American Inventor
American Inventor
The history of American invention in relation to technological, social, economic, and cultural change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The history of American invention in relation to technological, social, economic, and cultural change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
As the Industrial Revolution made daily life increasingly complex, the public sought efficiency and comfort. People were in the grip of invention fever.
American Inventor reported on innovations in agriculture, building, mechanics, household management, infrastructure, transportation, electricity, and communications—detailing inventions from America and around the world.
As the Industrial Revolution made daily life increasingly complex, the public sought efficiency and comfort. People were in the grip of invention fever.
American Inventor reported on innovations in agriculture, building, mechanics, household management, infrastructure, transportation, electricity, and communications—detailing inventions from America and around the world.
American Inventor was read by the general public, inventors, patent officers, attorneys, and mechanics of all types. Its advertising claimed that a year's issues contained "reading matter equal to 800 book pages and 300 illustrations of everything new in the field of mechanical thought.”
Every issue included editorials, book reviews, commentary on the patent system and reforms, and biographies of inventors. There were articles about new devices—the iron foot plow, power woodworking tools, the telephone, consumer appliances—that accelerated the growth of retail businesses and changed the way Americans lived their daily lives.
At a glance
An energetic decade of inventions and entrepreneurial spirit.
The full run of 120 magazines
Sample covers, pages, and primary sources from this Database.
Kramer’s washing machine, American Inventor, April 1887
MEET THE EDITORS
IP, EZproxy, Shibboleth, OpenAthens, HAN.
Full VPAT statement available.
Indexed in Primo, Summon, EDS, WorldCat.
Quarterly updates via Customer Portal.
COUNTER 5 / SUSHI compliant.
Free 30-day institutional trial. No credit card required.