70 Inventions Made in America - Great US Inventions

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)

There are a lot of inventions made in America. list of American inventions is significant and great. United States inventors accomplish a lot of magnificent inventions purely made in America. In this article, I am going to talk about inventions made in America.

Inventions made in America

Keep reading to find inventions made in America. You may find the African American Inventors interesting.

List of American Inventions 1801-1994

Here is a summary list of American Inventions

1801 – James Finley invented the modern Suspension Bridge
1853 – George Crum invented potato chips
1856 – Gail Borden invented condensed milk
1879 – Thomas Alva Edison invented the electric light bulb
1885 – George Eastman invented the photographic film
1887 – Emile Berliner invented the disc record
1887 – Thomas Alva Edison invented the phonograph
1861 – Richard Gatling invented the machine gun
1885 – William Le Baron Jenney invented the skyscraper
1897 – William Morrison and John C Wharton invented cotton candy
1894 – William C Hooker invented the mousetrap
1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright invented the airplane
1905 – Frank Epperson invented the ice pop
1912 – Lester Wire invented the electric traffic light
1926 – Robert H Goddard invented liquid fuel rocket
1929 – Sam Foster created sunglasses
1929 – Clarence Birdseye created frozen food
1930 – Ruth Wakefield made chocolate chip cookies
1937 – Edwin Land created polarized sunglasses
1937 – George Stibitz invented the modern-day digital computer
1938 – Wallace H Carothers invented nylon
1939 – General Motors invented the fully automatic transmission for automobiles and was introduced by Oldsmobile and Cadillac.
1945 – Percy Spencer created the microwave
1945 – J. Robert Oppenheimer invented the nuclear bomb
1950 – Frank X McNamara and Ralph Schneider created the credit card
1950- Marion Donovan invented the disposable diaper
1954 – Hyman Rickover invented the nuclear submarine
1956 – Ernest G Rice invented the Pantyhose
1958 – Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit
1960 – Forrest Parry invented the magnetic stripe card
1960 – Theodore H Maiman invented the first laser
1962 – Nick Holonyak Jr invented LED lighting
1965 – Jack Russel invented the compact disk
1965 – Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar
1968 – Tom Kelly made the lunar module
1969 – Gary Keith created the laser printer
1970 – Robert Maurer, Peter Schultz, and Donald Keck invented the fiber optic cable
1971 – John Blankenbaker invented the personal computer
1971 – Ray Tomlinson sent the first email using Arpanet
1973 – Dr Martin Cooper and his team developed the first mobile
1981 – George Mueller created the first space shuttle
1982 – The internet Protocol Suite was founded by the US National Science Foundation.
1994 – The USA air force created the GPS

50 Great inventions made in America

1. Alabama: The Electric Hearing Aid

Inspired by his friendship with a person who had to grow to be deaf and mute after a childhood case of scarlet fever, Miller Reese Hutchinson spent 4 years at Alabama Medical College, researching and making an attempt time and time once more to develop the first transportable listening to assist. This is one of the vital US industrial revolution inventions.

He finally succeeded in 1898, terming his invention the “Akouphone”—which, most importantly, gave his pal the prospect to listen to once more.

And for some more modern-day innovations, do not miss 25 Brilliant New Inventions That Will Make Your Life So Much Easier. This is one of the mind-blowing US inventions.

2. Alaska: The Kayak

Alaskans did not initially invent the kayak for a leisurely afternoon of paddling down the river—these streamlined vessels had been designed hundreds of years in the past by the area’s native folks as a solution to higher hunt sea otters, seals, and even whales.

And to learn the way Alaskans have a good time at the top of a profitable searching season, take a look at The Weirdest Summer Tradition in Every State.

3. Arizona: The Taser

When he wasn’t engaged in sending astronauts to the moon, NASA nuclear physicist Jack Cover developed the first Taser, which he patented in 1974. Cover derived the title for the Taser from his childhood fascination with Tom Swift adventure tales, terming his invention the “Thomas Swift Electric Rifle,” or Taser for brief.

Years later, entrepreneurs contacted Cover about creating the Taser as a “nonlethal self-protection device” for civilians, thereby birthing Taser International, which relies on Scottsdale, Arizona. This is one of the mind-blowing list of American inventions.

4. Arkansas: The Bowie Knife

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, the legendary escapades of Jim Bowie within the early nineteenth century impressed the creation of what’s now often known as the Bowie knife, characterized by its long blade and double-edged point.

5. California: Google

In the mid-’90s, two Stanford University graduate college students named Larry Page and Sergey Brin debuted their world-class Internet search engine that has now come to be often known as Google—at the moment a close to the universal time period, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

But get this: the first iteration of Page’s and Brin’s search engine was named “Backrub.” It’s, um, in all probability for the most effective the 2 determined to go together with a distinct title for his or her last product.

6. Colorado: OtterBox

We’ll admit that this invention is not essentially essential to life as we all know it—however this extremely resilient, waterproof, crush-proof, smash-proof, drop-proof, accident-protecting case, launched by a Fort Collins start-up in 1998, is usually an actual lifesaver, particularly when you do not have to dish out a number of hundred {dollars} to buy a brand new cellphone each time your teenager drops theirs (or yours).

7. Connecticut: Vulcanized Rubber

This invention may not obtain a whole lot of title recognition, however, it’s utilized in objects which might be in all probability fairly acquainted to you, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America. This is one of the mind-blowing American industrial revolution inventions.

Products like pencil erasers, life jackets, and gloves are all doable as a result of within the 1840s, Charles Goodyear found the key to vulcanizing rubber, a course that he named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fireside, in reference to its technique of strengthening the rubber in order that it will probably face up to excessive temperatures.

8. Delaware: Kevlar

Kevlar, in any other case often known as the fabric in bulletproof vests, was created by chemist Stephanie Kwolek in 1965.

She truly initially meant for the fabric for use as a light-weight, but sturdy, the fiber in vehicle tires, however shortly realized that it may produce other lifesaving applications.

9. Florida: Air Conditioning

With the coastal humidity Floridians like to hate, the truth that this state was the first to provide you with an air-con system actually is not shocking, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

A physician by the title of John Gorrie first got here up with the thought in 1841, when he imported large quantities of ice from northern lakes right down to Florida, with a purpose to cool his sufferers’ sickrooms.

He would go on to experiment with the growth of gases to additional refine the method of air-con.

10. Georgia: The Cotton Gin

The cotton gin: you already know, the machine that revolutionized cotton manufacturing and manufacturing because the world knew it, accelerating the tempo at which it was doable to separate cotton seeds from cotton fiber.

A man by the title of Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin whereas engaged on a Georgian plantation in 1794. This is one of the mind-blowing American inventions 1800s.

11. Hawaii: The Surfboard

It is sensible, proper? The Aloha State has been perfecting the craft of browsing the waves for lots of years.

Ancient Hawaiians seen the follow of discovering their stability on the board as a type of distinctive religious ritual—a possibility to respectfully commune with the immense energy of the ocean.

12. Idaho: The Television

Okay, properly not fairly. Technically, the first blueprints for the tv had been drawn up on a high school chemistry classroom blackboard in Idaho by Philo Farnsworth within the early 1900s—however, he did not truly invent the gadget till 1927 when he had relocated to San Francisco, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

13. Illinois: The Transistor

Within the tight confines of a Chicago resort, William Shockley paced forwards and backward and scrawled on many scraps of paper earlier than lastly creating the first junction transistor in 1948.

For these of you who aren’t as electrically savvy, a transistor switches electrical indicators on and off.

The unique machine so curiously resembled the form of two slices of bread with items of meat layered in between that it was also known as the “sandwich transistor”, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

14. Indiana: Voicemail

We’ve all been greeted by the pleasantly automated, “Please leave your message after the tone.” We have Indiana to thank for the unique messaging system that has made it doable for a missed name to look not fairly as fruitless.

Developed by a person named Scott Jones within the early ’90s, voicemail made the inventor rich sufficient to retire at the age of 31. This is one of the vital inventions of USA.

15. Iowa: The Tractor

In 1890, an Iowan farmer named John Froelich bought fed up with dragging his steam-powered thresher by way of the fields. This is one of the mind-blowing great American inventions.

He had the thought to connect a fuel engine to the thresher’s working gear and was amazed at how properly it labored—and so, the tractor firm that may later grow to be John Deere was born.

