OUTER space and the Bronze Age do not sit well in the same sentence – they may both have existed at the same time, but anyone based on Earth back then would not have known much, or anything, about what lies beyond.
Everyday inventions you never knew were Spanish
31/10/2021
WHAT has Spain ever done for us? Except for creating an addiction to sunlight, colour, dramatic countryside and the world's best coffee (according to seasoned inter-continental travellers, anyway), making us feel 'something is missing' if too many weeks go by without a fiesta parade, a craft market, a fête, a live outdoor music gig or a bank holiday in the middle of a week (remember tomorrow, Monday, November 1, is one of these, so check out your nearest supermarket opening times online just in case – many of them will be shut), and getting us so used to having at least three months of guaranteed summer weather that we cannot understand why our relatives in colder climates have to call off a barbecue at the last minute (it's too hot for barbecues in summer in Spain. Keep them for spring and autumn).
Spain has done a lot more for us – as in, the global population – than we ever realised. More than most Spaniards ever realised, in fact. As well as having invented Coca-Cola and the radio, plus the traditional Andalucía flamenco music and dance, it turns out that anyone who smokes and is trying to give up or cut down has Spain to 'thank' for the fact it's just too easy to light up. Legend has it that beggars in Sevilla in the 16th century used to roll up loose tobacco they gathered from the streets in scraps of rice paper, which became the origin of cigarettes in packets that started being sold as we know them today from 1825. Had it not been for Spain, smokers would probably still be using pipes, and chances are, would have found the transition to e-cigarettes much easier, or pipes themselves would simply have gone out of fashion and nobody would have bothered for centuries.
Oh, dear.
But it turns out lots of other, healthier items, also useful for non-smokers, were invented in Spain. You just didn't realise it.
Actually, neither did we, but we've found 10 of them which, we promise, are going to surprise you.
Mop and bucket
Those from more northern nations who thought they would miss carpets when they moved to Spain quickly found out that, even thought you'll never have clean feet again, tiled floors are far more practical. Spilling red wine or coffee becomes an expensive disaster when a carpet's involved; when it's tiles, it's merely a 'whoops' moment and a non-urgent stroll to fetch a cloth, which solves the issue in seconds.
And thanks to Aragón-born engineer Manuel Jalón, it only takes minutes to have those tiles gleaming again without needing to lug a hoover around or invest in a Roomba. Back in 1964, he patented an apparently-simple invention that meant you could clean the floor with water and detergent without having to get on your hands and knees – the mop.
Submarine
The Beatles wouldn't have been able to sing about living in a yellow one without Isaac Peral, and if you're near Torrevieja (southern Alicante province), you wouldn't have been able to take a tour of the S-61 Delfín in its port.
For just €2 a head, you can pop into this town-centre floating museum between 09.30 and 14.00, Tuesday to Saturday, and find out how the Spanish Royal Navy lived for months at a time under water for 30 years. It was in use from 1973, and finally turned into a fascinating tourist attraction in 2004, a year after it was 'retired'. If you have kids or grandchildren, take them with you – they'll be thrilled to step inside a real-live submarine.
Back to Isaac Peral. He created a battery-operated, or 'torpedo', underwater 'ship' back in 1886, which is still in use 135 years on.
Chupa Chups lollies
The novel idea of putting a sweet on a stick was dreamed up by Barcelona businessman Enric Bernat, and swiftly made him very rich. You can now find his invention almost anywhere on earth, or subtle variations of it under a different name.
As for the original brand, Chupa Chups, its logo is probably one of the most valuable works of art on earth – individually, a lolly wrapper wouldn't fetch much at Christie's or Sotheby's, but even the handsome sum Salvador Dalí was reportedly paid for its design is likely to be small fry compared with what his creation has earned since.
That's right, Salvador Dalí – find out more about his Chupa Chups 'career', and about other famous artists behind everyday brand names, in our article here.
Cable-cars
They're all over Spain. In the Picos de Europa mountains (head for Fuente Dé, Cantabria, to ride one to an altitude of 2,000 metres with splendid, verdant and panoramic views), at Tenerife's Teide National Park – a volcano where you can walk right into the crater – in Barcelona, to get to the top of the Montjuïc mountain and visit the Olympic stadium, and plenty more.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo's invention can be found shinning up the side of Cape Town's Table Mountain, in South Africa, and to the peak of the Pão de Açúcar ('Sugar Loaf') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He did not design the entire thing from scratch; similar pulley-type mechanisms were already in use in Europe, but mainly for hauling up heavy loads to places where they could not be carried on foot or by horse-drawn vehicles.
