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Throughout the 18th century, mathematicians, scientists and philosophers researched, discussed, and published their investigations into how the world worked, while engineers and inventors developed new and successful machines and processes. The latest theories inspired greater invention, and more technology encouraged theoretical scientists to make further discoveries in medicine, biology, mechanics, physics, and chemistry. By 1800, the new machines had brought revolutionary changes to the workplace, transportation and communications, and eventually to the home. Some of these inventions simply made it easier to produce things on a large scale such as textile machines and foundries, which produced large quantities of cloth and metal objects quickly and cheaply. But some inventions brought completely new possibilities such as the first batteries, steamboats, and locomotives. It would take decades for some of these inventions to make a big impact on the world. Yet their creation, and the sheer amount of imagination and risk-taking involved, marked the beginning of a modern, global, technologically based economy of the kind that we live in today.