Australian Inventions that changed the World

[TrevorW]

Just a few but interesting

http://au.news.yahoo.com/technology/galleries/g/-/9979876/21/australian-inventions-that-changed-the-world/

:thumbsup:

[Ric]

Great link Trevor.

There was quite a few there that I had no idea were Aussie inventions.

[jjjnettie]

:D thanks.

[AstralTraveller]

Clever little vegemites aren't we. :thumbsup: :lol::lol:

[ballaratdragons]

They left out the MotorMower.
Invented in Australia.

In that list of 24 items in the link, No. 21 of the 24 (Rilenza, but also known as Tamiflu) was invented by a team of Scientists to which our own Bert (Avandonk) was a major part!

And while we are at it, let's set the Record straight.

More World changing Australian inventions:

Telephone: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Television: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Light bulb: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
The Dynamo: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Vacuum Pump: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Helicopter: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Modern Storage Battery: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Colour Printing: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
Photo-Printing: Henry Sutton. Ballarat Australia
and the list goes on!
Henry invented and built his Helicopter at age 14.
He rarely applied for patents, partly because he spurned material gain and wanted to 'benefit fellow workers in science'. According to available records, only two patents were taken out in his name in Victoria.

The Combine Harvester (later called the 'Sunshine Harvester') - which both stripped and collected the grain was developed by Hugh Victor McKay of Drummartin, Victoria in 1882.

Latex Gloves - developed in Australia in 1945.

The Photocopier - the technology behind xerography was developed at The University of Sydney by Professor O U Vonwiller in 1907

Secret Ballot - the system of casting one's political (or other) vote in a manner that is private and confidential on an anonymous ballot paper. Until the mid 19th century, voting for public office was publicly displayed which left the voter open to intimidation and/or bribery.

Electronic Pacemaker - the heart pacemaker was developed at Sydney's Crown Street Women's Hospital in 1926

Aspro - Aspro was invented by the chemist George Nicholas as a form of Asprin in a tablet. The product was developed in Melbourne between 1915 and 1917. By 1940 it had become the world's most widely used headache treatment.

The Humidicrib - a portable and inexpensive alternative to the 'iron lung' was invented and manufactured by the brothers Edward and Don Both in Tasmania in the late 1930s as a response to the poliomyelitis epidemic of the time. The invention soon spread acroos the world and has helped to save the lives of millions of premature babies.

Callisthenics - is a uniquely Australian form of physical culture. It appears to have originated on the Victorian goldfields. It involves elements of gymnastics, dance, performance art and theatre and often involves the use of rods, clubs, hoops and other equipment.

The 'Australian Crawl' - the style of 'overarm' or 'freestyle' swimming stroke now familiar in competition swimming.

Polocrosse - was invented in Australia in 1938 and has since become an international equestrian sport.

The Mills Cross - a radiotelescope design consisting of two long ground antennas either in the form of a cross or a T shape was adopted world wide.

Dual Flush Toilet - Although Australians in water-scarce circumstances have long used a variety of devices to restrict the amount of water used in a flush toilet (including placing a brick in the cistern) the dual flush cistern with two buttons (one for full-flush and one for half-flush) was a design improvement that helped save water world wide.

Plus:
The Bionic Eye, Buffalo Fly Trap, Kerosene Refrigerator, X-ray crystallography, Speedo swimwear, The Teleprinter, The 'Tote' (TAB), Uniloc Software Protection, Samba software, Polymer Bank Notes, and Vegemite.

:thumbsup:

[niko]

Aspro - Aspro was invented by the chemist George Nicholas as a form of Asprin in a tablet. The product was developed in Melbourne between 1915 and 1917. By 1940 it had become the world's most widely used headache treatment.

I reckon soluble aspirin must be Australian too coz the Americans had never heard of it!

Also, wasn't the lawnmover an Aussie invention?

[Terry B]

Sad that number 2 on the list is the torpedo.

[PCH]

Hi Ken,

gifted though Henry Sutton may have been, I'm not sure he can be credited with the invention of the helicopter. He did some study on his mechanical ornithopter as his bio tells ...

