15 "Modern" Inventions That Are Much Older Than They Are Commonly Thought (16 photos)

While electric cars, vending machines, and linoleum may seem like recent developments, the stories behind these innovations go back decades, even centuries. Here's a short list of inventions that seem modern to us, but actually date back much further than we might think.





1. 3D printer



The first 3D printer appeared in 1981.

2. Lighter





The cigarette lighter appeared before matches. The lighter was invented in 1823, while matches were invented three years later, in 1826.

3. Electric Car



The first electric car was invented in Germany in 1888.

4. Braking Systems



Ancient Roman carts used brakes, bearings, and elastic suspensions.

5. Contact Lenses



Leonardo Da Vinci invented contact lenses in the 16th century. Obviously, this is not the modern version, but it laid the foundation for people to correct their vision with lenses.

6. Microwave



The microwave oven was patented in 1945.

7. Drones



The first unmanned aerial vehicle was used in combat in 1849.

8. Linoleum



Linoleum first appeared in 1860 and was a very common floor covering during the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

9. Vaccines



The first vaccine was introduced in 1796, after Dr. Edward Jenner discovered that people who had cowpox developed immunity to smallpox.

10. Electric street lighting



The world's first electric street lights (demonstration) were lit in 1873 in St. Petersburg on Odessa Street. In the 1880s, electric lights were installed in the center of Paris, London, Moscow and other large cities.

11. Water supply



Tap water. Go back to 1850 and you didn't have that luxury. If you lived in a big city, you had a chamber pot. The ancient Romans had running water... Obviously, this is an old invention, but for some reason, we lost the technology before the late 1800s.

12. Vending Machines



The first modern vending machines appeared in London in the early 1800s.

13. Electric Motor



The electric motor was invented in 1832.

14. Calculator ... or something like it



The abacus can be considered a calculator, and it was used a couple of thousand years BC.

15. Fax Machine



The fax machine was patented in 1843 by Alexander Bain as an "electric printing telegraph". The first commercial fax machine was introduced by Italian physicist Giovanni Caselli in 1865.