Cantabria-born Torres Quevedo, whilst in San Sebastián (Basque Country), expanded on this technology to create a cable-car that was suitable for carrying humans inside it, and which was guaranteed to be safe for them when rising to dizzy heights.
Space suits
You're probably aware, by now, of the major rôle Spain has played over the decades in the 'space race'. Giant telescopes making ground-breaking discoveries are ideally placed since, for major missions launched by the USA, Spain is one of three equidistant points on earth that allows for a complete 360º view. Spanish telecomms company Telefónica was a crucial player in the moon landings, but not the only player from Spain (check out our article here to find out how Neil Armstrong's 'giant leap' may not have happened at all without Spanish involvement). The country even had a science minister for three years who is an astronaut by profession – Pedro Duque made every child in his home nation want to be a spaceman or spacewoman when he appeared in full extra-terrestrial get-up on the country's TV sets in 1998 and 2003.
And he has one of his compatriots to thank for said get-up. Emilio Herrera created the all-in-one 'romper-suit' with its helmet, visor, oxygen supply and other essential add-ons back in the 1930s, over three decades before the human race stepped onto the moon and nearly 20 years before anyone at all had gone into outer space – at a time when the planet's pre-conceived ideas about what lies beyond our horizon were mostly based upon the novellas of H. G. Wells.
Obviously, Emilio Herrera's creation has undergone major technological evolution since then, but the blueprint was the brainchild of this scientist from Granada.
Helicopter
Funny how Spain is practically never mentioned in aviation history, whilst the Wright brothers always get plenty of acclaim. And yet Spain created, and flew, the first-ever plane to cross the Atlantic in one hit – with none other than dictator General Franco's brother Ramón among the crew.
Francisco Franco was not a dictator then, it was before the Civil War – the outcome of which put him in power, and during which Ramón was killed in action, meaning he never had to suffer his brother's repressive régime – and when the Plus Ultra touched down in Argentina, Ramón and company were greeted by huge crowds who had been camping in the street all night after the government declared the aircraft's planned arrival to be a public holiday.
It's an intriguing and little-known tale, and you can read all about it here.
Spain doesn't get mentioned, either, when we talk about helicopters. Flight was a very novel idea, still, back in 1920 – at least, catching a plane somewhere for your holidays wasn't exactly mainstream – meaning Murcia-born Juan de la Cierva's autogiro, a small vehicle with space for one or two humans which could lift off from the ground powered by spinning blades, was quite a feat.
Naturally, De la Cierva's basic framework was swiftly expanded upon, but he can certainly be credited with the original idea and concept of how the vehicle was able to take off.
Acoustic guitars
Technically, Spain's creation was more an adaptation of an existing invention, but is arguably one that has a much wider use in the arts and entertainment industry worldwide nowadays.
Italy's Gaetano Vinaccia invented the mandolin in the mid-to-late 18th century, although the lyre had already been in use in Mediaeval times – the Moors, or Arab population in Spain, used them in live performances, and some local history museums, of which almost every town in the country has one, showcase original or replica lyres from the Middle Ages used by its Muslim community during their seven long centuries in residence and rule.
Antonio Torres Jurado reworked Vinaccia's mandolin in 1850, becoming what has since been known nationwide as the 'Spanish guitar' and is referred to elsewhere as the acoustic guitar.
'Spanish guitar' tends to be thought of as more of a musical style than an actual instrument, outside of Spain, and has long been synonymous with one of the country's greatest artistic legends, Paco de Lucía.
His fan-base was global, and even Mark Knopfler has been quoted as admitting that when he first heard Paco de Lucía, he immediately doubted his own guitar abilities.
Nowadays, Spain's presence in the world of string instruments spans continents. Gata de Gorgos (northern Alicante province) is a frequent visitor attraction due to its proliferation of craft shops selling traditional wickerwork, carpets and woodwork – you can easily lose an entire day strolling around and browsing, and in fact, most people head to Gata to do just that – and the family-run Guitarras Francisco Bros has supplied its handmade, often tailor-made, creations to everyone from Tom Hanks to Ed Sheeran to Will Smith.
In fact, the guitar used by the late Amy Winehouse on her trademark hit Back to Black was custom-made for her by Guitarras Bros.
