WW1 Inventions Weapons, and New Technology: WW1 inventions and new technology were not just confined to the areas of weapons. Other inventions of WW1 included the Gas Mask, the Geiger Counter, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Safety Glass, Stainless steel, the Zipper, the Bra, Crosswords, the Lipstick tube and the first Electric Stove

WW1 Inventions, Weapons and New Technology Fact File: Inventions: Tanks *** Fighter Aircraft *** Bombers *** Anti-aircraft guns *** Guided Missiles *** Anti-aircraft guns *** U-Boats *** Air-to-ground communication *** Flamethrowers *** Trench mortars *** Armor-piercing Ammunition *** Concrete pill box *** Poison gas *** Anti-submarine weapons *** SONAR *** Gas Mask *** Safety Glass *** Stainless steel *** Zipper *** Bra ***  Crossword *** Lipstick tube *** Electric Stove *** WW1 Inventions and New Technology ***

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Tanks: The great weapon of WW1 was the tank. The Tank was  heavily armored and armed, easy to steer and designed to carry cannon and heavy loads over rough ground and trenches on their distinctive caterpillar tracks. The first combat tank was ready by January 1916 and the first use of tanks was by the British at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in September 1916.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Anti-tank guns: During WW1, both the British and Germans deployed elephant guns, obtained from their African colonies, had enough force to punch through armored tanks. Anti-tank guns were then specifically invented and designed to destroy enemy armored vehicles (tanks) by firing anti-tank ammunition from longer-barreled guns. The first anti-tank rifle was the Mauser 13 mm anti-tank rifle that was developed by the Germans.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Armor-piercing Ammunition: The invention of Armor-piercing Ammunition was necessary to counter the tanks. Reversed Bullets, K Bullets were used as armor-piercing WW1 weapons.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Fighter Aircraft: Aircraft was a new phenonomen, the first sustained, and controlled flight of an airplane was made by the Wright Brothers in 1903, just eleven years before the outbreak of WW1. At the start of WW1 airplanes were unarmed and used for surveillance and reconnaissance but quickly evolved into fighter aircraft equipped with machine guns. The pilot Aces of World War 1 became involved in aerial combat called Dog Fights.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Bombers: The Albatros F-2 was the first aircraft to be developed as a bomber using grenades or grenade-like devices as bombs. The first fighter aircraft used in WW1 were small and relatively simple to build but underwent rapid development during the war to become bombers as aerial drop bombs were quickly developed. The bombers played a pivotal role in the outcome of WW1.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Air-to-ground communication: Air-to-ground communication was invented in June 1915 when the world's first air-to-ground voice transmission took place at Brooklands airfield in Surrey, England and in 1916 the Marconi Company based in England began production of air-to-ground radio transmitters and receivers which were used in WW1 over France.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Aerial Drop Bombs: As new weapon technology advanced aerial drop bombs were invented with new release mechanisms to suit the designs of the new bomber aircraft. High-capacity aerial drop bombs were used for general demolition purposes. Fragmentation bombs were deployed against military personnel and Incendiary bombs were used ammunition dumps and aerodromes.  

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Anti-aircraft guns: Heavy bombing raids prompted a major re-evaluation of air strategy and defence. The   invention of Anti-aircraft guns were developed against aerial attack. The requirement for Anti-aircraft guns led to the development of range finders, searchlights, time fuzes, and gun laying elevation mechanisms to help artillery pieces hit the rapidly moving airplane targets.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Guided Missiles: Early guided missiles were developed during World War I although they were never actually used in battle. The British developed a system that used radio signals to guide a flying bomb to its target and the Americans worked on an unpiloted biplane bomber called the "Kettering Bug".

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Trench Mortars: Trench Mortars as known as 'minenwerfer', literally meaning 'mine-thrower', were developed by the Germans and consisted of rifled mortars mounted upon field carriages. Trench Mortars were used to take out enemy machine gun posts and the Allies soon developed their own mortar weapon technology and introduced their own Trench Mortar weapons and mortar bombs.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Poison gas: Chemical weapons, known as poison gas, including chlorine gas, mustard gas and phosgene gas were the most terrifying of all the weapons used during WW1. Poison gas attacks were used against soldiers in the trenches and could result in death and agonizing injuries.

WW1 Inventions and New Technology - Gas Mask: The only defence soldiers could use against poison gas attacks in the trenches were gas masks. The person credited with inventing the modern Gas Mask in 1914 is the African American inventor Garrett Morgan.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Flamethrowers (Flammenwerfer): Flamethrowers (Flammenwerfer), a mechanical incendiary device designed to project a long, controllable stream of fire, were developed by Bernhard Reddemann and Richard Fiedler. Flamethrowers were introduced as a deadly weapon in WW1 by the Germans in the battle of Ypres salient in 1915. 

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Rifles: Rifles were invented in the mid 1800's but underwent significant improvements and became the most crucial infantry weapon throughout WW1. All of the major powers introduced new models of rifles that were small-bore, bolt-action weapons capable of firing multiple rounds from a spring-loaded clip inserted into a rifle magazine. The new rifle models used as weapons in WW1 were the British Lee-Enfield, the French Lebel and Berthier, the U.S. Springfield and the 'American Enfield', the Canadian Ross rifle and the German Mauser.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Safety Glass: The invention of safety glass coincided with the outbreak of WW1 and reduced the risk of injury from large jagged glass shards into the less harmful safety glass that shattered into tiny, relatively harmless fragments. The three-layer safety glass triplex were used in the window panels on aircraft and was also used in the manufacture of aviation goggles and gas masks.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - U-Boats: The U-Boats, undersea boats, was the name of the submarines used by Germany during WW1, and later in WW2 (199 - 1945). The typical U-boat was 214 feet long, carried 35 men and twelve torpedoes. The German U-boat could travel underwater for two hours at a time.

WW1 Weapons, Inventions and New Technology - Anti-submarine weapons: The invention of Anti-submarine weapons was necessary to combat the threat of submarines and protect battleships by using depth charges, mines and submarine torpedoes.

WW1 Inventions and New Technology - SONAR: SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) system was originally invented in 1906 by Lewis Nixon as as a means for detecting icebergs. In 1915, Paul Langevin invented the first sonar type device for detecting submarines, called an "echo location to detect submarines" but it was not fully developed until the end of WW1.

WW1 Inventions and New Technology - Pill Box: The invention of the concrete Pill Box, so named because they were the same shape as the boxes in which chemists supplied medications, were developed as a form of fortifications and defences along the coast of England.

WW1 Inventions and New Technology - Stainless steel: The invention of Stainless Steel, or rustless steel, was made in 1914 by the British inventor Harry Brearley and was used in manufacturing aircraft engines during WW1.

WW1 Inventions and New Technology - Zipper: The invention of the Zipper was made by Gideon Sundback in 1913. Zippers were used as hook-less fasteners that were sewn into flying suits to make them windproof.

WW1 Inventions and New Technology - Lipstick tube: The invention of the Lipstick tube was invented in 1915 by the American inventor Maurice Levy before the US entered WW1 on April 6, 1917.