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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 8 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 6 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 2 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 3 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 12 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 7 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1923 | 2 |
102 stories matching invent
- The Emergency Brake of 1892
A clever new mechanism for Seattle's Woodland Park streetcar line promised to stop a runaway trolley car within its own length.
- The Washer Invention at the Snohomish Fair
A local demonstration of a new, lightweight washing machine promises to revolutionize labor for households across the Puget Sound country.
- A Theosophical Dispute Over a $100 Forfeit
A local skeptic challenges a Theosophist’s claim regarding Madame Blavatsky, arguing that the movement justifies evil under the guise of 'Karma.'
- The Ghost Gold of the Columbia
An amateur inventor claims to have solved the age-old problem of harvesting microscopic gold dust from the banks of the Columbia River.
- Dr. Hannibal Mills and the Self-Impelling Motor
An aspiring inventor blames 'poison rum' for his recent legal troubles and pleads his case in the newspaper.
- The Miracle at Moxee: Water Strikes the High Ground
A homemade rotary drill finds artesian water where experts feared it was impossible, turning arid desert into potential farmland.
- The 'Martial Law' Grab
An early attempt by land speculators to seize control of local governance in King County for profit.
- Hoquiam’s School Board Prioritizes Local Business Over Outsiders
While Hoquiam mandates that local contractors perform school heating work, Aberdeen officials look to Tacoma for technical installations.
- The American Danger: A Turn-of-the-Century Manifesto
A jingoistic editorial from the Tacoma Times defining the nation's sense of self and global superiority in 1904.
- The Steam Jet Visionaries
Two inventors believe they have cracked the code to high-speed maritime travel using hydraulic water jets.
- A Claim to the Shingle Throne
A Ballard man challenges the history books, asserting he invented the sawed shingle in King County in 1874.
- An Agricultural Innovation Takes Root in Walla Walla
The Talbot Brothers expand their successful farm implement business into a city factory to meet regional demand for their labor-saving cultivator.
- A Local Prophet’s Wild Vision of 1940s Kennewick
In a satirical speech to the Woman's Club, A. R. Gardner imagined a future where Kennewick harnessed its notorious windstorms and turned river sand into a global glass empire.
- The Seattle Man Who Tried to Photograph the Soul
A local resident claims to have invented a device that captures the human spirit departing the body at the moment of death.
- The Labor Vulture: A Radical Manifesto in a Seattle Pawn Shop
An anonymous editorial titled 'Capital vs. Lamb' appeared in the Seattle press in 1876, arguing that laborers are currently enslaved by capitalists and must unite to seize all profits of their work.
- The Trial of City Treasurer Adolph Krug
A Seattle judge rejects the defense's motion to dismiss embezzlement charges, invoking the history of the law against modern corporate corruption.
- The Unchecked Power of the Northern Pacific
A scathing editorial decries the 'bloodless, soulless' corporation for exploiting homesteaders and evading taxes while demanding public lands.
- Tragedy in North Seattle: A Father’s Desperate Attempt to Save His Children
After a midnight fire engulfs their home, a grieving father is left to mourn three young children, sparking a local relief effort among neighbors.
- The Unsinkable Seaman
After losing his leg in a shipboard accident, an American sailor invents a wooden limb that keeps him working the high seas.
- The 1878 Patent for Long-Distance Kissing
A satirical inventor in Snohomish introduces a bizarre 'kisograph' machine to keep lovers connected across thousands of miles.
- The Human Machine: An 1876 Warning on Burnout
A century-and-a-half-old editorial from Snohomish reminds us that the pressure to keep working is not a modern invention.
- The Real Estate 'Trip Hammer' of Early Kennewick
A local observer recounts how predatory tactics by a prominent land dealer backfired, costing him a sale and leaving a bitter taste for prospective homesteaders.
- The View from the Frontier: How the Old World Saw Pacific Coast Science
A visiting British scientist praises American ingenuity, from the innovative naval mapping of the Pacific depths to the reliable accuracy of 'Old Prob'—the precursor to modern weather forecasting.
- The Great Seattle Printing Conspiracy
When the Dispatch editor exposed a 'plunder' scheme by rival newspapers to inflate public printing costs, he revealed the messy, graft-filled reality of 1878 municipal administration.
- The Business of Mourning in the Civil War
As the casualty lists from the front lines grew, the private industry of embalming rose to meet a grim public need in Olympia and across the nation.