Disposable syringes and needles
Almost everyone in Spain aged 12 and over – upwards of 90%, according to recent figures – has been on the receiving end of this invention at some point in 2021. The Covid-19 vaccines could not have been given without the engineer commissioned in the 1960s to find a way of getting liquid medication not suitable for oral administration into the human body.
The version created was disposable, meaning the risk of infection being transmitted from a reusable model washed out between patients was eliminated.
And the scientist who created it proved himself to be highly versatile – Manuel Jalón produced his syringe and needle in the same decade as he invented the mop and bucket.
Table football
A source of international pub arguments, hours of strategy-based entertainment and a chance to play the world's most popular game even if you're not physically up to running around a pitch, video game evolution is unlikely to ever push out that delightfully retro bar staple – the wooden table with its green baize centre, bars across it operated by rubber side handles, and little plastic men threaded onto said bars.
This long-running classic pub game was patented by Spanish inventor Alejandro Campos in 1937, and shows no sign of going out of fashion 84 years on.
Digital calculator
Many a maths exam student, accountant, or supermarket shopper on a budget would have been lost without them, and rapid advances in modern technology have not changed them much – they may now be more likely to be found on mobile phones, but the style and design of a digital calculator is almost identical to the earliest ones ever produced.
And even now, with the most basic, non-Smartphone varieties of mobiles having them as a standard feature, actual calculators are still in common use – when you're sitting an exam that requires the use of one, you won't be allowed to take a phone in with you, in case it rings, or in case you look up the answers online or 'text a friend' for help with a difficult question. The bog-standard school pencil-case version, which only 'calculators' and doesn't do anything else, is all that's permitted in the exam hall.
France's Blaise Pascal, author of Pensées ('Thoughts'), developed the first-known calculators using cogs and wheels, but the ones we use today came out of the same brains as the cable-car.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo not only enabled us to be lifted safely up the Teide, the Montjuïc and the Picos de Europa, but also allowed us to do basic 'pocket' arithmetic without having to think or use a pen and paper, after successfully creating the first-ever digital calculator in 1914.
Related Topics
WHAT has Spain ever done for us? Except for creating an addiction to sunlight, colour, dramatic countryside and the world's best coffee (according to seasoned inter-continental travellers, anyway), making us feel 'something is missing' if too many weeks go by without a fiesta parade, a craft market, a fête, a live outdoor music gig or a bank holiday in the middle of a week (remember tomorrow, Monday, November 1, is one of these, so check out your nearest supermarket opening times online just in case – many of them will be shut), and getting us so used to having at least three months of guaranteed summer weather that we cannot understand why our relatives in colder climates have to call off a barbecue at the last minute (it's too hot for barbecues in summer in Spain. Keep them for spring and autumn).
Spain has done a lot more for us – as in, the global population – than we ever realised. More than most Spaniards ever realised, in fact. As well as having invented Coca-Cola and the radio, plus the traditional Andalucía flamenco music and dance, it turns out that anyone who smokes and is trying to give up or cut down has Spain to 'thank' for the fact it's just too easy to light up. Legend has it that beggars in Sevilla in the 16th century used to roll up loose tobacco they gathered from the streets in scraps of rice paper, which became the origin of cigarettes in packets that started being sold as we know them today from 1825. Had it not been for Spain, smokers would probably still be using pipes, and chances are, would have found the transition to e-cigarettes much easier, or pipes themselves would simply have gone out of fashion and nobody would have bothered for centuries.
Oh, dear.
But it turns out lots of other, healthier items, also useful for non-smokers, were invented in Spain. You just didn't realise it.
Actually, neither did we, but we've found 10 of them which, we promise, are going to surprise you.
Mop and bucket
Those from more northern nations who thought they would miss carpets when they moved to Spain quickly found out that, even thought you'll never have clean feet again, tiled floors are far more practical. Spilling red wine or coffee becomes an expensive disaster when a carpet's involved; when it's tiles, it's merely a 'whoops' moment and a non-urgent stroll to fetch a cloth, which solves the issue in seconds.
And thanks to Aragón-born engineer Manuel Jalón, it only takes minutes to have those tiles gleaming again without needing to lug a hoover around or invest in a Roomba. Back in 1964, he patented an apparently-simple invention that meant you could clean the floor with water and detergent without having to get on your hands and knees – the mop.
