Invention Gallery

Cooke-Wheatstone telegraph, 1837

Cooke-Wheatstone telegraph. 19th-century diagrams showing several variations of the electric telegraph patented in 1837 by British inventors William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone. This simple telegraph was installed on early railway lines. At lower right is the Davy telegraph (1838) by British inventor Edward Davy. Diagram from 'Traite de telegraphie electrique' (1849) by French Catholic priest and physicist Francois Napoleon Marie Moigno (1804-1884).

© KING'S COLLEGE LONDON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Crewe Station started service on 4 July 1837 with the opening of the Grand Junction Railway

Crewe Station started service on 4 July 1837 with the opening of the Grand Junction Railway. The purpose of this railway was to link the four largest cities of England by joining the existing Liverpool and Manchester Railway with the projected London and Birmingham railway. The line, which was the first long-distance railway in the world, ran from Curzon Street railway station in Birmingham to Dallam in Warrington, Cheshire, where it made an end-on junction with the Warrington and Newton Railway, a branch of the L&M.
At the time of opening Crewe only had 70 residents.

© TopFoto.co.uk

Life indicator for coffins patent, 1882

Life indicator for coffins patent, 1882. Artwork of a device designed by John Krichbaum to save a person accidentally buried alive. The person would rotate a set of handles connected to a periscope like device while a dial visible above the surface revealed the movement. A more forceful upwards push allowed air to enter the coffin. Such 'safety coffins' were a common invention at the time owing to a fear of unintentional live burial. There are no known reports of such devices actually saving an accidentally buried person.

© US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY