Piston Valve Press is a small, independent publisher, focusing on steampunk.
04/09/2025
Today, in (steampunk) history:
1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville made the oldest known recording of an audible human voice, when he recorded himself singing "Au clair de la lune."
09/17/2024
Steampunk History:
1859 – Emperor Norton I: Disgruntled with the legal and political structures of the United States, Joshua Norton distributed letters to various newspapers in San Francisco, proclaiming himself "Emperor Norton I of these United States"... and... "Protector of Mexico."
08/06/2024
Today in steampunk history:
1890 - Electric chair first used to kill convicted murderer William Kemmler at Auburn State Prison, New York. Edison designed the chair as part of his smear campaign against Tesla & Westinghouse. He wanted to show the dangers of AC (vs his own DC being safer). Edison even tried to name it the Tesla Chair, but the name didn't stick.
11/21/2023
Steampunk inventions on this day:
1877 - Phonograph was invented; he announced it as a "talking machine." (Thomas Edison personally did very few good things. This is one of the exceptions). While other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet wrapped around a rotating cylinder.
11/11/2023
Steampunk history: 1880 - Australian bushranger ( outlaw, gang leader, and convicted police murderer) Ned Kelly was hanged at Melbourne Gaol. Ned was also called the "Iron Outlaw" because of the armor he fashioned for himself. An excellent shot with both pistol and rifle, he quickly entered folklore where he remains.
10/24/2023
1901 - 1st barrel ride down Niagara Falls. 63 year old school teacher, Annie Edson Taylor was the trend setter. She did the stunt to gain fame and fortune. After initial photos, she gained neither.
10/24/2023
Today in steampunk history: 1836 - Strike-Matches (phosphorous friction safety match) were patented by Alonzo D. Phillips. Now go read up on the disease that caused jaw bones to rot away and glow in the dark known as "phossy jaw."
10/09/2023
1855 - The steam calliope was patented by Joshua Stoddard (bee keeper and part time inventor).
10/06/2023
Steampunk history: 1866 - First train robbery, performed by the Reno Brothers gang who boarded the Ohio & Mississippi train shortly after it left Seymour, Indiana (there was a train robbery the year prior but it is lumped in with Civil War guerrillas and not a "peace time" robbery).
09/17/2023
Today is a momentous day for steampunk history:
1859 – Emperor Norton I: Disgruntled with the legal and political structures of the United States, Joshua Norton distributed letters to various newspapers in San Francisco, proclaiming himself "Emperor Norton I of these United States"... and... "Protector of Mexico."
08/19/2023
