The Great Geek Manual

1841
The first steam-powered fire engine in the United States is tested in New York City.

1884
The first long-distance telephone phone call is made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by branch managers of the American Bell Telephone Company over the first copper phone lines. The new copper lines offer greater attenuation of the signal than the standard galvanized iron lines, which were used in the 1881 connection of Boston and Providence. However, while sound is carried satisfactorily over the line, maintaining a clear connection over long distance will remain extremely difficult into the turn of the century. The cost of a connection between the two cities will be two dollars during the day and one dollar during the night. New York and Philadelphia will be connected in 1885. Atlanta and Chicago will be connected in 1890, and New York and Chicago will be connected in 1892.

1893
American Bell Telephone Company places the first long distance telephone call to its branch office in New York.
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1841
The first steam-powered fire engine in the United States is tested in New York City.

1884
The first long-distance telephone phone call is made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by branch managers of the American Bell Telephone Company over the first copper phone lines. The new copper lines offer greater attenuation of the signal than the standard galvanized iron lines, which were used in the 1881 connection of Boston and Providence. However, while sound is carried satisfactorily over the line, maintaining a clear connection over long distance will remain extremely difficult into the turn of the century. The cost of a connection between the two cities will be two dollars during the day and one dollar during the night. New York and Philadelphia will be connected in 1885. Atlanta and Chicago will be connected in 1890, and New York and Chicago will be connected in 1892.

1893
American Bell Telephone Company places the first long distance telephone call to its branch office in New York.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

1885
The first commercial motion-picture film is manufactured by the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in Rochester, New York. It is the first film produced in continuous strips on reels.

1895
Charles Francis Jenkins receives a patent for The Phantoscope, an early motion picture projector that enlarges film images for group exhibitions. (US No. 536,569) It will first be demonstrated at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia in October. Armat will later sell the rights to his invention to Thomas Edison, and Edison use the device as the basis of the Vitascope projector.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

1885
The first commercial motion-picture film is manufactured by the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company in Rochester, New York. It is the first film produced in continuous strips on reels.

1895
Charles Francis Jenkins receives a patent for The Phantoscope, an early motion picture projector that enlarges film images for group exhibitions. (US No. 536,569) It will first be demonstrated at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia in October. Armat will later sell the rights to his invention to Thomas Edison, and Edison use the device as the basis of the Vitascope projector.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

1655
Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, using a simple telescope with magnification of fifty, and subsequently determines the period of its revolution. The moon will be named two centuries later.

1857
Frederick Laggenheim takes the first photograph of a solar eclipse.

Leon Scott de Martinville patents the Phonautograph, the first machine to record sound, twenty years before Thomas Edison invents the first Phonograph. However, unlike the later phonograph, the device is able to record sound but unable to play it back. As such, the phonautograph will become well-known among scientists but will remain a scientific instrument used in the study of sound waves. Read more about the history of phonautograph.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

1655
Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, using a simple telescope with magnification of fifty, and subsequently determines the period of its revolution. The moon will be named two centuries later.

1857
Frederick Laggenheim takes the first photograph of a solar eclipse.

Leon Scott de Martinville patents the Phonautograph, the first machine to record sound, twenty years before Thomas Edison invents the first Phonograph. However, unlike the later phonograph, the device is able to record sound but unable to play it back. As such, the phonautograph will become well-known among scientists but will remain a scientific instrument used in the study of sound waves. Read more about the history of phonautograph.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

1883
The first long-distance telephone service between Chicago and New York City is inaugurated.

1898
An automobile is sold for the first time in history.

1930
The planet Pluto is officially named. The name was suggest by a eleven year-old girl named Venetia Burney from Oxford, England. The name was selected from three suggestions by a unanimous vote of the members of the Lowell Observatory. The other two possible names were “Cronus” and “Minerva.” Read more about the history of Pluto.
Read the rest of this entry » » »

1883
The first long-distance telephone service between Chicago and New York City is inaugurated.

1898
An automobile is sold for the first time in history.

1930
The planet Pluto is officially named. The name was suggest by a eleven year-old girl named Venetia Burney from Oxford, England. The name was selected from three suggestions by a unanimous vote of the members of the Lowell Observatory. The other two possible names were “Cronus” and “Minerva.” Read more about the history of Pluto.
Read the rest of this entry » » »