Penicillin, telephone, TV, we know, but Speedos?

• James Bond actor Daniel Craig is known for wearing Speedos. Photograph: PA

John Logie Baird, Alexander Graham Bell, Alexander Fleming and James Watt have gone down in history as shining examples of creators who changed the world.

But James Lind, William Cullen, Robert William Thomson, Alexander Cummings and David Dunbar Buick have never really been household names beyond their own households. Until now. A new book to be published this month is aimed at giving the more obscure Scots inventors their moment in the spotlight. Caledonia Dreaming uncovers the stories of the Scots who are almost unheralded despite their roles in giving the world the flushing toilet, the refrigerator, the pneumatic tyre, the cash machine and the electricity-producing wind turbine, among other creations.

They include Alexander MacRae, who emigrated to Australia and founded the swimwear firm behind the Speedo brand.

The unlikely origins of the fax machine, paper money and the treatment for scurvy are also explored, along with the Scots behind some of Australia's best-known anthems, and the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.

• Forgotten Scots innovators who changed the world

Author John Eunson intended profiling 50 Scots inventors in the book, but has ended up featuring more than 200 after coming across more and more during the course of his work.

Although the book also covers Scotland's globally famous sons and daughters, he discovered many inventors or entrepreneurs he had never heard of. Eunson said: "I wanted to look at how Scots had influenced the world, the significant contributions made by Scots who left to live and work abroad, and look into the stories behind many of the names we may have heard of but do not really know why.

"But the majority of those featured in the book I had never heard of and I kept coming across more and more names. I think people will be surprised how many things were invented by Scots.

"I love the idea that refrigeration was invented here and that it was a Scot that invented the Speedo trunks, despite our climate, but some of the stories are quite sad, particularly when people died unknown and penniless.If history is an honest indicator of the future, then Scots will remain at the forefront in shaping lives and the world we live in through the 21st century and forever more."

Among those featured are Hamilton-born William Cullen, who gave the first documented demonstration of artificial refrigeration at Glasgow University in 1748, Alexander Cummings, an Edinburgh jeweller who designed the world's first flushing toilet in 1775, and Glasgow professor James Blyth, from Kincardineshire, who built the first electricity-producing wind turbine in 1887. James Lind was the Edinburgh-born Royal Navy surgeon who discovered that citrus fruits were a cure for scurvy in 1747 after carrying out experiments on HMS Salisbury.

Some of those featured in the book were largely unrewarded for their efforts, including Robert William Thomson, from Stonehaven, who patented the first pneumatic tyre, in 1845, some 43 years before John Boyd Dunlop, from Ayrshire, developed the first inflatable tyre as a commercial product.

David Dunbar Buick, who moved from Arbroath to Michigan at the age of two when his parents emigrated, died in relative obscurity and near poverty despite forming the Buick Manufacturing Company, which went on to become General Motors.

Caledonia Dreaming also celebrates the Scottish roots of Hollywood icon Deborah Kerr, who was born in Helensburgh, John Reith, founder of the BBC, who hailed from Stonehaven, and John Paul Jones, from Kirkcudbrightshire, who formed the American Navy.

James Barr, from Ayrshire, is credited with writing the tune Thou Bonnie Wood o' Craigielea, which Australian musician Andrew "Banjo" Paterson adapted and set the words for Waltzing Matilda to in 1895. Ten years later, another Scot, James Inglis, who had emigrated from Angus to Australia, included the sheet music for Paterson's song in every packet his Billy Tea company sold, making the song famous across the country.

Tacye Phillipson, a curator in science at the National Museum of Scotland, said: "There are certainly lots of inventions that were either of Scottish origin, or Scots played a major part in their development.

"A lot of it is down to success and intelligence breeding more of the same over the years in Scotland."

• Caledonia Dreaming is released on 15 October