Submarine
The Beatles wouldn't have been able to sing about living in a yellow one without Isaac Peral, and if you're near Torrevieja (southern Alicante province), you wouldn't have been able to take a tour of the S-61 Delfín in its port.
For just €2 a head, you can pop into this town-centre floating museum between 09.30 and 14.00, Tuesday to Saturday, and find out how the Spanish Royal Navy lived for months at a time under water for 30 years. It was in use from 1973, and finally turned into a fascinating tourist attraction in 2004, a year after it was 'retired'. If you have kids or grandchildren, take them with you – they'll be thrilled to step inside a real-live submarine.
Back to Isaac Peral. He created a battery-operated, or 'torpedo', underwater 'ship' back in 1886, which is still in use 135 years on.
Chupa Chups lollies
The novel idea of putting a sweet on a stick was dreamed up by Barcelona businessman Enric Bernat, and swiftly made him very rich. You can now find his invention almost anywhere on earth, or subtle variations of it under a different name.
As for the original brand, Chupa Chups, its logo is probably one of the most valuable works of art on earth – individually, a lolly wrapper wouldn't fetch much at Christie's or Sotheby's, but even the handsome sum Salvador Dalí was reportedly paid for its design is likely to be small fry compared with what his creation has earned since.
That's right, Salvador Dalí – find out more about his Chupa Chups 'career', and about other famous artists behind everyday brand names, in our article here.
Cable-cars
They're all over Spain. In the Picos de Europa mountains (head for Fuente Dé, Cantabria, to ride one to an altitude of 2,000 metres with splendid, verdant and panoramic views), at Tenerife's Teide National Park – a volcano where you can walk right into the crater – in Barcelona, to get to the top of the Montjuïc mountain and visit the Olympic stadium, and plenty more.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo's invention can be found shinning up the side of Cape Town's Table Mountain, in South Africa, and to the peak of the Pão de Açúcar ('Sugar Loaf') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He did not design the entire thing from scratch; similar pulley-type mechanisms were already in use in Europe, but mainly for hauling up heavy loads to places where they could not be carried on foot or by horse-drawn vehicles.
Cantabria-born Torres Quevedo, whilst in San Sebastián (Basque Country), expanded on this technology to create a cable-car that was suitable for carrying humans inside it, and which was guaranteed to be safe for them when rising to dizzy heights.
Space suits
You're probably aware, by now, of the major rôle Spain has played over the decades in the 'space race'. Giant telescopes making ground-breaking discoveries are ideally placed since, for major missions launched by the USA, Spain is one of three equidistant points on earth that allows for a complete 360º view. Spanish telecomms company Telefónica was a crucial player in the moon landings, but not the only player from Spain (check out our article here to find out how Neil Armstrong's 'giant leap' may not have happened at all without Spanish involvement). The country even had a science minister for three years who is an astronaut by profession – Pedro Duque made every child in his home nation want to be a spaceman or spacewoman when he appeared in full extra-terrestrial get-up on the country's TV sets in 1998 and 2003.
And he has one of his compatriots to thank for said get-up. Emilio Herrera created the all-in-one 'romper-suit' with its helmet, visor, oxygen supply and other essential add-ons back in the 1930s, over three decades before the human race stepped onto the moon and nearly 20 years before anyone at all had gone into outer space – at a time when the planet's pre-conceived ideas about what lies beyond our horizon were mostly based upon the novellas of H. G. Wells.
Obviously, Emilio Herrera's creation has undergone major technological evolution since then, but the blueprint was the brainchild of this scientist from Granada.
Helicopter
Funny how Spain is practically never mentioned in aviation history, whilst the Wright brothers always get plenty of acclaim. And yet Spain created, and flew, the first-ever plane to cross the Atlantic in one hit – with none other than dictator General Franco's brother Ramón among the crew.
Francisco Franco was not a dictator then, it was before the Civil War – the outcome of which put him in power, and during which Ramón was killed in action, meaning he never had to suffer his brother's repressive régime – and when the Plus Ultra touched down in Argentina, Ramón and company were greeted by huge crowds who had been camping in the street all night after the government declared the aircraft's planned arrival to be a public holiday.
It's an intriguing and little-known tale, and you can read all about it here.
Spain doesn't get mentioned, either, when we talk about helicopters. Flight was a very novel idea, still, back in 1920 – at least, catching a plane somewhere for your holidays wasn't exactly mainstream – meaning Murcia-born Juan de la Cierva's autogiro, a small vehicle with space for one or two humans which could lift off from the ground powered by spinning blades, was quite a feat.
