The following is a list of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

inventors and inventions. *

Godfrey Bowen Walter Godfrey Bowen (13 February 1922 – 2 January 1994) was a New Zealand farmer and world acclaimed sheep shearer. With his brother Ivan, he developed the Bowen Technique, which involved the shearer using his spare hand to stretch the sheep ...

– developer of an improved

sheep-shearing Sheep shearing is the process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off. The person who removes the sheep's wool is called a '' shearer''. Typically each adult sheep is shorn once each year (a sheep may be said to have been "shorn" or ...

technique *

John Britten John Kenton Britten (1 August 1950 – 5 September 1995) was a New Zealand mechanical engineer who designed a world-record-setting motorcycle with innovative features and materials. Biography John Britten was born to Bruce and Ruvae Britten in C ...

– designer of the Britten motorcycle * Thomas Brydone and

William Soltau Davidson William Soltau Davidson (15 June 1846 – 17 July 1924) was the New Zealand pioneer of refrigerated shipping. Early life Son of Frances Pillans and bank manager David Davidson, William Davidson was born in Montreal, Canada. He attended the Edi ...

– refrigerated shipping pioneers *

Morton Coutts Morton William Coutts (7 February 1904 – 25 June 2004)''Obituary: ...

– invented the continuous fermentation method of brewing * Bill Gallagher – developer of the

electric fence An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter people or animals from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from discomfort to death. Most electric fences are used for agricultural fencing a ...

and founder of Gallagher Group Limited * Ernest Godward – inventor of the eggbeater *

A. J. Hackett Allan John "A. J." Hackett (born May 1958) is a New Zealand entrepreneur who popularised the extreme sport of bungy jumping. He made a bungy jump from the Eiffel Tower in 1987 and founded the first commercial bungy site in 1988. He is also the ...

– popularised of commercial Bungy jumping * Bill Hamilton – developed the modern

jetboat A jetboat is a boat propelled by a jet of water ejected from the back of the craft. Unlike a powerboat or motorboat that uses an external propeller in the water below or behind the boat, a jetboat draws the water from under the boat through ...

* Frederick Hanson – inventor of

chipseal Chipseal (also chip seal or chip and seal) is a pavement surface treatment that combines one or more layer(s) of asphalt with one or more layer(s) of fine aggregate. In the United States, chipseals are typically used on rural roads carrying low ...

, known in New Zealand as tar seal *

Peter Lynn Peter Lynn (born 1946) is a New Zealand kitemaker, engineer and inventor. He is notable for his construction of the world's largest kites (Guinness book of records holders), giant inflatable (sparless) display kites (the most widely known is the ...

– leading kitemaker, aeronautical theoretician and inventor of the tipping blade

portable sawmill Portable sawmills are sawmills small enough to be moved easily and set up in the field. They have existed for over 100 years but grew in popularity in the United States starting in the 1970s, when the 1973 oil crisis and the back-to-the-land moveme ...

* Colin Murdoch – inventor of the disposable syringe and the

tranquilliser gun A dart gun is an air rifle that fires a dart. The dart is tipped with a hypodermic needle and filled with a tranquilizer, vaccine, or antibiotic. A dart gun containing a tranquillizer is called a tranquillizer gun ( also spelled tranquilizer, tra ...

Richard Pearse Richard William Pearse (3 December 187729 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterward describe observing Pearse flying and landing a powered heavie ...

– aviation pioneer * Bill Pickering – rocketry and space pioneer, former NASA Jet Propulsion Lab director *

Alan Prichard Alan Marcus Prichard (15 November 1907 – 2 November 1986) was a pilot for the New Zealand Public Works Department from the late 1930s to mid-1950s. Using a Miles Whitney Straight from 1939 on his own initiative and sometimes forging aircraft l ...

– pioneer of

aerial topdressing Aerial topdressing is the aerial application of fertilisers over farmland using agricultural aircraft. It was developed in New Zealand in the 1940s and rapidly adopted elsewhere in the 1950s. Origins Previous aerial applications The first k ...

Bill Robinson Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the f ...

– inventor of the lead rubber bearing used for

seismic base isolation Seismic base isolation, also known as base isolation, or base isolation system, is one of the most popular means of protecting a structure against earthquake forces. It is a collection of structural elements which should substantially decoup ...

in earthquake engineering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand Inventors

Inventors An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

Lists of inventors