Invention

Inventor

Date

Remarks

Screw

Archimedes (Greek)

3^rd C B.C.

Fertilizer

Romans

B.C.

Tempering of Metal

Romans

B.C.

Cotton Clothes

Romans

B.C.

From Egypt

Weights and measures

Romans

B.C.

From Egypt

Lighthouses

Egypt

B.C.

Pharos of Alexandria

Bureaucracy

Romans

B.C.

Army Engineering

Romans

B.C.

Chain Mail

Gauls

1^st C B.C.

Glassblowing

Romans

1^st C A.D.

Province of Syria

Wooden Barrel

Germans

1^st C A.D.

Soap

Gauls

4^th C A.D.

Layered Steel

Germans

4^th C A.D.

Sewing of Clothes from various pieces

Germans

4^th C A.D.

(Eating) Fork

Byzantium

4^th C A.D.

Invention

Invented in

Date

Parallel or Reinvention
and additional Information

Animal Harness (Horse Collar)

Asia

1^st C

Europe 9^th C

Human Traction Trebuchet

China

1^st C

Counterweight Trebuchet

12^th C Arabia, 13^th France

Water powered machinery

China

1^st C

Franks (Romans) 6^th C

Number Zero

India

1^st C

Arabia 9^th C, Europe 13^th C

Cardanic Suspension

China

2^nd C

16^th C by Cardano (Italy)

Paper (as writing material)

China

3^rd C

Muslim Spain 10^th C

Wheelbarrow

China

3^rd C

Europe 12^th C

Stirrup

China

4^th C

Carolingians 9^th C

Toilet Paper

China

6^th C

First mentioned 589

Dikes

Low Countries

6^th C

Heavy Plow

Slavs

6^th C

Porcelain

China

7^th C

Dresden 18^th C

Printing with wood blocks

China

7^th C

Europe 13^th C; led to engraving and printing with movable type

Flamethrower

Byzantium

7^th C

First mentioned 674 (with Greek Fire); Greek Fire invented by Callinicus from Syria

Compass

China

8^th C

Europe 12^th C

Modern system of dating (B.C.-A.D.)

England

8^th C

Bede the Venerable

Spurs

Carolingians

9^th C

Gunpowder

China

9^th C

Late 13^th C : Roger Bacon (England) & Berthold Schwarz (Germany)

Paper Money

China

9^th C

800 in China

1601 Sweden

Lathe (for wood)

Europe

9^th C

Rotary Grindstone

Germany

9^th C

9^th C China

Soap Bars

Arabic Spain

11^th C

Soap as a Paste invented by the Gauls in 4^th C

Water Powered Clock

China

11^th C

1090 Su Sung “Cosmic Engine” (only one built)

Terrorism

Persia

11^th C

1090 Hasan ibn Sabbah founded the cult of the Assassins (Haschisch Smokers); mostly destroyed in the 13^th C by Mongols; modern day Ismailites (Leader is Aga Khan)

Cannons

China

12^th C

1128 first picture of bamboo cannon in China;

1327 first picture of cannon in Europe;

1331 first use in Siege of Cividale, Italy by two German knights

Rocket

China

12^th C

1180 as Rocket Artillery

Windmill

Persia

10^th C

Vertical Windmill;

1137 England Horizontal Windmill

Heraldry

France/England

12^th C

“Regimental Heraldry” with late Roman/early Byzantine Armies in the 4^th C

Municipal grammar school

European cities

14^th C

Reading, writing, arithmetic, Latin

Eyeglasses

Italy (Rome)

14^th C

1300 farsightedness only

Playing Cards

France/Germany

14^th C

1377 in the Rhine valley; design came from France

Clock (mechanical weight-driven)

Italy

14^th C

1309 Milan (astronomical clock); 1344 Padua first real timekeeping clock by Jacopo di Dondi; 1400 the first small household clocks; first machines entirely made of iron; at first no universal time, every city had its own time; In 1370 the King of France ordered all clocks in Paris to be synchronized

Commercial Banking

Italy

14^th C

The Family Medici of Florence

Double-entry bookkeeping

Italy

14^th C

Blast furnace

Sweden

14^th C

Styria, Rhine valley and Liege;

Blast provided by waterwheels

Cast iron

Sweden, Germany

14^th C

Possible through blast furnace

Canal locks

Low Countries

14^th C (late)

City of Damme

Plus and Minus sign

Germany

15^th C

1489 Johann Widmann

Deep Sea Diving with protective gear

Germany

15^th C

1425 first mentioned (with drawing of a Combat Diver with Mines)

Printing with Movable Type

Germany

15^th C

1450 Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz; in Korea 1300, but not successful and widespread

Typeface “Gothic”

Germany

15^th C

Possibly Gutenberg

Typeface “Roman”

Germany

15^th C

1465 by two German printers in Italy

Patent (legal protection of inventions)

Italy

15^th C

Venice

Perspective (in paintings)

Italy

15^th C

Also in Flemish paintings

Typestyle “Italic”

Italy

15^th C

After 1465

Beer

Bavaria

16^th C

1516 Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria issued the “Purity Law” – Beer has to consist only of Hops. Barley and Water; law still valid in Germany today

Equal (=) sign

Europe

16^th C

Pocket watch

Germany

16^th C

1510 by Peter Heinlein, Nürnberg

Gregorian Calendar

Rome

16^th C

1582 Pope Gregor XIII.

Division sign

Europe

17^th C