And in the event you occur to personalize certainly one of these machines, it is best to see how a lot you determine with the 15 Signs You’re a Country Person. This is one of the vital 18th century American inventions.

16. Kansas: The Helicopter

A tinkering mission became aviation historical past when Kansan Rex Maneval developed the helicopter in 1939. This is one of the vital American revolution inventions.

Though he was capable of resolve lots of the machine’s points, he by no means absolutely conquered the copter’s extreme vibration, and so by no means tried a free flight the place the machine wasn’t tethered to the bottom.

17. Kentucky: Bourbon

Rumor has it that the bourbon recipe had already been within the Samuels household for generations earlier than they opened the first bourbon distillery in Samuels Depot, Kentucky.

Today, the amber elixir is revered nationwide—a lot in order that in 2007, the U.S. Senate acknowledged September as National Bourbon Heritage Month.

18. Lousiana: Binocular Microscope

As a part of his research on yellow fever transmission, Tulane chemistry professor John Riddell developed the binocular microscope (the first microscope to permit researchers to look down on the slide utilizing each eye) in 1852, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

19. Maine: The Diving Suit

In 1834, the long-held aquatic dream of the human race (by which we imply the flexibility to spend greater than a handful of minutes at a time underwater without having to come back to the floor to gasp for lungfuls breath) was made an actuality with Leonard Norcross’ profitable invention of the first fully-enclosed diving swimsuit.

The swimsuit was crafted from rubber materials and included a helmet that was related by way of hoses to an above-water air provide.

20. Maryland: The Human Genome Map

A phenomenally groundbreaking stride within the realm of medication was taken right on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2001: the findings of the first mapping mission of the human genome had been revealed, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

In easy phrases, these findings lend a large quantity of perception into the acute complexities of human DNA (the human genome accommodates a staggering Three billion base pairs), permitting geneticists to raised perceive the make-up of our chromosomes and higher grasp the implications of genetically-transmitted ailments.

21. Massachusetts: Facebook

As Mark Zuckerberg introduced up when testifying to Congress this April about Facebook’s points with managing privacy and misinformation, this wildly popular social media platform was first developed in Zuck’s school dorm room—a Harvard University dorm, to be exact.

And for more on Zuckerberg’s dorm-room-project-turned-global-empire, learn up on the 15 Things You Don’t Know About Facebook, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

22. Michigan: The Ford Model T

Henry Ford’s classic vehicle, produced in large portions in assembly-line factories in Detroit and Highland Park, Michigan, grew to become the first car that was accessible to the on a regular basis, working-class American. Ford’s very first Model T cruised out of the manufacturing facility in 1908.

23. Minnesota: Post-It Notes

Sure, you would go away a digital word for yourself on your computer’s desktop, however, there’s one thing inherently more satisfying about ripping a Post-It Note off the stack, scrawling your self a word, and transferring it throughout your desk as obligatory—and that have is a reality because of the work of two scientists within the 3M Research labs, who developed the sticky-but-not-too-sticky product within the 1970s.

24. Mississippi: The Lung Transplant Technique

In what was then a revolutionary medical process, Dr. James D. Hardy carried out the very first human lung transplant at University Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1963, eradicating the lung from an affected person who had simply died from a coronary heart assault, and transplanting it into a person whose personal lung had been compromised by bronchial carcinoma.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, although the transplant affected person lived for less than 18 days following the process, a post-mortem discovered that he didn’t die of causes associated with the transplant—there have been no indicators that his body had rejected the lung.

25. Missouri: Ice Cream Cones

As state lore would have it, the first-ever ice cream cone was invented within the midst of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, when an exasperated, overworked ice cream vendor ran out of cups and requested his neighboring waffle vendor to roll up a few of his waffles so he may perch the scoops of ice cream on prime of them.

26. Montana: The Holter Monitor Test

Coined the Holter Monitor after its creator, Norman “Jeff” Holter, the Holter Monitor Test was developed in 1947 and served as a precursor to the modern-day coronary heart monitor.

Holter’s first gadget weighed an astonishing 85 kilos, however, he nonetheless performed an important function in paving the way in which towards the invention of at the moment’s way more conveniently-sized coronary heart monitor.

27. Nebraska: The Ski Lift

According to the New York Times, railway engineer James Curran had beforehand invented a wire-based system for transporting bales of bananas to numerous areas throughout a loading dock.

So when the proprietor of America’s first ski resort requested a snug system for transferring his company to the tops of the mountains, Curran took the essential ideas from his banana system and ran with the thought—creating what would come to be often known as the ski elevate in 1936.

28. Nevada: Blue Jeans

In 1873, Levi Strauss revealed an article of clothes that may come to be stapled merchandise in everybody’s closet for the century (and counting) to come back: the blue jean.

Back then, essentially the most monumental part of the jean was not its model, however, its practicality—Levi Strauss patented the thought of utilizing rivets on the “points of strain” in “men’s work pants,” which allowed the clothes to more durably face up to the wearer’s grueling working hours.

And for more on different items in our closets that made a mark on historical past, study the 23 Clothing Items That Changed Our Culture.

29. New Hampshire: The Washing Machine

Washboards and a superb scrubbing on the nearest river were once nearly as good because it bought within the laundry division, not less than till 1797 when inventor Nathaniel Briggs obtained a patent for “clothes washing.” This is one of the vital American inventions 1700s..

Unfortunately, not a lot is understood about Briggs’ unique design, because the patent workplace’s information had been later destroyed in a fireplace, however, it’s nonetheless protected to say that Briggs paved the way in which for the multi-setting, high-efficiency washers of at the moment.

30. New Jersey: The Lightbulb

That’s proper, the Garden State gave us the ability to harness electrical energy with a purpose to management gentle. According to Live Science, Thomas Edison’s laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, experimented with over 3,000 totally different designs for bulbs between 1878 and 1880 earlier than lastly alighting on the design that labored.

31. New Mexico: The Atomic Bomb

In a covert, $2 billion operations that may later come to be often known as the Manhattan Project, the world’s most good physicists and chemists undertook the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The bomb was efficiently detonated within the barren deserts of New Mexico in July 1945, releasing a blast with the equal energy of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.

32. New York: MRI

The idea of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or as most of us comprehend it, the MRI, was developed by Dr. Raymond Damadian in New York within the 1970s.

Damadian was ready to make use of the imaging system to efficiently determine cancerous tissues, and after receiving a patent for his “Apparatus and Method for Detecting Cancer in Tissue,” he went on to construct the first full-body MRI scanning system in 1977, which he proudly referred to as the “Indomitable.”

33. North Carolina: The Universal Product Code

According to the New York Times, within the early 1970s, an I.B.M. engineer named George Laurer was initially tasked with making a scannable code for meals merchandise within the form of a bull’s-eye—however, Laurer opted for a linear sample as an alternative.

He figured the stripes can be simpler to print onto the merchandise without smearing.

Today, Laurer’s invention is universally acknowledged because of the barcode, but he sadly by no means obtained any royalties for his handiwork. This is one of the crucial US inventions that changed the world.

34. North Dakota: The Kodak Camera

David Henderson Houston was meant to farm the North Dakota plains, however, he additionally had a penchant for tinkering. This is one of the crucial best US inventions.

In 1881, Houston filed a patent for his most up-to-date invention: the camera containing a roll of movie. Houston’s camera would go on to grow to be at the moment’s iconic Kodak camera.

35. Ohio: The Three-Color Traffic Signal

Garrett Morgan was a famed man for a number of causes: he was the first African-American man in Cleveland to personal a car, he was an energetic member of the NAACP, and he developed many curious innovations at a rapid-fire tempo.

Among his most notable contributions, although, was the three-color visitor’s sign, which he patented in 1923, revolutionizing driving as we all know it. And for more on the nation’s roadways, bone up on The Busiest Road in Every State.

36. Oklahoma: The Parking Meter

Though we would not assume parking can be an excessive amount of a problem in this midwestern state, it was the first to efficiently implement the idea of the parking meter. The state put in the first coin-regulated meter in Oklahoma City in 1935. This is one of the crucial list of US inventions.

37. Oregon: The Pendleton Blanket

Apparently, this thick wool blanket that options Native American-inspired designs was so wildly popular among the many locals when it debuted within the early 1900s that they determined to call a whole Oregonian city after it.

