Late 18th and early 19th century – The Napoleonic wars saw several innovations – the first known use of a safety rope; Napoleon offered a prize for a means of preserving food and the result was bottled fruit.

In 1798 the 2 shoulder strap rucksack was ordered to be carried by English soldiers. The 2 strap pack became standardised throughout all European armies, and usually with a front opening, i.e. not top opening, a concept thought to have been born in the 1970s with the rise in the travel market.

1679 – France. Pressure cooker invented by Denis Papin

1701 – UK Jethro Tull invented the mechanical seed drill, beginning the mechanisation of agricultural production.

1712 –  UK Thomas Newcomen built the first effective steam (atmospheric) engine.

1714 – Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit invented a practicable thermometer and his temperature scale.

1769 – UK James Watt patented a significant improvement to the efficiency of the steam engine – the separate condenser. UK Richard Arkwright’s waterframe cotton spinning machine patented. F A de Garsault supposed to have produced the first paper clothing patterns.

1776-1783 – USA – American War of Independence resulting in split from UK.

1781 – UK James Watt invented the means of converting reciprocating into rotary motion so steam engines could drive machinery.

1789 – France – French Revolution.

1789-1815 – France Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

1791 – Claude Chappe invented semaphore.

1810 – UK Precision screw-cutting lathe invented by  Henry Maudsley – made nuts and bolts with perfect threads and enabled many subsequent engineering developments.

1811 – UK Canning process patented using lead (metal) to create airtight seal.

1830 UK Opening of world’s first passenger railway from Liverpool to Manchester.

1830s Practical form of electric telegraph developed.

1837 Samuel Morse invented Morse code.

1837 UK Queen Victoria crowned queen of Britain.

1855 UK – The waterproof jacket developed by Charles Macintosh reached a highly refined stage. The fabric was rubber coated and the finished garment weighed 5 1/2 oz and could be “fitted into a cigar box”.

1857 UK/Italy – The first recorded customisation of climbing boots/nails –on the first ascent of Mt Pelmo in the Dolomites by John Ball. He stopped for half an hour, the others ‘waiting whilst he screwed in his points’.

1859 UK Tuckett’s ‘Russian Furnace’ (stove) developed and first used.

1851 UK – The Great Exhibition in Hyde Park London.

1852 India/Nepal Everest identified as the world’s highest mountain by the (British) ‘Survey of India’.

1858 Discovery of K2, world’s second highest mountain; in the Karakorum, now located within Pakistan.

1859 First oil well drilled by Edwin Drake in Pennsylvania.

Mid 1870s Growing need for technical rock climbing gear – first in Eastern Alps and also in Western as mountaineering shifted from endurance to athleticism – beginning of technical equipment.

1879 France – Jean Esteril Charlet (1840-1925) perfected the use of the rope descending technique ‘rappel’ or abseil.

1879 UK – trademark for Burberry self-ventilating cloth registered, it was to provide polar explorers and mountaineers with protection for the next 50 years

1871 UK First publication of Edward Whymper’s Scrambles in the Alps one of the most successful books on mountaineering.

1874 UK Liverpool YMCA Rambling Club formed.

1876 USA Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

1878 UK Bicycle Touring Club formed, forerunner of the Cycle Touring Club, and had 60,449 members by 1899.

1890 Italy – Excelsior Folding Lantern – developed by the Italian Alpine Club – became commercially available. .

1892 Sweden- Primus stoves manufactured for the first time by the Swedish company J.V Svensons Foténkööksfabric. This constituted a breakthrough in expedition logistics – .

1891-2 UK Mummery designed lightweight tent, which bears his name.

1892 UK First recorded use of eiderdown sleeping bags, based on a pattern from Heals and Co Tottenham Court Road, London.

1892 UK – Whymper and Mummery tents first appeared in the Benjamin Edgington catalogue.

1892 ??? UK – First mention of pitons in Alpine Journal article by J.H. Gibson ‘The Eastern Arete of the Meije.’

1890s UK – First appearance of aluminium cooking equipment for camping – advantage of light weight.

1898 UK – Thomas Hiram Holding undertook a cycle camping tour in Connemara Ireland, creating all the bicycle luggage pieces that we know today, handlebar bag, front and rear panniers, rack pack, seat pack.

1898 First successful use of sealskins for ski mountaineering by the Madlener Brothers in Allgau, Germany.

1890 – Nansen ( Norway) published ‘The First Crossing of Greenland’ in 2 volumes. This illustrated book introduced the wider world to the ski which was unknown in Alpine areas. German version was same date. see our ‘Great Innovators: Nansen.