Observations at the age of 10 of the flutter of insect wings against smoked glass led to his theory on the flight of birds which he propounded in a paper read to the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and published in its annual report of 1878. Sutton's experimental ornithopter (c.1870), driven by clockwork, could fly in a circumference of twelve feet (3.7 m) and from left to right and upwards at any desired angle. His experiments with heavier-than-air materials for flight seem to be the first of their kind in Australia.

But surely this guy has to take the credit for the invention of the actual thing we know as a helicopter ...

The distinction of being the first inventor to design a helicopter AND actually make it fly goes to Paul Cornu, a French engineer who managed to make his helicopter prototype stay aloft for 20 seconds. His flight was not the actual first though since there was another French inventor who managed to make their design to lift off the ground but it was tethered and supported to keep it from falling apart. Because of this, the Cornu helicopter is considered to be the first modern helicopter since it was the first one to lift off vertically without any support. This achievement gives Paul Cornu the credit as the man who invented the helicopter.

I'm not out to trip you up, so please don't be offended Ken. I didn't double check any of your other suggestions, I was just reasonably sure of the helicopter example, so it kinda stood out to me.

We know that Aussies are undoubtedly an ingenious lot, but we should endeavour to offer our credit to the rightful owner ;)

[avandonk]

They left out the stump jump plough!

Relenza was invented by the BRI and CSIRO with Dr Peter Colman as research leader and Dr. Jose Varghese by elucidating the molecular structure of neuraminidase an enzyme that the flu virus uses to escape infected cells. Most of the technical experimental work was done by me. The chemical synthesis of various compounds were done at the Pharmacy College under our direction.

Tamiflu was a 'me too' drug that just evaded our patents.

In the early nineties Jose predicted that tamiflu would produce viable mutants of flu in a Nature paper. Relenza never would as it's binding constant was almost identical with the target molecule of neuraminidase. This has come to pass as predicted by Jose.

The Wright brothers got the information for lateral stabilty from Hargraves who had working manned hang gliders in the 1890's.

We punch way above our weight as far as scientific publications go as a proportion of our population.

Bert

[asimov]

"The lincoln clipper spring" By my father.

[leon]

Clever little buggers weren't they.

Leon

[ballaratdragons]

The Lawnmower isn't an Aussie invention Nick, but the 'Motor' mower is.
Until then they were just 'Push' devices.

The Motor Mower was the 1st one listed in my post :thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

Speedway bikes/racing.
alex

[xelasnave]

Torrens Title.

Torrens adopted a similar system as used for the registration of ships for land title registration. Prior to this title was derived from piles of documents relating to the land back to the year dot effectively.

I am not sure where /if adopted elswhere but put it this way dont buy any where in the world that uses something different;):).

alex:):):)

[PeterM]

[QUOTE=ballaratdragons;765357]The Lawnmower isn't an Aussie invention Nick, but the 'Motor' mower is.
Until then they were just 'Push' devices.

Not unlike Wildcards Argo Navis.... until then they were also just 'push' devices. I think while not Earth shattering like many wonderful inventions listed here Argo Navis has indeed allowed the user to "find more stuff". It changed my astronomical world back in 2002.

PeterM.

[PeterM]

[QUOTE=avandonk;765301]They left out the stump jump plough!

Relenza was invented by the BRI and CSIRO with Dr Peter Colman as research leader and Dr. Jose Varghese by elucidating the molecular structure of neuraminidase an enzyme that the flu virus uses to escape infected cells. Most of the technical experimental work was done by me. The chemical synthesis of various compounds were done at the Pharmacy College under our direction.

Thank You Bert (et al).
PeterM

[Gem]

The rainomatic... invented by me! It LOOKS like a telescope... it COSTS the same as a telescope... but attracts clouds and rain!! The last few months are scientific proof that my invention works!!! :)

[TrevorW]

I think we can all share the patent on that :P:D:thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

But no-one wants it :lol:

[Glenhuon]

Sorry to disappoint you Ken, but according to a certain Lt Pavel Chekov everything on your list was invented by a little Russian guy in Minsk :D

[ballaratdragons]

:lol: