Early Calculating Machines: Charles Babbage mid 1800's Charles Babbage: The Difference Engine #1 (1832) Charles Babbage:The Difference Engine #2 (1852) The Analytical Engine (dev. by son in 1910) 1835-36: Texas Revolution fought to win the independence of Texas from Mexico. 1845: The potato blight strikes Ireland. 1854: Commodore Matthew Parry negotiates a treaty opening Japan to American trade. 1869: The first transcontinental railroad is completed in America.   Phillip Ruthstrom