Random Invention Generator

One press draws a real invention with its year, its inventor and a line on how it began.

Printing press1455, Johannes Gutenberg. By this year his press had printed the Gutenberg Bible.

Next step Draw a period of history to set it in Draw a historical event with its date

How it works

Press the button for one real invention, from the telescope to the computer mouse. Each card gives the year, the inventor and one line on how the thing began or what it changed.

Read the full guide

What the year means

A card that begins Patented gives the year its United States patent was granted, read from the patent record. The thing itself may be a few years older. Any other card gives the year the invention was first built, flown or shown.

Pick an era or a use

After your first press, a list under the button reads Any era. Choose Before 1850, 1850 to 1899, 1900 to 1945 or Since 1946. More filters, its last entry, adds Kind: At home, Transport, Medicine, Communication, Tools and machines, or Food and farming.

Tips

Report to write? Draw one card, then look the invention up and find out who else was working on the same idea.

Questions and answers

Are these ideas for things to invent?

No. Every card is a real invention to look up or report on. For something of your own to make, try the random project generator.

Why is one card missing its inventor?

Cards name only inventors who have died. An invention whose maker is alive gets its year and one line, with no name.

Did one person really invent each thing?

Rarely. Most inventions had several makers. A card names the people on the patent or the museum page we read, which is not a ruling on who came first.

How were the cards checked?

Each was checked on October 1, 2026 against its Wikipedia article and a second source: a patent record with the inventor's page at the National Inventors Hall of Fame, or a dated entry at On This Day.

All 103 inventions

Before 1850 14

Cotton gin 1794, Eli Whitney. It shaped the industrial development of the United States.
Hot-air balloon 1783, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier. Their first public flight carried no one and lasted 10 minutes.
Mechanical reaper 1834, Cyrus McCormick. It combined all the steps that earlier harvesting machines had done separately.
Parachute 1797, André-Jacques Garnerin. He made the first parachute descent from a balloon, over Paris.
Portland cement 1824, Joseph Aspdin. He patented it in Yorkshire, England.
Printing press 1455, Johannes Gutenberg. By this year his press had printed the Gutenberg Bible.
Safety pin Patented 1849 by Walter Hunt. The design he patented is still in use today.
Sewing machine Patented 1846 by Elias Howe. His machine proved five times faster than the swiftest hand sewers.
Steam locomotive 1804, Richard Trevithick. The world's first, it ran along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks.
Steamboat 1807, Robert Fulton. The world's first commercially successful steamboat.
Steel plow 1837, John Deere. The first successful self-scouring steel plow, built in Grand Detour, Illinois.
Telegraph Patented 1840 by Samuel Morse. Morse, once a portrait painter, turned to inventing and created the telegraph.
Telescope 1608, Hans Lippershey. He applied for a patent on it in the Netherlands.
Vulcanized rubber Patented 1844 by Charles Goodyear. He found it when rubber mixed with sulfur fell on a hot stove.

Show all 103 inventions (89 more)

