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televisions, mobile phones, washing machines, computers... these common appliances are constantly being updated, becoming more beautiful and more powerful, but what did they look like originally? how was it invented? let’s go back in time and see what these “first generation” appliances looked like.

turn waste materials into tv

in 1925, british engineer john logie baird developed the world's most primitive television camera and receiver using discarded radio equipment, candy boxes, wires and other materials.

john logie baird and his invention of television

he demonstrated the invention to 40 scientists on january 27, 1926, which is also considered the day of the birth of television. but at that time, tvs used internal cameras to capture objects, and then the receivers simultaneously restored the images to images. the images were very blurry, and they could only capture objects within 3 meters. after repeated research and experiments, baird finally used radio waves to send television images from london, england to new york, the united states in 1929. the event "seeing london from new york" suddenly became a sensation around the world. since then, television has become popular all over the world.

a brick-like mobile phone

one day in 1973, a man stood on the street in new york and spoke to a brick-like machine in his hand. this action attracted passers-by to watch curiously. this man is from the united statesmotorola corporationengineer martin cooper was talking to a competitor who was also developing a handheld mobile phone. on the phone he proudly said: "i'm calling you from a 'real' mobile phone."

martin cooper holding the world's first mobile phone。

that call was just a test, and it took another decade of development before motorola put the world's first mobile phone on the market. compared with today's mobile phones, the first mobile phone was priced at more than 7,000 yuan, which was very expensive. however, it was large and heavy (1.1 kg), could only be used for calls, and was "charged for 10 hours, and the phone can be used for calls." half an hour".

from mechanical washing machine to electric washing machine

the world's first washing machine appeared in 1858 and required manual operation. in the following decades, various mechanical washing machines appeared one after another. with the popularity of steam engines, steam washing machines appeared in the united states in 1880, and people's hands for washing clothes were gradually freed. for a time, the streets of america were dotted with laundry rooms, and people were willing to spend a small sum of money to be lazy.

in 1907, american engineer alva j. fisher invented the world's first electric washing machine. it is equipped with an electric motor and a spindle with a brush. when powered on, the brush can stir water and wash clothes, similar to the current drum washing machine. the emergence of electric washing machines marked the beginning of the automation of human housework.

computers as big as two houses

in 1946, the first electronic computer "eniak" was born in the united states. as the "ancestor" of the computer, it is an out-and-out behemoth, covering an area of ​​170 square meters, weighing 30 tons, and using 500,000 wires alone. it is very power-hungry but can perform 5,000 additions per second. its advent marked the arrival of the computer age.

a computer operator debugs the egnak.

first personal computer with built-in floppy disk

of course, it is impossible for such a big thing to be popularized, and scientists are working hard to shrink computers and shrink them again. in 1975, the first personal computer with a built-in floppy disk was launched in italy. this machine had a built-in printer and keyboard, and could also be connected to an external monitor. its functions were very close to those of later personal computers, but its running memory was only one ten thousandth of the current mainstream computer configuration.