1891 UK -Sir Hugh Munro published his Tables of Heights over 3000 feet listing 283 Scottish peaks.

1892 UK -Scottish Ramblers’ Alliance formed

1892 UK- Alpine Club Special Committee report on equipment published.

1892 USA -John Muir founded Sierra Club which was concerned with both climbing and conservation.

1893 UK- Co-operative Holidays Association formed with membership of 268 [1911 13,719]

1893 UK- Cairngorm Club formed.

1893 UK – Glasgow Socialist Rambling Club formed.

1894 UK – Clarion Cycling Club ( 75 Clubs with 2000 + members by 1897; 1905 120 clubs; 1908 182 clubs; 1913 8000 members ( peak)

1894 UK National Trust established.

1896 UK – Guglielmo Marconi patented wireless telegraphy (aka radio).

1897 Fridtjof Nansen lectured on Polar exploration in London to promote his book ‘Farthest North’.

1899 UK Alpine Club Equipment Exhibition.

1910 Pitons had evolved to include a welded ring, through which the rope was passed – .

1911 Pitons used for first time on a big alpine face when Angelo Dibona led Guido and Max Mayer up the north face of Laliderer in Karwendel, Bavaria.

1912 Dülfer and Schaarschmidt succeeded on the Fleischbank Ost Wand, Kaisergebirge, Austria, by the first combined use of pitons, karabiners and double rope, involving the pendulum technique for crossing ‘blank’ rock. (A drill was taken but not used).

1911 Burberry windproof cloth used for tents on Amundsen expedition.

1912. Félix Genecand designed a new type of boot nail (‘Tricouni’) and nailing system which was a performance breakthrough – .

1914/15 The first commercial appearance of rock boots was in the 1914/15 Sporthaus Schuster catalogue – .

1915 The Saxons in the Elbesandstein made an overhand knot in rope slings so that the knot could be jammed in cracks and the loop used as a runner.

1913  UK Holiday Fellowship established.

1913   Gideon Sundback invented the 1st machine to make practicable zip fasteners.

1914-18  First World War.

1919  UK Manchester Ramblers’ Council set up.

1919  UK Camping Club of Great Britain formed by merger of existing clubs –  6000 members by 1933.

1930’s Austrian climbers experimented with making crampons rigid along their length to enhance performance, but it was not commercialised.

1930 Neoprene (a synthetic coating which was superior to rubber) discovered – .

1931 Dr Karl Prusik of Vienna introduces a method of ascending the rope itself – .

1932 Laurent Grivel introduced the first 12-point crampons – .

1933 First Everest expedition to use:

(i) boots designed and made by Robert Lawrie Alpine bootmaker of Burnley:

(ii) Grenfell suits rather than Burberry.

(iii) Howard Flint’s eiderdown suits.

1933 Pierre Allain, France, designed and produced warm bivouac items – ‘La Grande cagoule’ and the ‘pied d’elephant’ or elephant’s foot. 1934 Discovery of nylon polyamide fibres – .

1935 Robert Burns supplied eiderdown shorts and coats for the Everest expedition.

1935 Robert Lawrie, Alpine bootmaker of Burnley, moved to London.

1936. USA innovator Eddy Bauer developed the concept known as ‘box quilting’ , resulting in much lighter sleeping bags and garments. .

1938 Pierre Allain of France designed and developed the first aluminium karabiner, followed closely by (but unaware of each other) Raffi Bedayne in the USA.

1938 The beginnings of Teflon® at Du Pont – subsequently leading to Gore-Tex. .

1930’s The technology of controlling the oscillations of a compass needle was important for hand held use. The world first liquid dampened orienteering compass was invented by Gunnar Tillander, and Silva Sweden AB was established to develop this invention.

1937-39 Vitale Bramani developed, in conjunction with Pirelli, the first rubber sole moulded to imitate the shape of nails.

Late 1930s Otto Bayer of IG Farben did pioneering work on polyurethane – see

1930 UK Frank Whittle patented the jet engine.

1936 UK- BBC inaugurates television service from Alexandra Palace in London.

1936 1st practicable helicopter designed by Professor Heinrich Focke.

1938 UK Holidays with Pay Act

Early 1950s Down clothing and ‘pied d’elephant’ ( a short sleeping bag invented by PA ( Pierre Allain see our Great Innovators: Pierre Allain ) came into general use in the Alps.

1950’s UK Practice of stiffening nylon slings ( for easier passing around chockstones) by boiling in sugar solution. Also many climbers worked in engineering workshops and collected engineering nuts from work (or even from the Snowdon mountain railway line!).

1951 Switzerland – George de Mestral invented Velcro – the hook and loop fastener. .

1952 French company ‘Pile Wonder’ produced first ever battery operated headlamp.

1953 Innovations associated with the successful 1953 Everest expedition included:

i. logistics and planning;

ii. a new clothing and tent fabric which was a mixture of nylon cotton.

iii. the new SATRA boot. which was a significant leap forward.

