Chronology of Events - 1800s

The following is a chronological listing of significant events in the development of the field of Information Technology during the 1800s:

1801

 * Joseph-Marie Jacquard makes an improvement to the textile loom that used a series of punched cards as a template to allow his loom to weave intricate patterns automatically. Punched cards are used later by Charles Babbage in his plans for the Analytical Engine.

1803

 * Joseph-Marie Jacquard receives a patent for the loom that uses punch cards.

1808

 * The first working typewriter is built by Pellegrino Turri for his visually impaired friend, the Countess Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzono.

1809

 * Samuel Thomas Soemmering invents the electrical telegraph.

1811-1813

 * The Luddite Movement in England (November 11, 1811 – January 12, 1813) results in the destruction of machinery by workers and craftsmen concerned about the loss of their jobs due to mechanization in the workplace.

1820

 * Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar creates the "arithometer," the first commercially successful calculating machine.


 * Electromagnetism discovered.

1822

 * Charles Babbage designs the Difference Engine, the first automatic computing engine capable of computing several sets of numbers and making hard copies of the results.

1831
February 3, 1831 &mdash; The first general revision of the copyright law is enacted. The author's exclusive rights are extended from 14 years to 28 years, with a potential 14-year extension.


 * Joseph Henry of Princeton invents the first working telegraph.

1832

 * Semen Korsakov uses punch cards to store and search for information.

1834

 * In Wheaton v. Peters, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the protection of copyright is not perpetual, but is limited to promote the creation of new works.

1837

 * Sir Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke patent the telegraph.
 * Charles Babbage conceptualizes and designs a fully programmable mechanical computer that he calls the Analytical Engine.
 * Samuel F. B. Morse invents a practical form of electromagnetic telegraph using an early version of his "Morse code."

1841

 * In Folsom v. Marsh, the U.S. Supreme Court established the fair use doctrine.

1842

 * Facsimile transmission is developed and patented by Alexander Bain.
 * Blaise Pascal invents the the "Pascaline," a mechanical adding machine.

1843

 * Per and Georg Scheutz construct the first working Difference Engine based on Babbage's design in Stockholm.
 * William Henry Fox Talbot receives a patent on the first optical photocopier (a "magnifying apparatus").

1844
May 24, 1844 &mdash; Samuel Morse transmits the first message by "Morse code" between New York and Philadelphia.

1845

 * The transatlantic cable is proposed.

1847

 * Frederick Collier Bakewell develops a procedure for telecopying (a forerunner of the fax machine).

1848

 * George Boole invents Boolean algebra.

1851

 * Western Union is founded.

1853

 * A tabulating machine is invented by Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard.

 Nov. 30, 1853 &mdash; George Boole publishes a book titled An Investigation on the Laws of Thought on symbolic logic.

1855

 * Antonio Meucci establishes a telephone link inside an apartment in New York City.

1856
July 10, 1856 &mdash; Nikola Tesla is born.

1857
March 25, 1857 &mdash; The phonautograph (phonograph) is patented by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville.


 * Sir Charles Wheatstone uses paper tape for the preparation, storage, and transmission of data.

1858
August 16, 1858 &mdash; The first transatlantic cable is successfully completed. It runs from Ireland to Newfoundland.

1861

 * The telephone is invented by Philipp Reiss, a German teacher.

1865

 * The "International Telegraph Union" (now the International Telecommunication Union) (ITU) is founded in Paris by the International Telegraph Convention.

1868
July 14, 1868 &mdash; Christopher Sholes patents a typewriter with the QWERTY layout keyboard.

1869

 * William Stanley Jevons designs a practical logic machine.

1870
July 8, 1870 &mdash; In the second major revision of copyright law, U.S. Congress centralizes copyright activities (including registration and deposit within the Library of Congress.
 * French telegraph engineer Émile Baudot invented the Baudot Code.

1873

 * Commercial production of typewriters begins.

1875
 May 17, 1865 &mdash; The International Telegraph Convention was signed by 20 States.

1876
March 10, 1876 &mdash; Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone (U.S. Patent No. 174,465; "Improvements in Transmitters and Receivers for Electric Telegraph").

1877
July 9, 1877 &mdash; Bell Telephone Company is organized in Boston, Massachusetts.

November 21, 1877	&mdash; Thomas Edison and announces the first phonograph capable of recording and replaying sounds.


 * The microphone is invented by Emile Berliner.

1878

 * Ramon Verea invents a fast calculator with an internal multiplication table.

1880
April 1, 1880 &mdash; Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Summer Tainter transmit the first wireless telephone message 213 meters on a beam of light (the "light-beam photophone").

1881

 * The first telephone Yellow Pages directory is published.

1882
February 1882 &mdash; Western Electric and American Bell enter an agreement where Western Electric becomes the exclusive supplier to American Bell.

1884

 * Hermann Hollerith files a patent application on electromechanical tabulation.


 * Dorr E. Felt develops the Comptometer, which is operated by pressing keys.

1885
April 3, 1885 &mdash; American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (AT&T) is established to create a commercially viable, nationwide long-distance network.

1886
September 9, 1886 &mdash; The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, an international copyright treaty is ratified in Berne, Switzerland.

1887

 * Heinrich Hertz discovers electromagnetic waves.


 * The phonograph player is patented.


 * The gramophone record is invented.

1888

 * Kodak invents the first handheld camera.

1889

 * Herman Hollerith is awarded three patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 395,781, 395,782, and 395,783) for an electromechanical machine for tabulating information stored on punched cards.

1890

 * Herman Hollerith uses an automated punch card machine, manufactured by the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, for the U.S. census. Hollerith's firm merges with several other companies to become IBM in 1924.


 * Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis publish their landmark law review article titled "The Right to Privacy" in volume 4 of the Harvard Law Review.

1891

 * The first dial phone is installed.

1893

 * The original Bell telephone patent expires.
 * Nikolai Tesla successfully transmits radio waves wirelessly.

1895

 * U.S. Congress mandates that U.S. government works are not subject to copyright protection.
 * Guglielmo Marconi makes a wireless transmission.

1896
December 3, 1896 &mdash; Hermann Hollerith's business is incorporated as the Tabulating Machine Company (TMC). The company develops an automatic punch card sorter.


 * Marconi makes the first long-distance wireless transmission (the "radio").

1897
February 19, 1897 &mdash; The U.S. Copyright Office is established as a separate department of the Library of Congress. The position of Register of Copyrights is established.
 * A wireless telegraph system is developed by Eugène Ducretet.

1898

 * Nikola Tesla invents the remote control.

1899

 * The Wireless Telegraph Company of America is created by Guglielmo Marconi.