- 1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorizing them to explore unknown lands.
- 1836 – Samuel Colt makes the first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber.
- 1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake.
- 1975 – First meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club
- 1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world.
The American version of the the ZX81 was the Timex Sinclair 1000: my first computer!
