It’s not all about circuits, silicon and stock options: mankind’s been making technology since the dawn of time. Here’s ten of the most wonderful gadgets from centuries—and millenia—past. No "ThyPhone" jokes, if you please!
Antikythera Computer
c. 1st Century B.C.
It took scientists a century—and the help of a $500,000 x-ray tomography system—to finally unravel the Antikythera Mechanism’s mysteries. Discovered in 1900 amid the remains of an ancient shipwreck, the device survived only as a heavily corroded mechanism and countless scattered lumps of metal. At first, it played second fiddle to the classical statues found alongside it. With the discovery that it contained a differential gear—thought to be an 18th-century invention—its mystery deepened.
Confirmed to be the remains of a fully-functional mechanical computer in 2006, the mechanism is perhaps a achievement of the engineers of ancient Rhodes—and a way to sail from Alexandria to Athens without getting lost.
The Baghdad Battery
c. 250 AD
No-one knows exactly what these alleged ancient batteries were used for. Discovered near Baghdad in the 1930s, they appear to be galvanic cells: terracotta urns with a copper and iron assembly poking out the stoppered top. Filled with an acidic agent, a chemical reaction between the two metals produces electricity.
Though providing only a feeble current, it could have been used to electroplate dull metals with gold, or to electrify religious objects with an inspirational tingle-to-the-touch. On the other hand, they might just have been fancy scroll-storage devices designed to hold papyrus neatly in place. Either way, they’re gadgets.
The components are hard to date, but the pottery style suggests second or third century construction.
The Seamless Globe
c. 1630
Armilliary spheres represent a model of the universe, comprising the equator, the ecliptic and the meridians. Early models place the Earth in the center—more modern ones replace it with the Sun.
The earliest known model was invented by Eratosthenes in 255BC, with Zhang Heng creating a water-powered example in the second century.
Complex and exceedingly detailed, these elaborate devices are held to be among mankind’s earliest examples of precision engineering. Perhaps the greatest are the seamless but static perfect globes created for the Mughal Emperors, between the 16th-19th centuries.
The Turk and El Ajedrecista
1770 and 1912
The Turk was a chess player concealed in a table packed with cogs and gears, contrived to give the appearance of a mighty chess-playing machine. Atop the table, an articulated automaton would be seen to make the moves determined by the master within.
One of the 18th and 19th century’s many illustrious hoaxes, the Turk is perhaps the greatest gadget that wasn’t. That said, it was a complex machine featuring a variety of technical marvels.
For example, the player had to operate the mechanical turk blindly, so that it could be seen to make the moves itself: a system of magnetic chess pieces, levers and pulleys made this possible. A primitive voice box allowed it to inform its victims that their King was in check. Skeptic Philip Thicknesse wrote the definitive early exposé, in which he describes The Turk as "a complicated piece of clockwork." Knockoffs of the original became more common thereafter, with exotic names such as Ajeeb and Mephisto.
El Ajedrecista was the first chess machine that could actually make its own moves. Unlike The Turk, it was a genuine automaton able to play endgames featuring a King vs. a King and a Rook. Created in 1912 by Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, it was a sensation: it could even detect illegal moves.
Governed by a simple algorithm, it would deliver mate every time regardless of the lone King’s movements or the setup of the board.
Pot Still
c. 9th Century
Now here’s a technology we can drink to.
Formerly used by alchemists until it was more properly deployed in the distillation of whiskies and brandies, the alembic was invented around the eighth century and led directly to its modern derivative, the pot still.
An alembic assembly comprises two receptacles, or retorts, and a connecting tube to condense the boiling contents of one and shunt the result to the other. As the simplest way to to get that particular chemical process done, it’s perfect for brewing moonshine.
Classical GPS: The Equitorium, Torquetum, Astrolabe, Sextant and Orrery
The astrolabe was in use from before the age of Christ until the modern era. An analog computer able to predict and pinpoint the location of heavenly bodies, it was put to many uses: Astrologers and astronomers alike enjoyed its precision, and its reflection of the skies above made it useful for finding exactly where you were beneath them.
Medieval and renaissance life was packed with crazy astronomical gadgets. The sextant, a device that allows navigators to quickly measure the angle of the sun, was another essential gadget on the high seas. Simpler than the astrolabe, but less useful, was the equitorium. Able to pinpoint the relative positions of the Moon, Sun and planets without any calculation, mechanical or otherwise, it was first invented by Arzachel in the eleventh Century.
