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Irish Inventions

  • 26-03-2016 12:38PM
    #1
    failinis
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭


    Off the back of the nice thread, Well that's quite interesting - name inventions created by Irish people.

    Commonly known ones include;
    • Submarine - by John P Holland from Co Clare, preliminary drawings in 1859.
    • Nuclear Physics- by Ernest Walton, Waterford, first person to artificially split the atom.
    • Chemistry, pneumatic pump, the first match, a perpetual motion machine, and discovered decompression sickness - by Robert Boyle, Waterford
      • Steerable Torpedoand gyroscopically balanced monorail system - by Louis Brennan, Co, Mayo


      Then I found while reading:
      Sir Samuel Davidson, born in Belfast in 1846. During his life he applied for more than 200 patents and was granted more than 120. He's credited with inventing a mechanical tea-dryer, a particular type of centrifugal fan and a hand-held Howitzer gun.

      Anyone have any obscure ones, or just interesting ones?

      (A link to back it up may be nice, in case people start disputing, as I know some may have technically been invented earlier but only put into practical use after tweaks by others and all that)


    «134

    Comments

    • #2
      [Deleted User]
      Posts: 18,046 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


      Not really an invention but Duty Free started in Shannon.


    • #3
      whiskeyman
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,564 ✭✭✭✭whiskeyman


      Crisp sandwich


    • #4
      failinis
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭failinis


      whiskeyman wrote: »
      Crisp sandwich

      And your username reminded me - Whiskey as well :P


    • #5
      [Deleted User]
      Posts: 22,384 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


      National Hunt horse racing


    • #6
      diy.i.do
      Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 35 ✭diy.i.do


      Jumbo breakfast roll


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    • #7
      eh i dunno
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,116 ✭✭✭✭eh i dunno


      Moaning about the weather


    • #8
      drunkmonkey
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,184 ✭✭✭✭drunkmonkey


      Chef Sauce


    • #9
      Clareman
      Moderators, Sports Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators Posts: 24,057 Mod ✭✭✭✭Clareman


      Irish coffee.
      Bitching about the pub being closed on Good Friday and not going any other Friday of the year either.


    • #10
      maudgonner
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭maudgonner


      failinis wrote: »
      Off the back of the nice thread, Well that's quite interesting - name inventions created by Irish people.

      • Steerable Torpedoand gyroscopically balanced monorail system - by Louis Brennan, Co, Mayo



      Brennan was also working on a design for a helicopter. But it never took off (boom boom)


    • #11
      Edward Hopper
      Closed Accounts Posts: 713 ✭✭✭Edward Hopper


      Sugru. Fantastic stuff.

      https://sugru.com


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    • #12
      CelticRambler
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,299 ✭✭✭CelticRambler


      Rashers. Invented by Mr. Denny in Waterford (so the legend goes)


    • #13
      failinis
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭failinis


      CelticRambler wrote: »
      Rashers. Invented by Mr. Denny in Waterford (so the legend goes)

      I was reading about that, more to it than that - he reinvented how meat is cured.
      Denny patented several bacon-curing techniques and completely re-invented the process of how to cure bacon.
      Before this, bacon was cured by soaking large chunks of meat in brine.
      Denny decided to use long flat pieces of meat instead of chunks and substituted the brine for dry salt.
      Soon after, Denny began exporting to mainland Europe, the Americas and as far afield as India.
      The overall quality and shelf-life of the bacon was dramatically increased. It was an ingenious but simple innovation for its time.
      Bacon info via here


    • #14
      K.Flyer
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,560 ✭✭✭K.Flyer


      Whilst he was a Scot living in Belfast at the time, he moved to Ballsbridge and was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery Dublin when he died.

