Inventions of the 1950's

The human race is continually trying to invent new things. The 50’s saw a number of important inventions that substantially changed the lives of present generation. Some of famed concepts put forth are given below.

Optical Fibers

Optical fiber was invented in 1956. Narinder Singh Kapany invented it. It is used in fiber-optic communication, which is superior to other forms of communication and operates on the principle of total internal reflection. Optical fiber is joined by using an electric arc. Optical fiber transmitters are capable of sending up to 10 billion bits of information per second by switching a laser beam on and off. Unlike metal wires, fibers are immune to electromagnetic interference. Optical fiber is used for illumination in the medical field. They are used in medical and industrial endoscopes. Sometimes they are used as decorations and also in remote sensing.

Video Cassette Recorder

The videocassette recorder was invented in 1956. The company Ampex introduced it. The first model was Ampex VRX-1000, which costed 50,000 US Dollars. This was obviously unaffordable for the ordinary people and only television networks used it. The primary function of the video recorder is recording and replaying video and audio signals.

Hovercraft

Christopher Cockerrell invented the Hovercraft. The Hovercraft moves over the water surface floating on a layer of air, which would reduce friction between the vehicle and water. It is an amphibious vehicle. Hovercraft has also been used for military purposes.

Oral Contraceptive

Gregory Pincus invented the first oral contraceptive. These are synthetic hormones that simulate the action of progesterone and estrogen in a woman’s body. OC pills are widely used all over the world as a popular method of birth control.

Super glue

Dr. Harry Coover and Dr. Fred Joyner invented it in 1951. It is in fact a chemical called Cyanoacrylate. It was found when attempting to find a heat resistant acrylate polymer for use in jet engines. Super glue can be used to bind non-porous material. It was initially dubbed "Compound 910" and later its name was changed to Super glue.

Credit Card

Diner’s club introduced it in 1950. Later American Express issued in 1958. The Credit card is a plastic card. This eliminates the need to carry cash. One can pay for goods and services by swiping the Credit card. One can use the Credit card to withdraw cash from automated teller machines. Credit cards are used universally in this age.

Barcode

It is found in almost all items now. This is a code, which is unique for each item. A barcode scanner reads the code. Joseph Woodland, Jordin Johanson and Bernard Silver invented it in 1952. It was initially used to identify railroad cars. In 1966 they were bought in commercial use. However it was only in the 80’s that barcodes were commercially successful. They are used in shipping, receiving and inventory and sales tracking.

Black Box Flight Recorder

In case of flight accident, the investigators search for the black box flight recorder first. It could continually store up to four hours of speech, prior to any aircraft accident, as well as record flight instrument readings. David Warren of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne, Australia invented it in 1953.

There were many more inventions in the 1950’s such as pocket sized transistor radio, internal pacemaker, modem, laser, Velcro, FORTRAN programming language, the hula hoop and many more.