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.
At a glance
1878–1887
An energetic decade of inventions and entrepreneurial spirit.
120
The full run of 120 magazines.
One of the most prominent mechanical journals of its time
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.”
Kramer’s washing machine, American Inventor, April 1887
In every issue
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.
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