1850 to 1899 37

AC induction motor Patented 1888 by Nikola Tesla. Its rotating magnetic field made alternating-current power a necessity.
Adding machine Patented 1888 by William Seward Burroughs. The first practical adding and listing machine for accountants.
Aluminum smelting Patented 1889 by Charles Martin Hall. A cheaper way to make aluminum that brought the metal into wide use.
Arc street lighting Patented 1878 by Charles Brush. His street lighting system soon lit cities around the globe.
Automatic engine lubricator Patented 1872 by Elijah McCoy. It oiled the engines of trains and other heavy equipment as they ran.
Automobile 1886, Carl Benz. He drove it in Mannheim and won a German patent that year.
Ballpoint pen 1888, John J. Loud. He took out the first patent for a ballpoint pen.
Barbed wire Patented 1874 by Joseph Glidden. His fence wire was essential to the settlement of the American plains.
Bessemer steel process Patented 1856 by Henry Bessemer. His way of making steel prompted a revolution in manufacturing.
Carbon filament Patented 1882 by Lewis Latimer. A more durable filament that made electric light affordable.
Cash register Patented 1879 by James Ritty. He invented it for his own business in Dayton, Ohio.
Celluloid Patented 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt. The first artificial plastic.
Crown bottle cap Patented 1892 by William Painter. The crown cap is still used on bottles today.
Diesel engine Patented 1898 by Rudolf Diesel. A heat engine that ignites its fuel by pressure.
Dishwasher Patented 1886 by Josephine Cochrane. The first practical dishwasher.
Elevator safety brake Patented 1861 by Elisha Otis. He did not invent the elevator. He made it safe, with brakes.
Ferris wheel 1893, George Ferris. The first one opened at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Film projector and camera 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière. They held the first commercial film screening in Paris.
Fountain pen Patented 1884 by Lewis Waterman. It made inkwells and dip pens obsolete.
Four-stroke engine 1876, Nicolaus Otto. The first practical alternative to the steam engine.
Gramophone Patented 1887 by Emile Berliner. The first record player to use disks.
Incandescent light bulb Patented 1880 by Thomas Edison. One of his many patents, with the phonograph and the film projector.
Linotype machine Patented 1885 by Ottmar Mergenthaler. It is regarded as the greatest advance in printing since movable type.
Motorcycle 1885, Gottlieb Daimler. His Reitwagen was the first gasoline-powered motorcycle.
Paper bag machine 1871, Margaret Knight. It cut, folded and glued flat-bottomed bags, doing the work of 30 people.
Pin tumbler lock Patented 1861 by Linus Yale Jr.. The basis for the modern key and tumbler lock.
Pneumatic tire Patented 1890 by John Boyd Dunlop. His air-filled cycle tire was the start of the modern tire industry.
Punched-card tabulator Patented 1889 by Herman Hollerith. His punch card machines revolutionized the counting of statistics.
Radio Patented 1897 by Guglielmo Marconi. He first sent signals through the air across his own house.
Railway air brake 1869, George Westinghouse. The air brake system made travel by train safe.
Railway telegraph Patented 1887 by Granville Woods. It let moving trains communicate with stations and with each other.
Shoe-lasting machine Patented 1883 by Jan Matzeliger. It revolutionized the shoe industry.
Sleeping car Patented 1864 by George Pullman. It improved the comfort of rail travel.
Steam airship 1852, Henri Giffard. The first powered and controlled flight of an airship, on steam.
Telephone Patented 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. It grew out of his research on improving the telegraph.
Transformer Patented 1886 by William Stanley Jr.. His induction coil became the prototype for all later transformers.
Typewriter Patented 1868 by Christopher Sholes. He introduced a keyboard layout similar to the one used today.

1900 to 1945 33

Adhesive bandage Patented 1926 by Earle Dickson. A cotton buyer's practical answer to an everyday problem.
Air conditioning Patented 1906 by Willis Carrier. His formulas and equipment made air conditioning possible.
Airplane 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright. The first powered, sustained and controlled flight of an airplane.
Bakelite plastic Patented 1909 by Leo Baekeland. A plastic that does not burn, cheaper and more versatile than others.
Electric starter Patented 1915 by Charles Kettering. The self-starter for automobile engines.
Electronic television Patented 1930 by Philo Farnsworth. His electronic inventions made today's TV industry possible.
Frequency hopping Patented 1942 by Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil. A secret communication system that hops between frequencies.
Gas-filled light bulb Patented 1916 by Irving Langmuir. A gas-filled incandescent lamp.
Gyrocompass Patented 1917 by Elmer Sperry. A gyroscopic compass for ships and airplanes, later used in spacecraft.
Helicopter Patented 1943 by Igor Sikorsky. The world's first true production helicopter.
Insulin for treatment Patented 1923 by Frederick Banting. Millions of people with diabetes owe their lives to it.
Jet engine 1930, Frank Whittle. He first thought of it in 1929.
Liquid-fuel rocket 1926, Robert Goddard. He flew the first rockets driven by liquid fuel.
Microwave oven 1945, Percy Spencer. He built a device to cook food with microwaves after work on radar tubes.
Mobile refrigeration Patented 1942 by Frederick McKinley Jones. Cooling on the move let fresh food travel much farther.
Non-reflecting glass Patented 1940 by Katharine Blodgett. It grew from her work on films one molecule thick.
Nylon Patented 1938 by Wallace Carothers. A synthetic fiber made in the laboratory.
Outboard motor Patented 1911 by Ole Evinrude. The first commercial outboard motors for boats.
Permanent wave machine Patented 1928 by Marjorie Joyner. A machine for setting a permanent wave in hair.
Portable vacuum cleaner Patented 1908 by James Murray Spangler. It revolutionized household carpet cleaning.
PTFE non-stick plastic Patented 1941 by Roy Plunkett. He discovered it while researching refrigerants.
Quick-frozen food Patented 1930 by Clarence Birdseye. His freezing methods created a new industry.
Safety razor Patented 1904 by King Camp Gillette. Disposable blades made shaving at home safer and more convenient.
Seaplane Patented 1916 by Glenn Curtiss. An airplane that takes off from and lands on water.
Stainless steel 1913, Harry Brearley. He made it in an electric furnace in Sheffield, England.
Superheterodyne radio receiver Patented 1920 by Edwin Armstrong. Most radio and television sets still use his developments.
Three-way traffic signal Patented 1923 by Garrett Morgan. A mechanical traffic signal with three positions.
Track-type tractor Patented 1907 by Benjamin Holt. He tested the first practical tractor on tracks in 1904.
Triode vacuum tube Patented 1908 by Lee de Forest. His audio amplifier carried radio forward.
Windshield wiper Patented 1903 by Mary Anderson. She had the idea while riding a trolley car on a snowy day in New York.
X-ray tube Patented 1916 by William Coolidge. His X-ray tube is popularly called the Coolidge tube.
Xerography Patented 1942 by Chester Carlson. Dry printing that led to the office copier.
Zipper Patented 1917 by Gideon Sundback. He made the zipper practical and a commercial success.

