Joint Trench Pilot Process: Fill & Download for Free

Italo-Turkish War: the Italian Army deploy planes in a war for the first time in history.WW1: the Italian special forces “Arditi” storm enemy trenches using only knifes and grenades, conquering enemy positions in less than a hour. They are also the first soldiers in history to use a parachute to infiltrate behind enemy lines.The Navy special forces “MAS” used speedboats and human manned torpedoes (an Italian invention) to sneak inside enemy harbors and destroy Austrian ships. During the war, an Austrian fleet was ambushed by two MAS speedboats, that rushed between the destroyer screen and fired their torpedoes at an Austrian battleship, sinking it.WW2: the X Flottilla MAS use human manned torpedoes to sneak under enemy ships and place explosives. During the war they sank or disabled more than 20 enemy ships, including 2 battleships in a single raid (Raid on Alexandria (1941)).During the campaign in Africa 2/3 of the forces under Rommel command were Italians, and Rommel praised them several times:“The German soldier has impressed the world, however the Italian Bersaglieri has impressed the German soldier."During the 2nd Battle of Bir el Gubi 1400 Italians held against an assault of 20.000 Commonwealth soldiers.At the battle of El Alamein, the Ariete and Folgore divisions fought to the last man to cover the DAK retreat, Rommel wrote:“Enormous dust-clouds could be seen south and south-east of headquarters [of the DAK], where the desperate struggle of the small and inefficient Italian tanks of XX Corps was being played out against the hundred or so British heavy tanks which had come round their open right flank. I was later told by Major von Luck, whose battalion I had sent to close the gap between the Italians and the Afrika Korps, that the Italians, who at that time represented our strongest motorised force, fought with exemplary courage. Tank after tank split asunder or burned out, while all the time a tremendous British barrage lay over the Italian infantry and artillery positions. The last signal came from the Ariete at about 15.30 hours: "Enemy tanks penetrated south of Ariete. Ariete now encircled. Location 5 km north-west Bir el Abd. Ariete tanks still in action." [...] In the Ariete we lost our oldest Italian comrades, from whom we had probably always demanded more than they, with their poor armament, had been capable of performing.”In Tunisia the Italians were the last Axis force to surrender in Africa, fighting longer than any German unit.In East Africa the Italian forces, despite being isolated from Italy, managed to hold their colonies for more than one year, they even conquered British Somaliland in the process.In Russia, during the battle of Isbuscenskij, 700 Italians of the Savoia Cavalleria launched one of the last successful cavalry charges in history, defeating a force of 2000 Russians.During the Italian campaign the Italian resistance inflicted serious damage to the German operations in Italy, they even managed to liberate the city of Naples on their own.During the war the Italian army achieved other victories: 101 Italian WW2 victories & counting • Axis History ForumGulf War: the Italian Air Force support the US during their bombing raids. On the first mission, an Italian squadron of 7 Tornadoes took part on a joint operation with other 30 NATO fighters, the target was an enemy supply base in Kuwait City. Due to bad weather, only one Italian Tornado managed to complete the air-refueling, while the other 36 fighters were forced to abort. The Tornado pilots decided to proceed with the mission. Facing alone the AA defenses in the city, they were able to hit the target before being shot down. It was the only loss suffered during the 220 raids launched by the Italian Air Force during the Gulf War.Finally, people should remember that WW2 wasn't the only war joined by Italy.Italy fought in 9 wars, and won 7 of them, dismissing the entire Italian military history because of one war is utterly ignorant.

