but primerily for lighting.
  167. The tractor (John Froelich invented and built the first gasoline/petrol-powered tractor in Clayton County, Iowa.
  168. Silicon carbide, or carborundum, a compound of silicon and carbon bonded together to form ceramics.
  169. spectroheliograph, an instrument used in astronomy that captures a monochromatic image photographic image of the Sun (at a single wavelength of light)
  170. Laxative
  171. Radio (or maybe not if it was really Marconi)
  172. Single-sideband modulation
  173. Frequency modulation
  174. Moustrap
  175. Vollyball
  176. Comic strip (but don’t put Muhammad in on or you might be killed)
  177. Cotton candy
  178. Muffler
  179. Charcoal briquette
  180. Remote control
  181. Semiautomatic shotgun
  182. Synthetic bristled hairbrush
  183. Vertical filing cabinet
  184. Installer bit
  185. Sousaphone
  186. Wing wrapping
  187. Airplane
  188. Autopilot
  189. Air traffic control (1929)
  190. Runway lighting
  191. Flight simulator (we invented fake-flying too)
  192. Flash lamp (camera flash)
  193. Merrill-Crowe process (technique for removing gold from a cyanide solution)
  194. Carbide lamp
  195. Thumbtack
  196. Key punch
  197. Mercury-vapor lamp
  198. Assembly line (arguably one of the greatest inventions of all time, Used globally with great impact on everything)
  199. Disposable safety razor
  200. Electric razor
  201. Radio direction finder
  202. Hearing aid
  203. Postage meter
  204. Teddy bear
  205. Mercury arc valve (ectrical rectifier whcih converts AC into DC)
  206. Air conditioning
  207. Collapsible periscope
  208. Wood’s lamp
  209. Windshield wipers
  210. Offset printing
  211. Round baler
  212. Fly swatter
  213. Architectural acoustics
  214. Batting helmet
  215. Dragline excavator
  216. AC power sockets and plugs
  217. Automatic transmission
  218. Ice pop
  219. Audion tube
  220. Suppressor (firearm silencer)
  221. Paper shredder
  222. Electrostatic precipitor (air cleaner)
  223. Paper towel
  224. Electric washing machine
  225. Electric mixer
  226. Skee ball
  227. Regenerative circuit
  228. Electric traffic light
  229. Electric blanket
  230. Exit now for fast food...

