1698
11 Aug 1698

George Brown

George Brown (1650-1730) is a Scottish arithmetician and dissenting minister, known primarily for the invention of an arithmetical instrument, called Rotula Arithmetica—a very simple and not very successful calculating device for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It seems Brown invented Rotula Arithmetica sometime in the 1690s, as in 1698 he..Read More

1709
04 Apr 1709

Giovanni Poleni

In 1709 the young professor of astronomy, meteorology, and mathematics and Marquis of the Holy Roman Empire Giovanni Poleni published his first book—Miscellanea, a small collection of dissertations on physics (it was a sort of doctoral thesis to obtain the University appointment). Miscellanea includes dissertations on barometers, thermometers, and conical..Read More

1714
07 Jan 1714

Henry Mill

The history of the modern computer keyboard (an input device, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers) begins with a direct inheritance from the invention of the typewriter. So, who was the genius, who invented the typewriter (and why the hell the layout of..Read More

1725
14 Jun 1725

Basile Bouchon

The first industrial application of a (semi)-automated machine was made in the early eighteenth century (at the beginning of the 1720s) by a modest textile worker from Lyon, France, named Basile Bouchon. asile Bouchon, working in one of the many silk centers in Lyon (starting in the 16th century, Lyon..Read More

04 Jul 1725

Lépine

The Machine Arithmetique of Lépine (sent for approval to l’Academie Royale des Sciences in 1725) was firstly described in the 1735 book of Jean Gallon Machines et inventions approuvées par l’Academie Royale des Sciences, depuis son établissment jusqu’a présent; avec leur description (see Gallon description of Lepine). The machine of..Read More

1726
14 Jun 1726

Jonathan Swift

We don’t know if the venerable Ramon Llull had a sense of humor, and if he evinced it by designing the logical machine, described in his medieval Ars magna generalis ultima of 1305. But we can be quite sure, that more than four centuries later such a sense of humor was evinced..Read More

1727
24 May 1727

Jacob Leupold

In 1727, after the death of the German scientist and engineer Jacob Leupold was published the 8th volume of his encyclopedia Theatrum Machinarium. This volume, entitled Theatrum arithmetico-geometricum is the best-illustrated work on calculation and measurement published during the 18th century. It describes and illustrates the calculating devices and machines..Read More

02 Nov 1727

Anton Braun

When in 1724 the German mechanic Anton Braun (1686-1728) got an appointment as a mechanic and optician of the imperial court in Vienna, Austria, he started to design a calculating machine for the purposes of the court. Braun finished his work in 1727, producing a calculating machine of very good..Read More

1730
24 May 1730

Hillerin de Boistissandeau

In 1735 was published the first book of six volume set of Jean Gaffin Gallon—Machines et inventions approuvées par l’Academie Royale des Sciences, depuis son établissment jusqu’a présent; avec leur description, in which are described several calculating machines. In one of the books (Tome 4) was described the machine arithmetique..Read More

1734
02 Apr 1734

Jacques de Vaucanson

Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782) was a great French engineer and one of the significant inventors of the 18th century, who is primarily credited with creating the world’s first “true” robots in the early 1730s, as well as for creating the first completely automated loom, and the first all-metal lathe in..Read More

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