Great Idea Finder
Great Idea Finder: Invention of the First Typewriter
A review of the history of the typewriter and a description of the first practical one invented by Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel Soule.
Great Idea Finder
The Great Idea Finder: Refrigerator
This site provides a brief overview of the invention of the refrigerator.
PBS
Pbs: Technology at Home
Travel back in time to find out when everyday items such as a computer, radio, or telephone first appeared in homes. You can also connect to links about the people who invented these items.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Telephone and Light Patent Drawings
A lesson plan about Alexander Graham Bell's patent for the telephone and Thomas Edison's patent for the electric lamp. Contains good background information and historically pertinent documents. It also discusses the role corporations...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: People and Events: Alexander Graham Bell
This PBS American Experience page provides a biographical survey of Alexander Graham Bell's life and inventions.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: The Telephone
The home page to the PBS feature film on the invention of the telephone. The People and Events section has biographies and commentary on the invention of the telephone and its subsequent success. Be sure to click on Gallery for pictures...
PBS
Who Made America? Alexander Graham Bell
From a PBS series, They Made America, comes this biography of Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone. Read about his development of the telephone and research into the sound.
PBS
Outline of the History of the Transistor: Lee De Forest
Part of a larger site about the history of the transistor, this brief biography of Lee de Forest, the inventor of the audion, includes a QuickTime movie that shows how it worked.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Guillermo Marconi
This site chronicles the father of wireless communication. Examines his life and how his accomplishments affected both society and warfare.
Other
American Artifacts: The Imaginative Inventor
Just for fun. A website with a list of strange inventions by would-be entrepreneurs. Click on any to see a picture and description of the device.
Other
Black Inventor Online Museum: Lewis Latimer
The biography of the fascinating African-American inventor, Lewis Latimer. In addition to finding out about his development of the carbon filament for the incandescent lamp, you can read about his expertise in patent law, his association...
Other
Black Inventor Online Museum: Jan Matzeliger
A very complete biography of African-American inventor, Jan Matzeliger, who developed the shoe-lasting machine. Read about the development of his invention, and see pictures of the machine and the patent drawing.
The Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute: A Century of Development
The Franklin Institute looks at the invention of the Brownie camera, which helped put photography into the hands of amateurs and allowed the middle class to take their own snapshots as well in the early 20th century.
Other
History of Telephone Sets: Graham Bell Invents the Telephone
A short summary of how Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) came to invent the telephone.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Inventor of the Week: Wallace Carothers
This site from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology contains information on Wallace Hume Carothers and his invention of nylon.
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: Inventors & Inventions From the 1700s
Use this site to learn more about early inventors and inventions from the 18th century. This web page offers text and images on various inventors and their inventions. You can also access information about inventors and inventions from...
Other
African American Inventors and Inventions: Elijah Mc Coy the Real Mc Coy
A brief biography of Elijah McCoy and a description of one of his inventions that made factory machinery run smoothly.
Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Invention Features: Lewis Latimer
Smithsonian site features the life and many accomplishments of Lewis Latimer, the famous African-American inventor.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Special Feature: Forgotten Inventors
This fascinating site from PBS features seven inventions from the 19th and 20th centuries, along with information about the men and women who created them. Click on one of the small photos to learn more, or scroll down through the...
Other
Hewlett Packard Executive Biographies
The executive biography of Bill Hewlett that is part of the Hewlett-Packard Company's web site.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries:industrial Drawings at the Smithsonian: Doodles & Drafts
Drawing is a key element in an inventor's skill set. When it comes to the working out of new ideas, inventors turn to pencil and paper. Mixing art and science, this exhibition site showcases a collection of industrial drawings that...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Libraries: Innovators Gallery
Who invented the tennis racket, Crayola Crayons or Tupperware? Smithsonian site invites users to explore the achievements of a variety of American innovators and inventors.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies
A fantastic resource where you can find biographies of historical figures. You can search by the person's name or by topics, such as Presidents, United States Leaders, Scientists, Inventors, Humanitarians, Explorers and Pioneers,...