38. Pennsylvania: The Computer

The very first pc was something, however, “personal”—the mammoth of a machine, constructed on the University of Pennsylvania throughout the World War II period to carry out ballistics calculations for the U.S. army, weighed 30 tons and required nearly 2,000 sq. toes of ground house. This is one of the crucial most important inventions in US history.

And for more on the areas throughout the nation which have performed an integral function in shaping the material of our nation, do not miss The Most Historic Location in Every State.

39. Rhode Island: The Automatic Sprinkler System

Despite Rhode Island’s location proper subsequent to the swells and crests of Atlantic Ocean waves, the residents in Little Rhody, like all different locations, are nonetheless prone to the specter of the fireplace—as evidenced by Frederick Grinnell’s 1872 invention of the useful computerized sprinkler system, which detects smoke and rings (and rings, and rings, and rings…).

40. South Carolina: The Military Submarine

Making its first look throughout the Civil War, the H.L. Hunley, manufactured by the Confederate Army, has been dubbed the world’s first profitable fight submarine.

41. South Dakota: The Cyclotron

If you’ve got by no means heard the cyclotron introduced up in informal dialog—concern not, as a result of we have not both. Apparently, a South Dakotan invented this equipment that capabilities as a particle accelerator in 1932, offering a significant assist in the sphere of nuclear physics experimentation. And for more wonderful science that will not come to go, study the 20 Long-Predicted Technologies That Are Never Going to Happen.

42. Tennessee: The Tow Truck

The first tow truck was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when Ernest Holmes, Sr. devised a contraption of a pulley, three poles, and a series with a purpose to transport his pal’s Cadillac. This is one of the crucial greatest US inventions.

Today, you may not traverse any of our nation’s highways without catching a glimpse of the marginally more refined replacement of Holmes’ unique invention.

43. Texas: The Hand-Held Calculator

Nowadays, all it’s important to do to calculate your tip at a restaurant is discreetly pull your cellphone out of your pocket and faucet on the display screen a number of occasions—however, again in 1967, Texas’ Instruments’ unveiling of the brand new hand-held calculator was monumental.

44. Utah: Airbags

Though the idea of airbags had been within the works for a few long time, they weren’t a sensible element of vehicles till George Kirchoff arrived on the scene within the 1980s.

Kirchoff’s work with the Thiokol Corporation accelerated the velocity at which the luggage inflated whereas concurrently enhancing their detection system, making vehicles a lot safer than before.

And talking of protected driving areas, you would possibly need to keep away from The 50 Worst Cities to Drive-In.

45. Vermont: The Copper Coin

Actually, Vermont was the nation’s first native authorities to even set up a coin-producing mint.

But the Green Mountain State was additionally the first to roll out copper cash in 1785—setting the precedent for at the moment’s U.S. pennies that include Honest Abe.

46. Virginia: The Mobile Phone

Well, not precisely the one you are considering. In 1900, an inventor by the title of Reginald Fessenden positioned the first-ever “wireless telephone call” on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., essentially transmitting his speech by way of radio waves, and this is one of the greatest inventions made in America.

47. Washington: The Jumbo Jet

The Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, debuted the world’s first-ever jumbo jet in 1969—a large plane that was as tall as a six-story construction and will seat 374 passengers. Washingtonians started a fond farewell to the Boeing 747 when it retired in November 2017—the plane can now be visited at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

48. West Virginia: The Ladies’ Garland

As is memorialized by this beer can, the nation’s first print publication to concentrate on matters pertaining particularly to women’s pursuits was The Ladies’ Garland.

The journal was revealed in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, from 1824 to 1828, for a complete of 52 points.

49. Wisconsin: The Blender

The first liquefying machine to grace our grocery retailer cabinets hit the scene in 1922, all because of inventor Stephen Poplawski, who owned Stevens Electric Company.

Poplawski initially bought the blender to drug retailer soda fountains, with a purpose to assist within the manufacturing of one other Wisconsin invention: the malted milkshake.

50. Wyoming: The Garage Door Opener

That’s proper, of us, the Cowboy State’s most groundbreaking invention truly has nothing to do with lassos or saddles, however with contributing to the benefit of modern-day automotive life. Wyomingite Elmer Lovejoy invented the first storage door opener in 1918. This is one of the crucial all-American inventions.