“What did the British do with all the Argentinian troops on the Falklands after they surrendered?”The lack of an actual peace agreement from Argentina, to indicate an actual end of the hostilities on the part of that country following the surrender of their forces on the Falklands on 14 June, resulted in some delays in getting the POWs repatriated. In addition, the argentine government initially insisted that their POW troops be sent to Uruguay, which was a great deal farther than the nearby argentine coast.News report:“The end of the fighting left a situation that was still, in various respects, confused and unclear. While Britain had succeeded in recapturing the islands, no guarantees were immediately forthcoming from Argentina that it would refrain from raids or other military actions to harass the British forces there. There was also no immediate agreement between the two countries on the manner of returning the captured Argentine troops to Argentina, and Britain warned that prolonged exposure and poor nutrition posed a major threat to the health of the prisoners.“The Argentine foreign ministry announced late June 17 that the prisoners would be returned in a joint British-Argentine operation--using ships of both countries--with the cooperation of the International Red Cross. The British Foreign Officer said it would"consider" this proposal, and indicated that British willingness to allow Argentine ships to come to the Falklands might hinge on whether Argentina agreed to a full peace. Early June 17 there had been a riot among some of the prisoners on the Falklands. Reportedly, some of the Argentine troops ran through the streets of Stanley and set fire to several buildings—————————-The various argentine forces started surrendering some time before the finally argentine surrender on 14 June. In fact, some argentine POWs started arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay as early as 13 May. On 12 June a team from the International Red Cross reportedly registered more than 1000 argentine POWs before they were turned over to argentine representatives in Uruguay.The IRC registered “more than 11,000” argentine POWs before it was all over. The British count near the end of June, for just those taken on the Falklands, came to 11,845 argentine POWs.————————After 14 June and the argentine surrender, there was a period of several days involved in collecting and disarming the argentines while waiting for the argentine government to agree to not attack British ships to be used for repatriation of argentine POWs.During this time the British forces gathered information concerning medical conditions and left-behind hazards.It was also during this time the British were to find items that the argentines had stolen during their little holiday in the Falklands.The argentine in this photo (below) was actually taken before the final surrender period in June. But he was found to have stolen both the sweater and the belt buckle and perhaps other objects.The sweater had belonged to one of the Royal Marines and the belt buckle belonged to one of the workers at one of the farms on the islands.Theft: It’s the Argentine Way. As this argie NCO reminds us.Stolen property was found even out in the argentine trenches. There is a famous argentine photo of one of their senior officers with a coffee mug that had been looted from one of the islanders’ homes.… and here is that famous photo, of the commander of the argentine forces at Goose Green just before their surrender. Not only was Piaggi an incompetent, but it seems he was a thief as well. He is the one holding the mug stolen from the islanders.POWs were collected from a number of locations around the islands, by various meansPiles and piles of argie weapons————-Argie POWs apparently at Ajax Bay. Note the POW tag on one.—————Note the use of the POW tags in this image. It’s unclear whether this was part of the registration of those 11,845 POWs conducted by the International Red Cross.Argie POWs Ajax bay -UK national army museum photoImage record says POWs taken at San CarlosFile label says — Argie POWs at Goose Green——————-—————————————There is a mistaken belief that all argentines were immediately repatriated after their surrender on 14 June.Following the surrender there was an administrative cleanup period that involved some collection of intelligence as well as the turning in of weapons and other equipment. Some of the argentine troops volunteered to clean up some of the mess they had made of Stanley and the surrounding area.Image: More POWs, and evidence of some of the rubbish that had been collected. The town was filthy with the result of their presence.It was not until the 18th that it was announced that the first 4100 or so POWs (of the nearly 12,000 POWs) would be shipped out, to be repatriated at Puerto Madryn, in a moderately remote Argentine Patagonia (far enough from Buenos Aires), in an effort by the military government to limit the fanfare and turmoil associated with the return of a defeated and disgraced army.Argentina’s government delayed the repatriation of their own troops. Argentina insisted that the troops keep their uniforms and weapons and be returned on argentine ships not as POWs but as a voluntary removal