While it may seem like 3D printers, electric cars, and Altoids are all things of the recent past, the stories behind these innovations are decades, if not centuries long. Just ask our parents, grandparents, and in some cases, great-grandparents who saw drones in warfare ran over linoleum floors and lit up a cigarette without a match.
From fax machines to vaccines, here are 17 'modern' inventions that afre way older than you think.
1
The first UAV was used in battle in 1849.
2
“The fact that the fax machine was invented in [the mid 1800s], Lincoln died in 1865, and samurai’s were still around in 1868, meant that Abraham Lincoln could have sent a fax to a Samurai.”
3
“The abacus could fairly be considered a calculator and was in use a couple thousand years BCE.”
4
“The electric motor was first invented in 1832.”
5
The first modern vending machines date back to the early 1800s in London.
6
“Running water. Go back to 1850 and it didn't exist. There were outhouses or if you lived in a major city such as New York, you used a chamber pot and just threw your urine and feces out the window to fall into the streets below. But go back 2,000 years and the Ancient Romans had running water. Clearly it was invented long ago but for some reason we lost that technology until the late 1800’s.”
7
“The first electric street lights were installed in [1880]”
8
The first vaccine was given in 1796, after Dr. Edward Jenner discovered that people who became sick with cowpox developed an immunity to smallpox.
9
Linoleum was first created in [1860], and was a very common flooring during Victorian [and] Edwardian periods.
10
The first 3D printer dates back to 1981
11
The Microwave was patented in 1945.
12
“Da Vinci invented the contact lens in the 16th century. Obviously not the modern version of it, but he laid the groundwork to correct people's vision through a lens.”
13
“A random small one: Altoids. They were invented three years before the U.S. became a recognized country, in 1780.”
14
The Pythagorean Theorem dates back to the days of ancient Babylon circa 1900 B.C.E.
15
Ancient Roman carts employed brakes, bearings and elastic suspensions.
16
The first electric car was invented in Germany in 1888
17
The cigarette lighter predates the match. The lighter was invented in 1823, whereas the match was invented three years later in 1826.
![“The fact that the fax machine was invented in [the mid 1800s], Lincoln died in 1865, and samurai’s were still around in 1868, meant that Abraham Lincoln could have sent a fax to a Samurai.”](https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/2024/09/19/060847/87604996/Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 6.05.56 PM.jpg)
![“The first electric street lights were installed in [1880]”](https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/2024/09/19/060841/87604991/Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 6.01.08 PM.jpg)
![Linoleum was first created in [1860], and was a very common flooring during Victorian [and] Edwardian periods.](https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/2024/09/19/060838/87604989/Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 5.57.28 PM.jpg)
