What was invented first, matchstick or the cigarette lighter?
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Dude, in the beginning was the match, and then came the cigarette, and only then came the cigarette lighter ! I quote from the Wikipedia :\nMATCHES : \nA predecessor of the match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur, was developed in China as early as in 577 AD.\nThe first modern match was invented in 1805, by K. Chancel, assistant to Professor L. J. Thénard of Paris. The head of the match consisted of a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar, and rubber. They were ignited by dipping the tip of the match in a small asbestos bottle filled with sulfuric acid. \nThis kind of match was quite expensive and its usage was dangerous, so Chancel's matches never gained much popularity.\nThe first friction match was invented by English chemist John Walker in 1827. Early work had been done by Robert Boyle in the 1680s with phosphorus and sulfur, but his efforts had not produced useful results. Walker discovered a mixture of antimony (III) sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch could be ignited by striking against any rough surface. Walker called the matches 'Congreves', but the process was patented by Samuel Jones and the matches were sold as 'Lucifers'. \nThe early matches had a number of problems -- the flame was unsteady and the initial reaction was disconcertingly violent; additionally the odor produced by the burning match was unpleasant. The smell is described as a "firework"odor. Despite these problems, the new matches were responsible for a marked increase in the number of smokers. Lucifers reportedly could ignite explosively, sometimes throwing sparks at a considerable distance.\n...In 1831, Frenchman Charles Sauria added white phosphorus to remove the smell. These new matches had to be kept in an airtight box but were popular. Unfortunately, those involved in the manufacture of the new matches were afflicted with "phossy-jaw" and other bone disorders, and there was enough white phosphorus in one pack to kill a person. There was a vociferous campaign to ban these matches once the dangers became known.\nIn 1836, János Irinyi of Hungary replaced potassium chlorate with lead oxide and obtained matches that ignited quietly and smoothly.\nAnd at last, the safety match was invented in 1836 by the Hungarian János Irinyi who was a student of chemistry. In 1836 an unsuccessful experiment by his professor, Meissner, gave Irinyi the idea to replace potassium chlorate with lead dioxide in the head of phosphorous match. He dissolved phosphorus in water and shook it in a glass foil, until it became granulated. He mixed the phosphorus with lead and gumiarabicum, poured the paste-like mass into a jar, and dipped the pine sticks into the mixture and let them dry. When he tried them that evening, all of them lighted evenly. Irinyi thus invented the "noiseless" safety match and sold the invention to István Rómer, a match manufacturer. Rómer, a rich Hungarian pharmacist living in Vienna, bought the invention and production rights from Irinyi, the poor student, for 60 Forints. The production of matches was now fully underway. István Rómer became rich off Irinyi's invention, but Irinyi himself died poor and abandoned in Vértes.\nCIGARETTE LIGHTERS : \nHand-rolled cigarettes hit the US, UK and Europen markets, in the 1880s. But machine-made and mass-produced cigarettes became popular only around 1915. \nWith cigarettes gaining in popularity, came the need for a slick method for lighting them. The Zippo Manufacturing Company was founded in 1932 by George G. Blaisdell, who developed the first-ever 'Zippo' cigarette lighter in late 1932.
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Edison invented the light bulb. It was a bit of inspirational genius that took many tries before he got it right. The idea was good but putting in all the effort to make the idea work was how the inspiration became genius.
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Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life in the 20th century. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and can therefore be credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Some of the inventions credited to him were not completely original, but alterations of earlier patents (most famously the light bulb), or were actually the work of his numerous employees. Nevertheless, Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,097 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
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If you look at this site, you'll find out about the flashlight, as it's called in the United States.\n\nhttp://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story014.htm\n\nIt says, in part:\n\nAlthough a flashlight is a relatively simple device, its invention did not occur until the late 19th century because it depended upon the earlier invention of the electric battery and electric light. Conrad Hubert received a US patent in 1903 , number 737,107 issued August 26, for a flashlight with an on/off switch in the now familiar cylindrical casing containing lamp and batteries. \n\nInvention: flashlight in 1902  \nDefinition: noun / flash·light, flashlight, flash-light \nFunction: a small portable battery-powered electric lamp, typically flashlight consists of a small electric light bulb with associated parabolic reflector, powered by electric batteries, and with an electric power switch \nPatent: 737,107 (US) issued August 26, 1903 \n \nInventor: Conrad Hubert (aka Akiba Horowitz)   \nCriteria: First practical. Modern prototype. Entrepreneur. \nBirth: April 15, 1856 in Minsk, Russia \nDeath: 1928 \nNationality: American (of Russian decent) \n \nThere's a timeline of facts pertinent to the flashlight there as well.