      John Boyd Dunlop
      In October 1887, John Boyd Dunlop developed the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre for his son's tricycle using his knowledge and experience with rubber, in the yard of his home in Belfast


    • #15
      martinedwards
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,046 ✭✭✭martinedwards


      Harry Ferguson: 3 point linkage on the back of a tractor

      as well as the 4 wheel drive system used on Range rovers, landrovers and F1 cars back in the day.

      he was also the pilot of the first powered aircraft flight in Ireland


    • #16
      Hercule Poirot
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,231 ✭✭✭Hercule Poirot


      Tayto sandwiches


    • #17
      DEFTLEFTHAND
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,499 ✭✭✭✭DEFTLEFTHAND


      Francis Beaufort was a Navan man (Beaufort wind force scale)


    • #18
      maudgonner
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭maudgonner


      Rooster potatoes were developed by Teagasc, cultivated to be an all-rounder variety that suited Irish tastes and climate.

      They've quite quickly taken a huge share of the market in Ireland, made big inroads in the UK and are gaining market share further afield.


    • #19
      wetlandsboy
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 217 ✭✭wetlandsboy


      Prof Peter Corcoran, lecturer, NUI Galway - red eye reduction and face tracking in cameras. https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/2010/01/27/digital-camera-expert-elected-fellow-of-ieee


    • #20
      StupidLikeAFox
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,808 ✭✭✭StupidLikeAFox


      maudgonner wrote: »
      Rooster potatoes were developed by Teagasc, cultivated to be an all-rounder variety that suited Irish tastes and climate.

      They've quite quickly taken a huge share of the market in Ireland, made big inroads in the UK and are gaining market share further afield.
      Excuse my ignorance, but does teageasc get a cut from those sales? Do they "own" the potato, sell the seeds or what way does this work?


    • #21
      maudgonner
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭maudgonner


      StupidLikeAFox wrote: »
      Excuse my ignorance, but does teageasc get a cut from those sales? Do they "own" the potato, sell the seeds or what way does this work?

      I don't really know the details tbh (I'm a potato consumer, not a producer :)), but I know they have a relationship with a company that markets & sells seed potatoes here & abroad (IPM).


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    • #22
      rsh118
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 697 ✭✭✭rsh118


      The jumbo breakfast roll, unprecedented in the curing of self-inflicted ailments.


    • #23
      harry Bailey esq
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭harry Bailey esq


      Casting my mind back to primary school in the 80s i vaguely recall irish involment in the invention of the submarine. Philip something or other he was called. Probably disproven now.


    • #24
      maudgonner
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭maudgonner


      harry Bailey esq wrote: »
      Casting my mind back to primary school in the 80s i vaguely recall irish involment in the invention of the submarine. Philip something or other he was called. Probably disproven now.

      It's in the OP (unless it's a different guy you're remembering). John P Holland from Co Clare.


    • #25
      LDN_Irish
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,188 ✭✭✭LDN_Irish


      The waterproof teabag, chocolate teapot and inflatable dartboards were all invented by kerry people.


    • #26
      gw80
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,092 ✭✭✭gw80


      Crackers, invented by one mr jacobs in Waterford, for the shipping industry


    • #27
      maudgonner
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,455 ✭✭✭maudgonner


      LDN_Irish wrote: »
      The waterproof teabag, chocolate teapot and inflatable dartboards were all invented by kerry people.

      Ah here, you left out underwater hairdryers!


    • #28
      failinis
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭failinis


      Viagra and Milk of Magnesia invented by guys from the North as well.


    • #29
      cdeb
      Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 7,456 Mod ✭✭✭✭cdeb


      William McCrum invented the penalty in football.


    • #30
      Rhys Essien
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,029 ✭✭✭Rhys Essien


      Irish-Americans

      Louis Sullivan - the modern skyscraper
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan

      Henry Ford - the first mass 'cheap' car
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford


      Irish-Australian

      John O'Sullivan - Wifi
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O%27Sullivan_(engineer)


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    • #31
      harry Bailey esq
      Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,814 ✭✭✭harry Bailey esq


      maudgonner wrote: »
      It's in the OP (unless it's a different guy you're remembering). John P Holland from Co Clare.

      I picked up the snippet in the mid eighties as a child,decades of hard living tend to 'muddy the waters' a little but I was in the ballpark
      so im happy enough with that.


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