Buzz
The United States, with its largest GDP in the world, often seems to be the birthplace of most modern-day inventions. Capitalism and free enterprise foster innovation, even if the reasons behind it aren't always so noble. However, the reality is that some of the most ubiquitous products we use today were invented outside the U.S., even though they’ve flourished in American markets, becoming so intertwined with daily life that it's hard for many Americans to picture them originating elsewhere. Here are 10 widely believed 'American' inventions that were neither created in America nor by Americans.
10. Batteries
Batteries have become an essential part of modern existence. While they have evolved considerably over time, the fundamental concept remains unchanged—and the origin of this technology is much older than you might think. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw major electrical breakthroughs by innovators like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Heinrich Hertz. These trailblazers filed numerous patents that helped shape the electrical world we live in today.
It might come as a shock to learn that the battery was actually invented over a century before many of the modern electrical innovations—in 1800, by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta. His creation, the Voltaic Pile, consisted of layers of copper, zinc, and cardboard soaked in saltwater. This design was inspired by the work of another Italian who observed that a dead frog’s legs would twitch when exposed to an electrical charge. Volta simply swapped out the frog legs with saltwater to form a circuit.
In fact, the development of the battery has been an international effort, with each stage coming from a different country. An Englishman enhanced Volta's original battery, a Frenchman introduced the first rechargeable battery, and a Swede invented the nickel-cadmium battery, which is still in use today. The only real American contribution came from Benjamin Franklin, who is credited with coining the term “battery.”
9. Decaffeinated Coffee
As most people know, coffee beans naturally contain caffeine, which is why many drink it. However, millions of “health-conscious” Americans opt for decaf instead of the caffeinated variety. It’s become so commonplace that it’s available in nearly every coffee shop and office across the country, making it as quintessentially American as apple pie.
However, it turns out that decaffeinated coffee isn't American at all (and neither is apple pie, for that matter). The technique of decaffeination was actually developed by a German inventor named Ludwig Roselius in 1903. It was later marketed in the U.S. under the brand name Sanka. Coffee contains over 400 different chemicals, each contributing to its unique flavor, texture, and aroma. Therefore, extracting just one compound—caffeine—while preserving everything else, is no simple task. Roselius achieved this by steaming the beans with acid and soaking them in benzene, which removed the caffeine. Since benzene has been linked to bone marrow cancer, modern decaffeination methods have evolved.
8. Answering Machine
Once the telephone was created, it didn’t take long for someone to figure out how to filter out unwanted calls. This led to the invention of the answering machine. While most people credit American inventor Benjamin Thornton with the invention of the answering machine, who filed a patent in 1936, a Swiss inventor named Willy Mueller actually patented a similar device a year earlier. However, a 1930 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine refers to a device described as “a robot that answers the phone for you,” five years before Mueller. In truth, the history of the answering machine is complicated, but one thing is clear—it was not an American invention.
In fact, the first device capable of recording and playing back messages was invented by Danish inventor Valdemar Poulsen in 1898. However, it was too bulky to be practical at the time. It wasn’t until 1960 that answering machines became available for sale in the U.S. The Ansafone, created by Japanese inventor Kazuo Hashimoto, was the first digital answering machine and marked the beginning of modern answering technology.
7. Notepad
The notepad is one of those everyday items that we hardly give a second thought. However, this seemingly simple invention became the foundation for nearly a century of paper binding. The same technique was later adopted to bind books, especially the American pulp fiction novels of the 1930s and 1940s, which played a significant role in bringing commercial reading to the masses.
Before the 1900s, paper was often just piled together in a stack. But in 1902, Australian inventor J.A. Birchall had an idea to apply a thin strip of glue to the top of a stack of paper, adding a sheet of cardboard at the back. And thus, the notepad came into existence. Originally marketed as Silvercity Writing Tablets, these notepads went on to become one of the most popular products in the world.
6. Contact Lenses
Every day, thirty-eight million Americans opt for contact lenses over eyeglasses. While eyeglasses have been around since 13th-century Italy, their design has remained largely unchanged over the years—aside from the evolving styles of frames that shift with trends. On the other hand, it wasn’t until 1887 that a German inventor named Adolf Fick decided to ditch the frames altogether and directly place a lens into the eye.