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Telephone-Bell\nTelevision-Zworykin's adaptation of the cathode-ray tube emerged as the basis for modern televisions.\nlight bulb-Edison
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Invented by Sylvester Poon in 1897, first known as arsewipes\nbut didn`t sell so changed name one year later.
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Dr. James Naismith invented it.\n\nGeorge Mikan was the star who helped popularize it
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Edison did not invent the electric lightbulb, which was pioneered by Heinrich Goebel in 1854. Goebel's lamps lasted up to 400 hours, but he did not patent them. Other light bulbs were created by James Woodward and Matthew Evans (patented in 1875) and equipped with carbon filament by Joseph Swan in 1878. However,it was Edison's relentless and endless experimentation that made the lightbulb a practical, commercial proposition. He purchased the 1875 patent and had a team of developers try many alternative materials and thus was eventually able to prolong the burning time in 1879.\nOn November 21, 1877 and he demonstrated the device for the first time on November 29 (he patented it on February 19, 1878).  , Edison invented the phonograph.\nEdison patented the Kinetoscope on August 31, 1887.
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i like the one where you make a fist and then stick up the middle finger.. works great in traffic!
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Thomas Edison - would test over and over and over...and find 100 things that did not work.....think of the light bulb..and I think you will see the light!.....along with  about a thousand other things called inventions!
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It was invented in 1954.
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Let There Be Light" -- The flashlight was invented in 1898, and the biblical quote of "Let There Be Light" was on the cover of the 1899 Eveready catalog.\n\nThe original owner of the American Eveready Battery Company, Joshua Lionel Cowen, abandoned the hardware company to pursue his real passion of trains. Cowen was an inventor of sorts; he developed a fuse to ignite photographic flash powder. Though the invention failed in its intent, the U.S. Navy bought up the fuses to use with underwater explosives.\n\nCowen next came up with an idea for a decorative lighting fixture for potted plants: a metal tube with a light bulb and a dry cell battery that could run the light bulb for 30 days. He passed the idea along to one of his Eveready salespersons, Conrad Hubert, along with his company. Hubert turned the metal tube, light bulb and battery into the world's first flashlight, and began selling the batteries and the flashlight, together and as separate items.\n\nHubert became a multi-millionaire, Eveready became a huge company, and Joshua Lionel Cowen finally achieved the success he really wanted: he was the person who invented toy trains in 1900. As happened with the fuses and the flashlight, Cowen was actually trying to invent something else when he invented toy trains. He originally intended to create a store window display, a battery powered  toy car that travelled on a circle of track. People wanted to buy the display more than the real merchandise for sale. Cowen started Lionel Model Trains.
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Johann Vaaler invented the first paperclip.  It was patented in 1901.  Similar designs  were created by William Middlebrook and Cornelius Brosnan.
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Oliver Lodge\n\nPatented Invention: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_spark_plugs.htm\n\nAlso Edmund Berger (but he didn't patent)
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#1) Garrett Morgan of the United States realized the need to control the flow of traffic.  A gifted inventor and reportedly the first African American to own an automobile in Cleveland, Ohio, he invented the electric automatic traffic light.\n\n#2) Dr. Charles Richard Drew (1904-1950) was an American medical doctor and surgeon who started the idea of a blood bank and a system for the long-term preservation of blood plasma (he found that plasma kept longer than whole blood). His ideas revolutionized the medical profession and have saved many, many lives.
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pinto , that was my first car . yellow station wagon with wood grain on the sides .
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The invention of the incandescent light bulb has a history spanning from the early 1800s. Until that time, available light sources consisted of candles, oil lanterns, and gas lamps. \n\nIn 1809, an English chemist, Humphrey Davy, started the journey to the invention of a practical incandescent light source. He used a high power battery to induce current between two charcoal strips. The current flowing through the two charcoal strips produced an intense incandescent light, creating the first arc lamp. \n\nIn 1820, Warren De la Rue made the first known attempt to produce an incandescent light bulb. He enclosed a platinum coil in an evacuated tube and passed an electric current through it. The design was based on the concept that the high melting point of platinum would allow it to operate at high temperatures and that the evacuated chamber would contain less gas particles to react with the platinum, improving its longevity. Although it was an efficient design, the cost of the platinum made it impractical for commercial use.\n\nThe invention of the light bulb is usually attributed in Britain to Joseph Wilson Swan and in the United States to Thomas Alva Edison(and his asstant Timothy) (the first to market the device successfully). Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin independently developed an incandescent light bulb in 1874. Many others also had a hand in the development of a practical device for the production of electric light.