    Fast food restaurant

  231. Road surface marking
  232. Automobile starters
  233. Fortune cookie
  234. Traffic cone
  235. Supermarket
  236. Tow truck
  237. Condenser microphone
  238. Cloverleafe interchange (hiway)
  239. Toggle light switch
  240. Pop-up toaster
  241. Silica gel
  242. Blender
  243. Hydrualic brake
  244. Superheterodyne receiver
  245. Steam cipher
  246. Jungle gym
  247. Pneumoencephalography
  248. Dendrochronology (tree-ring dating)
  249. Radial arm saw
  250. Audiometer
  251. Neutrodyne
  252. Water skiing
  253. Flowchart
  254. Wirephoto
  255. Garage door
  256. Garage door opener
  257. Crystal oscillator
  258. Adhesive bandage
  259. Bulldozer
  260. Masking tape
  261. Catton swab
  262. Instant camera
  263. Earth inductor compass
  264. Moviola
  265. Radio altimeter
  266. Langmuir probe
  267. Power steering
  268. Drive through
  269. Liguid fuel rocket
  270. Bread slicer (possibly the greatest thing since sliced bread)
  271. Jukebox
  272. Garbage disposal
  273. Negative feedback amplifier
  274. Recliner (like your lazy-boy)
  275. Ice cube tray
  276. Bubble gum
  277. Iron lung
  278. Freon
  279. Tampon
  280. Sunglasses
  281. Particle accelerator (also 1929)
  282. Car audio
  283. Pressure sensative tape
  284. Tape dispenser
  285. Chocolate chip cookie
  286. Thermistor
  287. Bathysphere
  288. Electric guitar
  289. Strobe light
  290. Aerogel
  291. Golf carts (What would Obama do without these, walk?)
  292. Staple remover
  293. Peristaltic pump
  294. Radio telescope
  295. Drive-in theater
  296. Landing vehicle tracked
  297. Multiplane camera
  298. Impact sprinkler
  299. Trampoline
  300. Richter magnitude scale
  301. Franchising
  302. Black light
  303. Parking meter
  304. pH meter
  305. Gomco clamp
  306. Phillips-head screw
  307. EEG brain topography
  308. Programming languages
  309. Chair lift
  310. Bass guitar
  311. Photosensitive glass
  312. Digital computer
  313. Shopping cart
  314. Sunglasses (polarized)
  315. Blood bank
  316. Cyclamate
  317. Beach ball
  318. Fiberglass
  319. Xerography
  320. Nylon
  321. Teflon
  322. Soft serve ice cream
  323. VU meter
  324. Vocoder
  325. Fluxgate magnetometer
  326. Deodorant (this one is really important)
  327. Acrylic fiber
  328. Sold body electric guitar
  329. Corn dog
  330. Ames process
  331. Napalm
  332. Microwave over
  333. Cruise control
  334. Spoonplug fishing lure
  335. Cancer chemotherapy
  336. DEET
  337. Diaper (waterproof, modern baby diaper)
  338. Proton therapy
  339. Cloud seeding
  340. Transistor
  341. Defibrillator
  342. Acrylic paint
  343. Magnetic particle clutch
  344. Supersonic aircraft
  345. Hairspray
  346. Windsurfing
  347. Video game
  348. Cable television
  349. Flying disc (frisbee)
  350. Cat liter
  351. Radiocarbon dating
  352. Centrifugal clutch
  353. Compiler
  354. Crash test dummy
  355. Atomic clock
  356. Holter monitor
  357. Modacrylic
  358. Ice resurfacer
  359. Airsickness bag
  360. Artificial snow
  361. Credit card
  362. Leaf blower
  363. Hamming code
  364. Sengstaken-Blakemore tube
  365. Stellarator
  366. Portable ice chest
  367. Wetsuit
  368. Correction fluid (white-out)
  369. Airbag
  370. Polio vaccine
  371. Barcode
  372. Heart lung machine
  373. Marker pen
  374. Apgar scale
  375. Wheel clamp
  376. Wiffle ball
  377. MASER
  378. Carbonless copy paper
  379. Crossed-field amplifier
  380. Zipper storage bags (ziplock bags)
  381. TV diner (what good is a microwave without them?)
  382. Automatic sliding door
  383. Acoustic suspension loudspeaker
  384. Morgen clamp
  385. CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation)
  386. Synthetic diamond
  387. Radar gun
  388. Crosby-Kugler capsule
  389. Nuclear submarine
  390. Hard disk drive
  391. Operating system (computer, batch processing)
  392. Kart racing
  393. Fortran (programming language)
  394. Videotape
  395. Particle storage ring
  396. Skid-steer loader
  397. Wireless microphone
  398. Laser
  399. Confocal microscopy
  400. Sugar packet
  401. Air-bubble packing (bubble wrap)
  402. Boron nitride allotrope
  403. Gamma camera
  404. Cryotron
  405. Lisp programming language
  406. Carbon fiber
  407. Integrated Circuit
  408. Fusor
  409. Weather satellite
  410. Spandax (gee, thanks)
  411. Artificial turf
  412. Magnetic stripe card
  413. Magnetic stripe card reader