The Torquetum (above) is a more complex device, thought to have been invented about 800 years ago, but of which only relatively modern examples remain due to the design’s fragility. Another device was the pantacosm, which calculates aspects, or the angles between heavenly bodies. The tellurion demonstrates how daylight and the seasons on Earth are caused by its bearing relative to the sun.
Of all such universal calculators, Orreries are among the most beautiful. Illustrating in miniature a three dimensional model of the solar system, they also model the movements of its constituent bodies. First constructed in about 1704 by clockmaker George Graham, it gave the public of a largely pre-scientific era a working insight into a universe they could barely comprehend.
Leyden Jar
1745
The earliest capacitor, the Leyden Jar was invented in the 1740s by the University of Leiden’s Pieter van Musschenbroe. In its simplest form, it is a metal conductor passing through an insulated stopper into a bottle of water lined inside and out with foil. Ground the outside and apply a charge to the inside, and the film gains an opposing charge held in place by the dielectric (i.e. the glass). Close the circuit between the two coatings, and … zap!
Ark of the Covenant
Described in the Bible as a sacred box containing the stone-inscribed ten commandments and other relics, the Ark’s odd characteristics have long intrigued scholars.
Often depicted as an ornate metal-lined chest with two cherubim facing one another atop it, the ark had four rings, containing two long wooden carrying poles. Some believe this odd composition suggests it was a primitive battery.
Perhaps the ark was a Leyden Jar of sorts, able to hold a charge and zap sticky-fingered thieves.
Finally lost when the Babylonians plundered Jerusalem,it was likely stolen and ultimately destroyed by the invaders. The faithful hope it found its way in hiding: the British Isles and Ethiopia are among popularly-proposed resting places.
The Mariner’s Compass
c. 1100
Until the second millenium, it was impossible for mariners on the open sea to accurately track latitude. The compass was invented in China in the 11th century and in common use worldwide by the end of the 13th century.
Containing a magnetized sliver of metal or rock, held so that it may point freely toward magnetic poles, a compass reveals the cardinal points with sufficient accuracy to aid travelers get from place to place without other indicators of bearing.
The result was an explosion in European maritime trade and the growth of merchant capitalism.
The Pocketwatch
c. 1450
Early timepieces used a variety of mechanisms to measure time: the shadow of a sundail, the tempo of a water clock’s drip, the slow melt of a candle. Such devices can be extraordinarily complex, but it’s the mechanical clock, with its intricate gearing and accuracy, that became one of mankind’s greatest technical triumphs.
Descriptions in European literature from the late 13th century suggest that a new technology was proliferating: timepieces powered not by water, but instead by the movements of mechanically-connected weights.
It’s with the pocketwatch, apparently invented in the 15th century, that we get the world’s first modern-era personal tech toy. In November 1462, clockmaker Bartholomew Manfredi pitched a client on the idea of a "pocket clock" better than any seen before; they were being manufactured within 50 years.
Special Guest Gadgets: Sampo and Liahona
Mythical in character, the Sampo of Finnish mythology has a curiously technological vibe to it. Said to be a mysterious artefact whose possession brought the owner whatever they please, it’s often depicted as a tiny gadget of historical character — a compass, for example, or a grinder. As the medieval era’s fairies are to sci-fi’s little gray aliens, Sampo is to Star Trek’s replicators. I blame MST3K.
In the Book of Mormon, Liahona is a "curious" brass ball found one morning outside of the prophet Lehi’s tent, indicating the way forward with a spindle and occasionally revealing further instructions from God. Destined to become the brand name for a range of GPS devices any time now, it’s an article of faith for Latter-Day Saints.
Coda
So much got cut from this list: fans of Leonardo da Vinci and Charles Babbage will doubtless be particularly affronted. What other historical wonders could show an iPhone a thing or two about human ingenuity?
Who’d need traditional synthesisers when the Kaossilator is around? A pocket-sized device, Kaossilator is the synthesiser of the future…
Ringtones are all the rage and fun to collect for your cell phone. Now, you can bring your ringtones to your home phone… if you still have one! 
We’re not exactly sure what to make of this one — the auto maker created to show up gas guzzlers and prove that electric whips could indeed prove viable in a society helplessly addicted to gasoline is apparently gearing up to turn a blind eye to its original mantra. According to a report over at CNET, the firm is planning to unveil not one, but two editions of its forthcoming Whitestar sedan. Although one will indeed cruise sans fuel, the other will be a gas-electric REV (range extended vehicle), purportedly designed to entice buyers who would typically be concerned about the range (or the lack thereof) of a purely electric vehicle. So, let’s get this straight — rather than holding true to its original rallying cry, Tesla’s deciding to just a build a car that it knows will actually sell. Right-o.