Since 1946 19

Artificial heart Patented 1972 by Willem Kolff. He also invented the artificial kidney dialysis machine.
Barcode Patented 1952 by Joseph Woodland. Technology for reading bar codes, now used across industry.
Computer mouse Patented 1970 by Douglas Engelbart. He invented it at the Stanford Research Institute.
CT scanner Patented 1976 by Godfrey Hounsfield. It built 3D images of the inside of the head.
Handheld mobile phone 1973. The first call was made in downtown Manhattan, New York.
Heart-lung machine 1953, John Gibbon. He used it for the first successful open-heart operation.
Hook-and-loop fastener Patented 1955 by George de Mestral. An efficient way to fasten fabrics and other materials.
Ice resurfacing machine Patented 1953 by Frank Zamboni. The machine that smooths the ice at a skating rink.
Implantable pacemaker Patented 1962 by Wilson Greatbatch. A small device placed in the body to keep the heartbeat steady.
Instant camera Patented 1951 by Edwin Land. One-step photography: a finished print straight from the camera.
Integrated circuit Patented 1964 by Jack Kilby. The monolithic integrated circuit is still widely used in electronics.
Laser Patented 1967 by Theodore Maiman. He built the first working laser.
Maser Patented 1959 by Charles Townes. A device that amplifies electromagnetic waves.
Medical respirator Patented 1962 by Forrest Bird. A little green box that patients knew as the Bird.
Scuba regulator Patented 1949 by Jacques Cousteau and Émile Gagnan. It transformed scuba diving.
Solid-body electric guitar Patented 1962 by Les Paul. A pioneering instrument that transformed popular music.
Streptomycin Patented 1948 by Selman Waksman. A powerful antibiotic that saved countless tuberculosis patients.
Three-point seat belt Patented 1962 by Nils Bohlin. It saves thousands of lives each year.
Transistor Patented 1950 by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. It replaced the bulky and fragile vacuum tube.

How this list was compiled: We chose these inventions and wrote every line ourselves, then checked each card on 2026-10-01 in two places besides our own reading. The first is the Wikipedia article for the invention or its inventor, which had to name the same inventor (and, for a year that is not a patent year, the same year). The second is one of two things. For most cards it is the inventor's page at the National Inventors Hall of Fame (invent.org), a museum that lists the invention and its United States patent number, together with the record of that patent at Google Patents, which gives the year the patent was granted: those cards begin Patented, and the year is the patent year, which can be a few years after the thing was first built. For the rest it is the dated entry for that year at On This Day (onthisday.com), or the year given on the inventor's Hall of Fame page. The short line about each invention follows the Hall of Fame page or the On This Day entry. A card names only inventors who have died; the one card for an invention whose maker is alive gives the year and no name. Weapons are left out, and so is any invention we could not confirm in two places, among them pasteurization and the phonograph. Where an invention had several makers the card names those on the patent or the page we read, which is not a ruling on who was first. Licence: own work