in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 502. This was of course laughable, but very argentine. The surrender document had already specified the terms for the POWs.Remember that Argentina went crazy on 15 June when it was announced that the Falklands garrison had surrendered. The rioting in Buenos Aires was fierce, and a number of journalists attempting to cover the events were shot with rubber bullets. The argentine government attempted to mislead the population about the nature of their defeat and surrender.Many argie POWs were held for a time at the processing plant (frigorifico) at San Carlos, where the British forces had made their landings in May. Anyone who has been inside one of these sheds knows how foul they smell.—————————Image of argie POWs in sheep shed:————————The Argentine hospital ship ARA “Bahía Paraíso” was also used to repatriate hundreds of Argentine POWs, taken aboard at Port Williams, which the argies like to call Puerto Groussac. The Bahía Paraíso sailed even further from Buenos Aires, to Punta Quilla in Santa Cruz province. The ARA Irizar, another Argentine hospital ship, had very limited capacity for POWs and took them even further south, to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego.On 21 June, the British ship Nordland disembarked nearly 2000 POWs at Puerto Madryn, in Chubut province.About 1000 senior Argentine POW officers and other personnel were not on that initial departure on the Canberra. Argentina had not agreed to a cessation of hostilities beyond the surrenders of the various garrisons on the islands, and there was a concern that the junta would continue to attack from the continent. In fact, Argentina did not agree to a cessation of hostilities until years later, in 1989, and the signing took place as part of the Madrid Accords of 1990, which re-established diplomatic relations between Argentina and the UK.Those ”special” Argentine personnel were held until adequate air defences could be fortified on the islands to deal with further mischief by Argentina. These included a wide range of officer ranks as well as certain argentine civilians, including former radio operators.Several hundred senior Argentine POWs were held on the British Rail ferry Saint Edmund.Photo of the Saint Edmund ferry in Stanley harbour. Photo credit noted. This ferry was used to transport senior and special-category argentine personnel to Argentina at the end of June, when they were taken to Puerto Madryn. This included the former military governor, General Menéndez.The Saint Edmund was a rather late arrival to the theatre of operations, reaching the zone in early June.Because it had been noted earlier that argentine troops had tried to smuggle disassembled weapons and other prohibited items, the argies were closely inspected before being allowed to board the Saint Edmund.The later interviews with the argentine POWs included mention that the crew were civilians and the kitchen staff were largely Chinese. It was also noted that the cigarettes that were distributed to the POWs had come from the enormous stocks that the argentines themselves had held around Stanley but, as with the other supplies, they had failed to distribute. One of the POW officers conducted little marching parades, with patriotic songs, in the passageways of the ferry.The POWs were also paid during this time (12 July), according to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions. Eight pounds sterling.When the Saint Edmund docked and the POWs descended, the civilian staff got on the loudspeakers and whimsically reminded them to return for another fun-filled luxury cruise on their ship.Once ashore, the POWs were whisked away in buses to the nearby argie navy base, where they received the opportunity to take a bath or shower, get some new clothes, and curiously, the issue of a new weapon. Evidently this was to give the appearance of their not having actually surrendered.The argie command had kept the arrival of the ship a secret and there was almost no one from the civilian population around to see the troops arrive. As quickly as was possible several were put aboard aircraft and sent to a base in the north where they could be kept from the public.——————Barry Dixon photo.Argentine POWs onboardThe last argentine POWs were returned in middle of July 1982, a month after their surrender . These were inspected quite closely since one of the officers was found to have attempted to conceal a disassembled rifle among his belongings.Argentine general Menéndez leaving the British ferry in Puerto MadrynPhoto of the arrival of many of the senior argentine officers after leaving the ferry.