  414. Global navigation satellite system (US GPS is still the only fully functional one in existence)
  415. Combined oral contraceptive pill
  416. Obsidian hydration dating
  417. Gas laser
  418. Electronic spreadsheet
  419. Wearable computer
  420. Frozen carbonated beverage
  421. Biofeedback
  422. Communication satellite
  423. Chimney starter
  424. LED (light-emitting diode
  425. Electret microphone
  426. Jet injector
  427. Laser diode
  428. Glucose meter
  429. Computer mouse (human input device, HID)
  430. Lung transplantation
  431. BASIC programming language
  432. Balloon catheter
  433. Geosynchronous satellite
  434. Neutron bomb
  435. Plasma display
  436. Moog synthesizer
  437. 8-track cartridge
  438. Permanent press (fabric)
  439. Heart transplantation
  440. Carbon dioxide laser
  441. Liquid crystal display
  442. SQUID (superconducting Quantum Interference Devices-very sensitive magnetometers)
  443. Argon laser
  444. Adaptive equalizer
  445. Kevlar
  446. Hypertext
  447. Cordless telephone
  448. Space pen
  449. Minicomputer
  450. Compact disc
  451. Chemical laser
  452. Dynamic random access memory (DRAM, computer memory)
  453. Internal frame backpack
  454. Food bank
  455. Hand-held calculator
  456. Racquetball
  457. Virtual reality
  458. Bone marrow transplantation
  459. Lunar module
  460. Laser printer
  461. Bioreflective glass
  462. Widebody aircraft
  463. Taser
  464. Charge coupled device
  465. Mousepad
  466. Chapman Stick
  467. Markup language
  468. Wireless local area networks (Wireless LAN)
  469. Personal Computer
  470. Fuzzball router
  471. Superartificial airfoil
  472. Microprocessor (CPU)
  473. Floppy disc
  474. Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale
  475. E-mail
  476. String trimmer (weed eater)
  477. C-programming language
  478. Video game console
  479. PET scanner
  480. Personal watercraft
  481. E-paper
  482. Recombinant DNA
  483. Catalytic converter
  484. Mobile telephone (1973)
  485. Voicemail (1973, because now that you can have a phone all the time, you may not want to always answer it)
  486. Heimlich maneuver
  487. Post-it note
  488. Scanning electron microscopre
  489. Quantum well laser
  490. Universal product code (UPC barcode)
  491. Digital camera
  492. Ehternet (computer network)
  493. Compact fluorescent lamp (1976, damn I hate these things)
  494. Hepatitis B virus vaccine
  495. Gore Tex (waterproof, breathable fabric, makes great boots and coats)
  496. Human powered watercraft
  497. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  498. Chemical oxygen iodine laser
  499. Bulletin board systems (BBS)
  500. Polar fleece
  501. Fetal surgery
  502. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscope
  503. Space shuttle
  504. Internet
  505. Blind signature
  506. Laser turntable
  507. Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine
  508. Polymerase chain reaction
  509. Stereolithography
  510. Digital Micromirror Device
    YouTube Preview Image
  511. PERL
  512. Wheeled luggage
  513. Fused deposition modeling
  514. Tcl
  515. Ballistic electron emission microscopy
  516. Electron beam ion trap
  517. Nicotine patch
  518. Firewall (computer)
  519. Resin identification code
  520. ZIP file format
  521. Selective laser sintering
  522. Magnetic lock
  523. Optical space telescope
  524. Sulfur lamp
  525. Blog, weblog (1993)
  526. GPS (the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite
  527. System (GNSS) in the world)
  528. DNA computing
  529. Bose-Einstein condensate
  530. Screenless hammer mill
  531. Xtracycle
  532. nanoimprint lithography
  533. Scroll wheel
  534. JavaScript
  535. Flash Programming
  536. Low plasticity burnishing
  537. Bait car
  538. Mars rover
  539. DVR (Digital Video Recorder
  540. PageRank
  541. Virtual Globe (3D software model or representation of the Earth or another world)
  542. Torino scale
  543. Phase charge incubator
  544. Microwave Anisotropy probe
  545. Self balancing personal transporter (the segway)
  546. SERF (spin-exchange relaxation-free magnetometer)
  547. Fermionic condensate
  548. HPV Vaccine
  549. 3D Model rendering
  550. Shingles vaccine
  551. Trongs
  552. Nanowire battery
  553. Biometric contact lens
  554. Composite aircraft

One Comment add one

  1. SCOTT says:

    THIS IS GOOD

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