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1954 An inserted rock fragment for use as a thread belay was first used in the Alps on the West face of the Aiguille de Blaitière by Joe Brown and Don Whillans.

1956-58 Ice screws take a small step forward with the Marwa screw thread ‘bottle opener’ type – .

1958 First Karrimor rucksack.

1958 W.L. Gore established.

1958 American Velcro Inc., opened in Manchester NH, where many textile workers lived. Hook and loop were manufactured on shuttle looms.

Late 1950s Duvets –down jackets and Pied d’elephants brought home by British climbers.

1970 First microfibre product launched in 1970 by Toray Industries – Japan.

1970 USA – In a 26-day epic Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell put up a new route, Wall of the Early Morning Light in Yosemite Valley, California. They sat out a 4-day storm in a new bivouac style single point of suspension tent, which they appropriately named the “bat”

1970 UK expedition – The Annapurna South Face expedition resulted in several innovations:

i. The Whillans box 2nd generation.

ii. The Whillans’ nylon webbing climbing harness by Troll.

iii. Whillans down suit.

iv. Neoprene overboots for the (still single) leather boots.

v. The Karrimat received its first real high altitude test.

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1970 New bivi style single point of suspension tent developed, named the “bat” – .

1971 Chouinard Equipment Company founded.

1972 First non pack frame ie climbing pack with an integrated hip belt introduced by Karrimor as Haston/Vallot. The forerunner of all packs today which have a hip belt.

1972 Berghaus began manufacturing rucksacks.

1972 Karrimor began distribution of Trangia stoves.

1972 Paul and Sarah Howcroft set up Rohan in Skipton to produce alternatives to tweed breeches and woollen shirts for walkers and mountaineers.

1972 W.L. Gore began experimenting with what became Gore-Tex.

1973 Coating technology for nylon fabrics achieved a major breakthrough with Karrimor’s introduction of KS-100e.

1973 Cechinel and Jaeger climbed the north couloir of the Petit Dru using the new drooped pick ice tools produced by Simond of Chamonix.

1. Mitchells ( founded 1847) and Vango merged with Blacks and Edgington.

1975 Karrimor distribution of Salewa ice climbing gear.

1971-77 Development of Gore-Tex material by W L Gore – .

1976 Berghaus began to work with Gore-Tex.

1977 First advertisement for the Mistral jacket by Berghaus, made in Gore-Tex.

1977 Ken Ledward began researching the K.L.E.T.S. sole.

1. Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia

1977 Bruce Hamilton of The North Face company located in Berkeley California, got together with Buckminster Fuller and designed the Geodesic Dome. This lightweight tent had lower wind resistance and heat loss than conventional designs and transformed tent design

1978 Wild Country introduced the first camming device

1978 Plastic shelled mountain boots introduced by Koflach of Austria. First available with felt inners and then later with closed cell foam inners called after the foam itself, Alveolit. This was a process for chemically blown foam as distinct form the pressure chamber blown version used on the Karrimat.

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2. Wild Country UK produced the first nuts that were radiused in 4 different directions – named ‘rocks.’

1979 Yeti gaiters were developed by Berghaus, UK the first successful gaiter which totally enclosed and protected the boot from water ingress.

1979 Introduction of Fibrepile. Created using a Helly Hansen patented double-face knitting process which improved flexibility and made it long lasting and durable for work wear applications.

1979 Hamish Hamilton began making sleeping bags at Buffalo.

1979 KS 100e introduced for Karrimor packs and cycle bags.

1979 First batch of Pertex manufactured by Perseverance Mills – patent registered 1980

1971 First year in which Karrimor International Mountain Marathon gained full Karrimor sponsorship.

1972 Mountain Life replaced Mountaineering and ran for 4 years to be incorporated in Climber and Rambler.

1972 Ordnance Survey Publish first outdoor leisure map covering the Peak District.

1973 Global Positioning System GPS, originated in 1973 But only reached ‘Initial Operational Capability’by late 1993.

1975 UK Publication of the Hunt report on mountain (leadership) training.

1975 USA 1st personal computer developed.

1978 UK First issue of The Great Outdoors, the first commercially produced magazine devoted to walking.

1978 1st cellular mobile phone system introduced in Chicago.

1995 Malden Mills Fire interrupted supply of Polartec fleece

1997 Walking (trekking) poles begin to sell in UK,.

1990s UK – Sustrans – the campaign for sustainable transport – had 36000 members by 1998. With Millennium Fund money it began development of a national cycle network in the UK.