From the technology that helped radio announcers first broadcast news stories, to the machines that allow us to peel potatoes and do laundry, scientific contraptions have been an important part of our daily lives throughout human history.
Even though the engineering of such machinery has changed from century to century, it's always captured our imaginations.
Check out the historical photos below to see just how much scientific devices have changed from the 1500s to the 1950s.
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This was a radio announcement:
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Radio announcer transmitting a news bulletin in 1920.
This was a typewriter:
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One of the oldest typewriters, which was an invention of a Danish pastor, in 1925.
This was a bathing machine:
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Bathing machines that were used for changing in and swimming from at a seaside resort at the North Sea coast in Germany in 1895.
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This was a vitamin extraction machine:
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A worker adjusting the dial on a machine used for Vitamin A extraction in 1950. (A number of cooling fans dot the side of the machine.)
This was a tractor:
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An early caterpillar-track farm machine, which was built by Rustin and Hornsby of Lincoln, being used in England in 1902.
This was a potato peeler:
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Woman using a potato peeling machine in 1932.
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This was a tire-making machine:
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A Smithsonian Institute official holding a portable tire-making device in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 21, 1925.
This was a washing machine:
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A woman waiting for her gas-powered washing machine to finish a load of clothing in 1914.
This was an amphibious vehicle:
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An amphibian car entering in the sea in Ostia, Italy, in 1910.
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This was a vet visit:
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Ultraviolet rays being used to cure a dog's ailments in 1920.
This was exercising:
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Rosemary Andree keeping fit on the latest exercise device in 1930.
This was a self-moving wheel:
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An electrically driven wheel capable of speeds of 30mph being tested on the beach by Mr J. A. Purves of Taunton, who invented the machine with his son, on Feb 9, 1932.
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This was a photographic transmission:
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The first wireless photographic transmission being successfully experimented in 1920.
This was street maintenance:
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A machine being used for testing the efficiency of new streets in England on April 7, 1936.
This was a wind machine:
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Joseph Danko standing next to an invention that helps determine the direction of the wind in 1920.
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This was a condenser:
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A giant condenser being hoisted up to its position on board the Cunard liner Aquitania during its construction at the John Brown & Company shipyard in 1912.
This was a trephination:
Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images
An illustration of the trephination elevator, which was used for removing fragments of broken skull, as seen in a book on field surgery in 1593.
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