1837 – The US Patent Office approved Thomas Davenport’s application for a patent on an “Improvement in Propelling Machinery by Magnetism and Electro-Magnetism.” We’d call it an electric motor.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=NM0-AAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false/
1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC became the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.
http://nationalradioclub.org/articles/1stfacts.txt
1930 – A US patent for a photographing apparatus was issued to George Lewis McCarthy, who called it a Checkograph. It was the first bank check photographing device.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=6q9VAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.