Naturally, De la Cierva's basic framework was swiftly expanded upon, but he can certainly be credited with the original idea and concept of how the vehicle was able to take off.
Acoustic guitars
Technically, Spain's creation was more an adaptation of an existing invention, but is arguably one that has a much wider use in the arts and entertainment industry worldwide nowadays.
Italy's Gaetano Vinaccia invented the mandolin in the mid-to-late 18th century, although the lyre had already been in use in Mediaeval times – the Moors, or Arab population in Spain, used them in live performances, and some local history museums, of which almost every town in the country has one, showcase original or replica lyres from the Middle Ages used by its Muslim community during their seven long centuries in residence and rule.
Antonio Torres Jurado reworked Vinaccia's mandolin in 1850, becoming what has since been known nationwide as the 'Spanish guitar' and is referred to elsewhere as the acoustic guitar.
'Spanish guitar' tends to be thought of as more of a musical style than an actual instrument, outside of Spain, and has long been synonymous with one of the country's greatest artistic legends, Paco de Lucía.
His fan-base was global, and even Mark Knopfler has been quoted as admitting that when he first heard Paco de Lucía, he immediately doubted his own guitar abilities.
Nowadays, Spain's presence in the world of string instruments spans continents. Gata de Gorgos (northern Alicante province) is a frequent visitor attraction due to its proliferation of craft shops selling traditional wickerwork, carpets and woodwork – you can easily lose an entire day strolling around and browsing, and in fact, most people head to Gata to do just that – and the family-run Guitarras Francisco Bros has supplied its handmade, often tailor-made, creations to everyone from Tom Hanks to Ed Sheeran to Will Smith.
In fact, the guitar used by the late Amy Winehouse on her trademark hit Back to Black was custom-made for her by Guitarras Bros.
Disposable syringes and needles
Almost everyone in Spain aged 12 and over – upwards of 90%, according to recent figures – has been on the receiving end of this invention at some point in 2021. The Covid-19 vaccines could not have been given without the engineer commissioned in the 1960s to find a way of getting liquid medication not suitable for oral administration into the human body.
The version created was disposable, meaning the risk of infection being transmitted from a reusable model washed out between patients was eliminated.
And the scientist who created it proved himself to be highly versatile – Manuel Jalón produced his syringe and needle in the same decade as he invented the mop and bucket.
Table football
A source of international pub arguments, hours of strategy-based entertainment and a chance to play the world's most popular game even if you're not physically up to running around a pitch, video game evolution is unlikely to ever push out that delightfully retro bar staple – the wooden table with its green baize centre, bars across it operated by rubber side handles, and little plastic men threaded onto said bars.
This long-running classic pub game was patented by Spanish inventor Alejandro Campos in 1937, and shows no sign of going out of fashion 84 years on.
Digital calculator
Many a maths exam student, accountant, or supermarket shopper on a budget would have been lost without them, and rapid advances in modern technology have not changed them much – they may now be more likely to be found on mobile phones, but the style and design of a digital calculator is almost identical to the earliest ones ever produced.
And even now, with the most basic, non-Smartphone varieties of mobiles having them as a standard feature, actual calculators are still in common use – when you're sitting an exam that requires the use of one, you won't be allowed to take a phone in with you, in case it rings, or in case you look up the answers online or 'text a friend' for help with a difficult question. The bog-standard school pencil-case version, which only 'calculators' and doesn't do anything else, is all that's permitted in the exam hall.
France's Blaise Pascal, author of Pensées ('Thoughts'), developed the first-known calculators using cogs and wheels, but the ones we use today came out of the same brains as the cable-car.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo not only enabled us to be lifted safely up the Teide, the Montjuïc and the Picos de Europa, but also allowed us to do basic 'pocket' arithmetic without having to think or use a pen and paper, after successfully creating the first-ever digital calculator in 1914.
Related Topics
More News & Information
A FIRM annual fixture for fans of the latest technology, the Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress (MWC) never fails to blow visitors' minds with creations they didn't know they needed. And these cutting-edge...
A HOLLYWOOD legend joining folk-dancers from Asturias and showing off her fancy footwork in the street is not a scene your average Oviedo resident witnesses during his or her weekly shop. Even though their northern...
Debate over banning short-distance flights takes off, but the cons outweigh the pros