—————————————-Earlier: Argentine POW volunteers cleaning up some of the mess they had made of Stanley, before preparing to embark on the CanberraMore argie cleanup after the surrender:POWs waiting to board the Canberra at Port StanleyGetting them aboard—————Guarding the Argentine POWs on board the Canberra:Guarding the injured POWs aboard.Argentine POWs leaving Canberra at Puerto Madryn in ArgentinaBritish troops take wounded argentine on stretcher to dock at Puerto Madryn.Argentine media headline about arrival of the POWs. This headline is noteworthy because the Argentine military government had attempted to characterise these troops not as POWs but as simply troops (”efectivos”) or ”combatants “removed from the islands.Argentine troops being transported from Puerto Madryn after arrival on the Canberra. Many were forced to sign documents that they would not grant media interviews.By the time (July) that the last POWs were repatriated, the media were more consistently reporting them as “prisoners”New York Times article on the return of the last POWs on the ferry Saint Edmund:“The repatriation was supervised by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been an intermediary on such matters since Argentina and Britain broke diplomatic relations early in the conflict. A Red Cross representative was aboard the British ferry.“ Almost all the freed prisoners were immediately taken by bus to the air base at Trelew, 35 miles away. There they were scheduled to receive quick physical examinations by the Red Cross, then fly to their military units.“One wounded Argentine was reported to have returned aboard the ferry and to have been met at the pier by an ambulance. It was unclear how he had been wounded, although some press reports said he appeared to be one of the 35 Argentines who had volunteered to help the British disarm land mines scattered by the Argentines when they held the islands.“Last week, Argentina repatriated its sole British prisoner, a downed pilot who had been brought to the mainland early in the conflict.”NYT 15 July 1982.Eventually the POWs that had been repatriated were moved by train and other means to military facilities around the country:

The 50 greatest British inventionsSource: The 50 greatest British inventionsTHERMOS FLASKInvented: 1892Inventor: Sir James DewarThis humble invention was the brainchild of Sir James Dewar, an eminent professor of chemistry at Cambridge and leading light of the Royal Institution. Dewar didn’t invent it to keep tea hot on picnics (that was a happy by-product), but to help his experiments on cooling gases, like air and oxygen, to such low temperatures that they would liquefy.LAWNMOWERInvented: 1827Inventor: Edwin Beard BuddingWhat could be more quintessentially British than a perfectly mown lawn in summer? Until Budding developed his first 19in mower in 1827 this was the preserve of the very rich. As the lawnmower’s popularity spread and made lawns more affordable, sports that were played on grass, such as cricket, rugby and football, were given an important boost.FLOAT GLASSInvented: 1959Inventor: Alastair PilkingtonWhen we think of inventions, it’s machines and gadgets that usually come to mind. But what about the processes needed to create the materials our modern world is made of? Almost all the glass we use today is made using Pilkington’s “float” process, which made it far easier and cheaper to make high-quality glass.LIGHT BULBInvented: 1880Inventor: Joseph SwanCheap and reliable electric lighting was a holy grail for 19th-century inventors. But didn’t Thomas Edison get there first? No! He was beaten by to it by Britain’s very own Joseph Swan. Swan got his patent – and started manufacturing and selling his bulbs – in 1880. The first bulbs lasted little more than 12 hours but, unlike gas lamps, there was no flame or dirty smoke and they soon caught on.CHOCOLATE BARInvented: 1847Inventor: JS Fry & SonsThe first chocolate bar was created by JS Fry & Sons of Bristol in 1847. It was sold to the public as chocolate delicieux a manger – delicious to eat – because, until this point, chocolate had been exclusively consumed as a drink. Fry’s mixed cocoa powder with sugar and cocoa butter, making a product which stays solid at room temperature but melts in the mouth…ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHInvented: 1837Inventors: Charles Wheatstone and William CookeThe electric telegraph was a world-shrinking technology like no other. The first fully operational telegraph ran from 1839 between Paddington and West Drayton railway stations, but at first it was slow to catch on. That is, until New Year’s Day 1845 when