Transportation
- Taxi by Nicolas Sauvage in Paris in 1640 (first documented but maybe existed earlier).
- Steamboat by Denis Papin. A boat with the world's first internal combustion engine was developed in 1807 by Nicéphore Niépce
- Steam driven Car by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769.
- Hot Air Balloon (later, Aerostat and Airship) by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, François Laurent d'Arlandes, the Montgolfier brothers and Jacques Charles (who also invented the first hydrogen-filled balloon).
- Parachute in the late 18th century by Louis-Sébastien Lenormand.
- Compressed air vehicle and Pneumatic motor by Andraud and Tessie of Motay in Chaillot on July 9, 1840, improved by Louis Mékarski in 1843 in Nantes (see Mekarski system and Compressed air car).
- Airplane :
- First glider to fly higher than its point of departure, by Jean-Marie Le Bris in 1856.
- first manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight of a significant distance on October 9, 1890 by Clément Ader.
- first aileron built by Robert Esnault-Pelterie in 1904. Modern design of ailerons by Henri Farman.
- first aircraft design with the modern monoplane tractor configuration of aircraft by Louis Bleriot in 1908.
- In 1909, he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. He also is credited as the first person to make a working monoplane.
- Injector by Henri Giffard in 1858
- Internal combustion engine between 1859 and 1861 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas and Belgian-born Étienne Lenoir in Paris.
- Submarine : The first submarine not relying on human power was the French Plongeur (meaning diver), launched in 1863, and using compressed air at 180 psi (1241 kPa).
- Bicycle in 1864 by Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement (endless power-transmitting chain invented by Jacques de Vaucanson in 1770 and applied to bicycles by J. F. Tretz).
- Gunpowder powered ornithopter by Gustave Trouvé in 1870
- First outboard motorboat by Gustave Trouvé around 1870, patented in May 1880
- Inflatable tyres for cars by Édouard Michelin in 1895
- Scooter (1902) and Moped.
- Modern automobile Drum brake in 1902 by Louis Renault.
- Helicopter : in 1907, the two first flying helicopters were experimented independently by Louis Breguet and Paul Cornu.
- Seaplane by Gabriel Voisin in June 1905 (non-autonomous) and by Henri Fabre in 1910 (autonomus : Fabre Hydravion).
- Ramjet by René Lorin in 1913.
- Catalytic converter by Eugene Houdry in 1956.
- Concorde by Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation (1969), first and only commercial supersonic passenger airliner (the Tupolev Tu-144, only other supersonic passenger airliner was never operational for commercial use).
Read more about this topic: French Inventions