Are there any mid to late 19th century inventions that could have been invented before .

The phonograph comes to mind. In its first version, it was strictly mechanical, and nothing the master machinists / instrument makers of the early 19th century couldn't have done (it's not inconceivable to have had the voices of, say, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson recorded for posterity). Also, after efficient stationary steam engines and wire rope were developed in the middle of the 19th century, the cable car could easily have come along before the Civil War--although New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore would have been the first city to have cable traction. Of those, Baltimore would probably have been the best choice, with a terrain that would have permitted the judicious use of gravity and a highly concentrated population.
 

Jerry Kraus

Banned
There are three major developments in physics relevant to the 19th century:
1. Applications of classical mechanics
2. Electricity
3. Radio

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_radio states Hertz considered the transmission of electromagnetic waves to be of little practical value in 1887-1890. About half a century earlier, Michael Faraday dismissed the idea of communicating without wires. As would be expected, the writings of Michael Faraday are available in the public domain. In some of his earlier writings on electricity and magnetism, there are citations going back as far back as the 18th century. The wikipedia article seems to downplay contributions from the French. I don't recall Micheal Faraday citing Hans Christian Ørsted or any other German writer for that matter. The earliest citations in Farday's essays were French, if I recall correctly. More to the point, it's clear in Faraday's work that idea of communicating without wires at least had occurred to people in the early 19th century. Actually making use of "electromagnetic induction" is another matter. Note Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction.

This is the same period in which railroads were taking off, which arguably were the most important application of classical mechanics. Physical concepts like energy, work and velocity define the earliest technological breakthroughs in physics. Considering the steam engine was invented, and improved significantly in the late 18th century, it would have been possible for the popularization of railroads to have occurred in the first decade of the 19th century instead of the 1820s. If you want to go back even earlier, iron works were key to the development of the steam engine, as they were the main purpose of coal prior to the steam engine. Suppose someone in England made a steam engine to help extract coal two centuries earlier. This could have led to other sciences such as electricity and radio being developed earlier. In which case, computers could have become viable by the 19th century.

If there's a way to increase demand for iron or increase innovations related with iron, this would likely speed up the rate of technological progress. Cast iron is one early innovation that comes to mind. If there was a greater investment in cast iron, the 16th or 17th centuries could look like the otl 19th century. Exploration of iron and coal reserves is relevant as well. Isn't it silly how much Europeans valued gold and silver? Iron has always been a far more important metal.

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Actually, I think the developments in physics are secondary to the development of cast iron. Once we have cast iron, inventions using it will be developed, and the scholars in physics will jump on board to explain their use and application. Physics doesn't develop in an abstract vacuum. Maxwell's electromagnetic equations were largely inspired by inventions using electricity like the Telegraph. That's why he was interested.
 

Infinity

Banned
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Actually, I think the developments in physics are secondary to the development of cast iron. Once we have cast iron, inventions using it will be developed, and the scholars in physics will jump on board to explain their use and application. Physics doesn't develop in an abstract vacuum. Maxwell's electromagnetic equations were largely inspired by inventions using electricity like the Telegraph. That's why he was interested.
What about Faraday and Ampere? They did extensive research on electricity before there were practical applications.
 

Jerry Kraus

Banned
What about Faraday and Ampere? They did extensive research on electricity before there were practical applications.
Well, we had Franklin's lightning rod, from 1750 or so. And, no doubt that inspired both Ampere and Faraday, as well as Franklin's popular and scientific writings on the subject. Of course, Franklin himself was inspired by even earlier experimenters. It's clearly a symbiotic relationship between science and technology, I'd say, anyway.
 
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