John Rand invents a collapsible metal squeeze tube. The container immediately hits markets in Europe, where it is used to hold and dispense artists' pigments.

Crawford Williamson Long, of Jefferson, GA performs the first operation using an ether-based anesthesia, when he removes a tumor from the neck of Mr. James Venable. Long will not reveal his discovery until 1849.

Rubber, so named because it could erase pencil, had long been considered a waterproofing agent, but in its natural state, it melted in hard weather and froze solid in the cold. After ten years of tireless work and abject poverty, Charles Goodyear perfects his process for "vulcanizing" rubber, or combining it with sulfur to create a soft, pliable substance unaffected by weather.

Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates his telegraph by sending a message to Baltimore from the chambers of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC. The message, "What hath God wrought?" marks the beginning of a new era in communication.

Cladius Ash helps Americans get a better grip on what they're eating. He creates a new type of artificial dental wear featuring individual porcelain teeth mounted with steel springs.

Richard M. Hoe creates a revolution in printing by rolling a cylinder over stationary plates of inked type and using the cylinder to make an impression on paper. This eliminated the need for making impressions directly from the type plates themselves, which were heavy and difficult to maneuver.

In a 990,00 square foot glass conservatory in London, the Great Exhibition begins. Among the 14,000 exhibits were Colt's repeating pistol, Goodyear's vulcanized rubber, and Gail Borden's meat biscuit. More than six million visitors from around the world attended; the exhibition became a model for all World Fairs to come.

Elisha Graves Otis dramatically demonstrates his passenger elevator at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York by cutting the elevator's cables as it ascends a 300 foot tower. Otis' unique safety braking system prevents the elevator from falling; his business prospects rise.

Edwin T. Holmes of Boston begins to sell electric burglar alarms. Later, his workshop will be used by Alexander Graham Bell as the young Bell pursues his invention of the telephone. Holmes will be the first person to have a home telephone.

Drilling at Titusville, PA, "Colonel" Edwin Drake, strikes oil at a depth of 69.5 feet. Prior to that, oil, which had been used mostly as a lubricant and lamp fuel, had been obtained only at places where it seeped from the ground. Western Pennsylvania witnesses the world's first oil boom.

B. Tyler Henry, chief designer for Oliver Fisher Winchester's arms company, adapts a breech-loading rifle invented by Walter B. Hunt and creates a new lever action repeating rifle. First known as the Henry, the rifle will soon be famous as simply the Winchester.

For the first time, two armored ships battle each other at sea. The Union Monitor, designed from scratch by John Ericsson, features a two-cannon revolving turret and eight-inch plate armor. The Confederate Merrimac, a wooden hulled ship hastily outfitted with iron plates, holds it own against the Monitor, battling to a draw.

James Plimpton of Medford, MA gives the world the first practical four-wheeled roller skate. This sets off a roller craze that quickly spreads across the US and Europe.

Built in the oil fields at Pithole, Pennsylvania, Samuel van Syckel's 5 mile, pump-operated pipeline made oil transport infinitely easier. No one appreciated this more than the Teamsters, who saw a threat to their business and destroyed the pipeline. The determined van Syckel hired a crew of "pipeline protectors" and rebuilt.

William Bullock introduced a printing press that could feed paper on a continuous roll and print both sides of the paper at once. Used first by the Philadelphia Ledger, the machine would become an American standard, and would also kill its maker, who died when he accidentally fell into one of his presses.

Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio invents the product that will close down the open cattle ranges by closing in cattle onto individual plots of privately owned land. I.L. Ellwood and Company's Glidden Steel Barb Wire will dominate the market; by 1890 the open range will be only a memory.