The first contact lenses were enormous—21mm (0.8 inches) in diameter and crafted from blown glass. To reduce friction, a sugar solution was placed between the lens and the eye. Although these lenses were cumbersome and uncomfortable, they lasted for 50 years before being replaced by plastic versions in 1936.
Though Adolf Fick is credited with creating the first functional (albeit semi-functional) contact lens, he wasn’t the first to attempt the idea. Leonardo da Vinci is believed to have invented a type of contact lens in 1508, made from a bowl of water. Likewise, Rene Descartes is said to have designed a water-filled tube meant to fit into the eye, but the concept never gained traction because it protruded too much, making it impossible to blink.
5. DDT
When you think of pesticides, DDT is probably one of the first chemicals that comes to mind. Currently banned in 170 countries, DDT was once one of the most widely used pesticides in the U.S., with thousands of farms applying tens of thousands of pounds of the chemical to protect their crops. Its most notable use was during WWII, when Allied forces used it to combat typhus. In the South Pacific, soldiers had DDT sprayed in the air around them to keep mosquitoes (and malaria) at bay.
However, DDT wasn’t created in the same country that later brought it to global prominence. The credit goes to Othmar Zeidler, a German chemist who first synthesized dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in 1874. But it wasn’t until 1939, when Swiss chemist Paul Hermann Muller discovered that DDT could be used as an insecticide, that it gained worldwide notoriety. Muller was later awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery.
4. CDs
Compact discs, commonly known as CDs, were a pivotal innovation of the 1990s and early 2000s. They effectively replaced cassette tapes and, in all likelihood, represent the last tangible audio technology, as digital formats like MP3s have now dominated the music world. However, CDs had a longer history than many may know. Can you guess when they were first created? You might think it was in the early 90s or late 80s, but it actually dates back to 1974, nearly a decade before they even hit the market.
The pioneering minds behind the CD were the Dutch company Philips and the Japanese company Sony. It may not be surprising, as both companies independently began working in the mid-1970s on ways to embed digital sound onto a small plastic disc. In an uncommon move for major corporations, the two giants teamed up to expedite the development process. The first album ever released on CD was ABBA’s 'The Visitors' in 1981.
3. Telephone
Ask any Canadian where the telephone was invented, and they’ll proudly point to the frozen ground beneath them. Ask an American, and they’ll give the same answer—a finger pointing down to American soil. Despite Alexander Graham Bell filing the patent for the first electric telephone with the U.S. Patent Office in 1876, most of his work in the early 1870s took place at his family residence in Brantford, Ontario. It was there, alongside his assistant Thomas Watson, that they first transmitted a sound through a wire by plucking a metal reed, similar to a harp. This marked the first time an audio signal was sent electronically, laying the foundation for the telephone.
Despite the fact that Bell had made a promise to his investors to register his invention as an American creation, the patent was filed in the United States, allowing America to claim the telephone as its own, even though the device itself was developed in Canada. If you're curious, Bell’s complete lab notebook is available for you to read online.
2. Aerosol Cans
Given their introduction in the United States, it's logical to assume that aerosol cans were invented by an American company. However, the reality is that an American company purchased the patent for 100,000 kroner from Norwegian scientist Erik Rotheim, who had patented the aerosol concept in Oslo, Norway five years prior.
Aerosol spray cans are fairly common all over the world, but the first ones were sold in the U.S. in 1931. Since then, the core idea has remained relatively unchanged—a payload and a propellant are contained in an airtight metal can, and they’re released by pushing a button at the top of the can. Buy any can of spray paint right now and it wouldn’t be terribly different from what was being used in the 30’s.
1. Television
While America may not be able to take credit for decaf coffee, DDT, or contact lenses, we can proudly claim the television as one of our most iconic inventions. Or so we thought. In reality, television is a Russian innovation. It was Boris Rosing, a Russian engineer, who in 1907, utilized a cathode ray tube to display images, laying the foundation for the technology that would eventually bring us moving pictures on a screen.
The idea was born, but like most inventions, it took several years and many contributors to bring it to life. In 1925, a Scottish scientist named John Logie Baird succeeded in transmitting moving images to a cathode ray tube with a resolution of 30 lines (not pixels). Back in Russia, Leon Theremin improved the early technology, increasing the resolution to 100 interlocking lines, bringing it closer to the television we recognize today—well, before the advent of LCD screens. Few Americans, particularly during the height of Cold War animosity, likely realized that the technology bringing them the news was of Russian origin.
