Daguerre's daguerrotype (1838)
Early form of photography
Thomas Edison (1879)
George Stephenson's Rocket, 1829, would lead to great railroad infrastructure, which helped with city planning, made moving to the city easier, and made trade and large-scale commerce much better. For example, now placing factories in population centers made more sense. (I barely understand why myself, but okay)
Alfred Nobel's dynamite (1867)
First high explosive that could be safely handled. Useful for mining and clearing areas for infrastructure.
First transatlantic cable completed
1858
Robert Fulton (1807)'s Clermont
The first successful steamboat. Like the locomotive, made trade so, so much better. For example, now the US could leverage its advantage in having the Mississippi river.
This would allow for long-distance communication
First skyscraper (10 stories tall) (in Chicago)
1883
Gasoline refinement
First occurred in 1850. Gasoline is an important fuel source.
Henry Bessemir's steel converter (1854)
Charles Babbage (1834)'s analytic engine
First ancestor of the computer
William Murdock's cool thing he did (1792)
Lit his home using coal gas. Also, he was James Watt's assistant.
Richard Arkwright's water frame (1769)
Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)
Marc Brunel's first underwater tunnel (1826-1842)
Under the Thames
James Hargreaves (1765)'s spinning jenny
Automated thread spinning
From Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Karl Benz's internal-combustion automobile engine (1885)
cars go vroom
Thomas Newcomen (1712)'s steam engine
First commercially successful (though kind of clumsy) steam engine, used to pump water out of coal mines. Big deal, since we've just unlocked a new power source.
James Watt's efficient steam engine (1765)
Like fifty years later, they finally came out with a steam engine with a condensing chamber, making it more efficient. Also a pretty big deal.
Reinforced Concrete
Michael Faraday (1831)'s discovery of electromagnetic currents
Made generators and electrical engines possible
Thomas Alva Edison's phonograph (1877)
This is a record player. Useful for music, instructions, etc.,
Brooklyn Bridge opened (1883)
Large suspension bridge, "triumph of engineering."
This separated the useful raw cotton from its seeds, making the cotton industry much more profitable. It had mixed effects — remember how a lot of cotton was farmed using slave labor.
Made communicating across long distances much easier, but such conversations still had to be done in public, etc.,
According to wikipedia:
James Brindley (1761)'s Bridgewater Canal
Gugliemo Marconi (1896)'s wireless telegraph patent
Useful for, like, ship distress calls. Say, for example, the one the Titanic sent out.
Cathode rays discovered
1858