the telegraph system helped catch murderer John Tawell. It was a sensation and telegraph cables were soon everywhere.PNEUMATIC TYREInvented: 1887Inventor: John Boyd DunlopIn 1845, railway engineer Robert William Thomson patented the world’s first pneumatic tyres but there was no real market for them. Forty years later, Dunlop came up with pneumatic tyres to stop his son getting headaches from riding his bumpy tricycle. This time around, the invention handily coincided with the new bicycle craze.MODERN FIRE EXTINGUISHERInvented: 1818Inventor: George William ManbyThe first modern extinguisher, the Extincteur, was invented after Manby saw firemen struggling to put out a blaze on the top floors of a house fire in Edinburgh. His solution was a portable copper cask containing three to four gallons of potassium carbonate, which dispersed by compressed air via a stopcock.CATSEYEInvented: 1933Inventor: Percy ShawPercy Shaw was a Yorkshire road contractor who devised the Catseye in 1933. He liked to claim that inspiration struck when he was driving home from the pub on a foggy night and saw the reflection of his headlights in the eyes of a cat, sitting by the road. Shaw’s Catseye was voted the greatest invention of the 20th century.CARBON FIBREInvented: 1963Inventors: Royal Aircraft Establishment EngineersThis marvelous material is one of many inventions developed by the military that are incredibly useful. Today carbon fibre has thousands of applications in boats, cars, motorbikes, sports equipment, and even in the fuselages of jumbo jets.STEAM ENGINEInvented: 1801Inventor: Richard TrevithickTrevithick’s invention would become the father of the steam train and the father of portable steam power. On Christmas Eve 1801 he tested a steam car, known as the Puffing Devil, which successfully climbed the Camborne Hill in Cornwall. Trevithick became the first person to power a piston using high-pressure steam – and in doing so he transformed the world.WORLDWIDE WEBInvented: 1989Inventor: Tim Berners-Lee[Because of this man you are reading this..and viewing/listening/watching anything else on the World Wide Web]Tim Berners-Lee - WikipediaNot to be confused with the internet, which is a system of linked computer networks, the worldwide web was invented by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee (above). He created the first server in late 1990 and, on 6 August 1991, the web went live, with the first page explaining how to search and how to set up a site. Berners-Lee gave his invention to the world for free.SODA WATERInvented: 1772Inventor: Joseph Priestley18th century clergyman and scientist Priestley invented carbonated water when he suspended a bowl of water above a beer vat at a brewery near his home in Leeds. In 1772 he published a description of how to make carbonated water and just a few years later Johann Schweppe set up Schweppes and began manufacturing fizzy drinks using Priestley’s method.HYPODERMIC SYRINGEInvented: 1853Inventor: Alexander WoodWhile the syringe itself has been known since ancient times, Wood’s innovation was to design a syringe that would allow drugs to be administered intravenously without the patients skin having to be cut first. It is said he found inspiration in the sting of a honeybee. The hypodermic syringe was a breakthrough in anesthetics.REFLECTING TELESCOPEInvented: 1668Inventor: Isaac NewtonAs a fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, Sir Isaac Newton took the idea of a reflecting telescope and turned it into reality. This huge leap forward in telescope technology made astronomical observation much more accurate.TELEPHONEPatented: 1876Inventor: Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell (right) patented his telephone model just hours before a rival inventor. The telephone came about thanks to a discovery that a thin metal sheet vibrating in an electromagnetic field produces an electrical waveform that corresponds to the vibration. The invention was first publically demonstrated in 1876 at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.COLLAPSIBLE BABY BUGGYInvented: 1965Inventor: Owen MaclarenMaclaren, the man who during WW2 helped design the Spitfire’s folding undercarriage, solved the pram problem after seeing his daughter struggle with an unwieldy pushchair. Today, a modern version of his light-weight, foldable buggy is sold in more than 50 countries.STEAM TURBINEInvented: 1884Inventor: Charles ParsonsAfter the invention of the electrical motor – which transforms rotation into electrical power – the next step was to find a device to drive it. Piston engines vibrated too violently, so the steam turbine was the answer. Three quarters of the world’s power stations still use steam – and whether steam-powered or not, every station uses the theory behind Parsons’ innovation.MARINE CHRONOMETERInvented: 1761Inventor: John HarrisonAccurate navigation at sea has always been critically important but, until the invention of the marine chronometer, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible. In 1714 the British government announced a £20,000 prize – worth almost £3m today – for anyone who could solve the problem. John Harrison devoted his life to the task and finally got his reward in 1773.TELEVISIONInvented: 1925Inventor: John Logie BairdIt’s hard to credit just one person with the invention of television, but it’s indisputable that John Logie Baird was the first to transmit moving pictures in October 1925. But his mechanical system ultimately failed – with a rival being developed at the same time able to produce a visibly superior picture. Baird, it was said at the time, was “doomed to be the man who sows the seed but does not reap the harvest”.SYNTHETIC DYEInvented: 1856Inventor: William PerkinWilliam Perkin was studying Chemistry when he discovered how to make synthetic dye – mauveine. He was using alcohol to clean up some chemical residue when he suddenly saw an intense purple colour appear. At that time, purple dye was one of the priciest. Perkin worked out how to produce his new colour, patented it and set up a company to produce it.HIP REPLACEMENTInvented: 1962Inventor: John CharnleyBritish surgeon John Charnley designed the first hip joint and, in 1962, performed the first successful hip-replacement operation. His design used a femoral stem and ball made of steel and a hip socket made of Teflon, glued together using acrylic bone cement. Many improvements have been made since but Charnley set the standard and today 80,000 hip replacements are performed in Britain each year.PASSENGER RAILWAYInvented: 1825Inventor: George StephensonWhile working as a miner, George Stephenson established an aptitude as a mechanic and was allowed to build machines at his colliery. At the time, carts pulled by horses were used to take coal to the ship yards. Stephenson used steam engines to replace horse power and this lead to a series of world firsts – including the passenger railway.MILITARY TANKInvented: 1914Inventor: Ernest SwintonThe idea of the “tank” was first thought up by Britain’s official war correspondent, Ernest Swinton, who suggested the crawler tractors used to pull artillery on the Western Front could be used as offensive weapons with the capability to climb a five-foot obstacle, span a five-foot trench, resist small arms fire and travel at 4mph.TOOTHBRUSHInvented: c. 1770Inventor: William AddisWilliam Addis was a rag trader who was sent to prison in 1770. While there, he decided that the way people were brushing their teeth (rubbing soot and salt over them with a rag), could be improved. He saved a small animal bone from a meal, made a hole and tied some bristles through it. After his release, Addis set up a business to mass-produce toothbrushes. His company, Wisdom Toothbrushes, still exists.LINOLEUMInvented: 1860Inventor: Frederick WaltonWhen he noticed that a rubbery, flexible skin of solidified linseed oil had formed on a can of oil-based paint, it gave Frederick Walton an idea. He realized linseed oil could be made into a waterproof material and that if he applied the varnish to a backing, he could sell it as a ready-made floor – cue linoleum.AUTOMATIC KETTLEInvented: 1955Inventor: Peter HobbsThe automatic kettle – one that switches itself off when the water reaches boiling point – was the brainchild of Peter Hobbs, one of the two founders of appliance company Russell Hobbs. At its heart was a simple piece of technology: the bimetallic strip which bent as the water boiled, breaking a circuit and switching off the kettle.MODERN TORPEDOInvented: 1866Inventor: Robert WhiteheadIt was British engineer Richard Whitehead who first designed a torpedo launched from a ship in an underwater tube, powered by compressed air and with an internal mechanism that adjusted itself to stay at a constant depth. The first ship to be sunk by his invention was the Turkish steamer Intibah in 1878, after being hit by a torpedo launched from a Russian warship.GLIDERInvented: 1804Inventor: George CayleyOne of the greatest inventors in the field of aviation was Yorkshireman George Cayley. He was the first man to move away from the idea that a man-made flying machine must have wings that flapped like a bird’s, and the first-ever sustained manned glider flight was made in a craft of his design at Brompton Dale in 1853.JET ENGINEInvented: 1937Inventor: Frank Whittle24-year-old RAF fighter pilot Frank Whittle first patented a new kind of aircraft – the turbojet – in 1930, but his new design was so radical that the military wouldn’t fund it, nor would any manufacturers, until in 1937 he found a few private backers and in 1941 a 17-minute test flight took place at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire.WIND-UP RADIOInvented: 1991Inventor: Trevor BaylisIn 1991, Trevor Baylis saw a television programme about Aids in Africa that said one way to stop its spread was for people to hear educational information on the radio. So Baylis designed one that needed no batteries, running off an internal generator powered by a mainspring wound by a hand crank. He was able to demonstrate it to Nelson Mandela and since then it’s been distributed all over Africa.SAFETY BICYCLEInvented: 1885Inventor: John Kemp StarleyThe bicycle as we know it today was originally developed as the “safety bicycle”, because other bikes at the time – including the penny-farthing – were extremely dangerous. The key to the new bicycle was the chain drive, which meant you could still go fast even though both wheels were the same size. For most people it was arguably the most liberating invention of all time.CEMENTInvented: 1824Inventor: Joseph AspdinIn 1824, Leeds bricklayer Joseph Aspdin invented and patented a method of making what he called Portland Cement – the type that’s most widely used today. The process involved burning limestone, mixing it with clay and burning it again; the burning produced a much stronger cement than just mixing limestone and clay. Aspdin called it “Portland” as he claimed the set mortar resembled the best limestone quarried from Portland in Dorset.TENSION-SPOKED WHEELInvented: 1808Inventor: George CayleyGeorge Caley wanted wheeled landing gear for the glider’s he’d already invented but wheels with solid or wooden spokes were too heavy. His innovation was to shift the balance of forces in the wheel from compression to tension – an extraordinary breakthrough that really took off much later when tension-spoked wheels using wire spokes were adopted for bicycle wheels.SEED DRILLInvented: 1701Inventor: Jethro TullPulled by a horse, Oxfordshire farmer Jethro Tull’s seed drill dug a straight groove into the soil at the right depth and dropped into it seeds that were regularly spaced. It made planting crops more efficient by avoiding wastage and helped both population and life expectancy into a steady upward climb for the first time in history.STAINLESS STEELInvented: 1913Inventor: Harry BrearleyIn 1912 steelworker and researcher Harry Brearley was tasked by a small-arms manufacturer to find a material that could prolong the life of their gun barrels. He found corrosion-resistant steel instead. The story goes that he threw out some experimental steel and a few weeks later found it in the yard still shiny as new. Stainless steel is now used in everything from surgical instruments and turbine blades to cutlery and architectural cladding.SPINNING FRAMEInvented: 1768Inventor: Richard ArkwrightRichard Arkwright’s spinning frame – more than James Hargreaves’s better-known spinning jenny – was the cornerstone invention of the industrial revolution in textiles. By spinning thread that had a tighter weave and was therefore considerably stronger, it transformed northern England and lay behind Britain being named the “workshop of the world”.BESSEMER PROCESSInvented: 1856Inventor: Henry BessemerSheffield steelmaker Henry Bessemer didn’t invent steel production but his method for simplifying it and greatly reducing the costs ranks as one of the most important breakthroughs of the industrial era. He developed a process of extracting carbon from pig iron effectively, to create a hotter and purer product that was easier to convert to steel – saving manufacturers both time and fuel.ELECTRIC MOTORInvented: 1821Inventer: Michael FaradayMichael Faraday was working at the Royal Institution when he demonstrated electromagnetic rotation for the first time. A free-hanging wire was dipped into a pool of mercury that had a fixed magnet in it. When an electric current was passed through the wire, it rotated around the magnet – the electricity produced a magnetic field around the wire, which interacted with the magnet in the mercury. This was the world’s first electric motor.PHOTOGRAPHYInvented: 1835Inventor: William Henry Fox TalbotIt’s hard to say who was the inventor of photography – the first fixed image was made by Joseph Niépce in 1826 but took eight hours to expose. In 1835, Fox Talbot made another breakthrough by using silver iodide on paper and found a way to produce a translucent negative that could be used to make any number of positives by contact printing – a system used until the advent of digital cameras.HYDRAULIC PRESSInvented: 1795Inventor: Joseph BramahLocksmith Joseph Bramah made famously unpickable locks and was also a keen inventor. Of all his developments, the one that has had the most impact was the hydraulic press – two piston cylinders with different cross-sectional areas, connected with a tube and filled with fluid so moving one piston causes the other to move, too. Today it’s still one of the most useful and widespread machine tools.SEWAGE SYSTEMInvented: 1865Inventor: Joseph BazalgetteThe creator of the London sewers, Joseph Bazalgette, may be remembered as more of an engineer than an inventor, but developing the largest sewage system the world had ever seen in London changed life in the city completely. The previous system – an open sewer – tipped waste into the Thames but this new invention pumped it eastwards out to sea. Bazalgette estimated the population increase of the next 100 years so the system is still in use today.[As said on QI, Bazalgette pumped the crap out London, and then Peter Bazalgette, his great-great-grandson, is pumping crap back into our living rooms]ELECTRONIC PROGRAMMABLE COMPUTERInvented: 1943Inventor: Tommy FlowersBuilt and designed by brilliant Post Office engineer Tommy Flowers, the Colossus arrived at Bletchley Park to crack the German Lorenz cipher, which was even more complex than Enigma. Constructed using 1,500 vacuum tubes, the Colossus was the first truly electronic, digital and programmable computer. Sadly for Flowers, the technology was reserved for military intelligence and remained top secret – with every Colossus machine dismantled after the war.HOVERCRAFTInvented: 1953Inventor: Christopher CockerellCockerell wanted to work out how to make the boats go faster, and was captivated by the idea of lifting them out of the water altogether. His breakthrough came when he blasted air down a narrow channel around the outside of the craft that trapped high-pressure air underneath and stopped it escaping, forming a “momentum curtain. Producing four times the lift for the same amount of power, the first hovercraft crossed the channel on 1 June 1959.TIN CANInvented: 1810Inventor: Peter DurandIt was Frenchman Nicholas Appert who first preserved food by packing it into glass jars and cooking it for hours to sterilise it but British merchant Peter Durand adopted the same method with the tin can. Initially a hammer and chisel were required to open the cans as the tin opener wasn’t patented until 1855!STERI-SPRAYInvented: 2008Inventor: Ian HelmorePlumber Ian Helmore sterilized water tanks to prevent lagionella breeding in them. Bacteria can live in the last two inches of pipework so he decided that putting a UV lamp into a tap or showerhead would deal with the problem. It’s now out there in NHS hospitals, hopefully saving lives.WATERPROOF MATERIALInvented: 1823Inventor: Charles MacintoshCharles Macintosh, an amateur chemist, was experimenting with coal-tar napthan, a chemical waste product, and realized that it could make a solution from rubber. He coated a thin fabric with the sticky solution and sandwiched it between two layers of fabric to make waterproof material. His family started selling the coats as the “Macintosh”.ATMInvented: 1967Inventor: John Shepherd-BarronJohn Shepherd-Barron first hit on the idea of a cash dispenser in the bath and secured a meeting with Barclays who signed up, installing the first ATM outside their Enfield branch in 1967. It gave out a maximum of £10 after customers inserted special cheques that the machine could recognise alongside a four-digit PIN number that’s still in use today.ELECTRIC VACUUM CLEANERInvented: 1901Inventor: Hubert Cecil BoothHubert Cecil Booth was watching a railway carriage being cleaned by a machine that blew the dust away when he had the idea for a machine that sucked the dust up instead. To test his theory, he placed a handkerchief on a chair and sucked through it, finding that dust collected on either side. He set up a cleaning service using hoses from vans on the street going through the windows of buildings.DISC BRAKESInvented: 1902Inventor: Frederick William LanchesterDisc brakes employ brake pads that squeeze each side of the rotor turning a wheel. They were quicker to cool down and to dry out than the drum brakes used in most cars at the time. Sadly, they didn’t catch on until the 1950s, after Lanchester’s death – but nowadays almost all cars use his invention.