Invention Trivia Quiz Questions with Answers About Inventors and Inventions like Paper Drinking Straw, vending machines, Alexander Graham Bell, Samuel F. B. Morse, Howard Hughes and More!
Invention and Inventors trivia including the Paper Straw, Clarence Birdseye, Billiard Balls, Wilbur Wright, Alexander Graham Bell, Howard Hughes and more!
What popular baby device was inspired by something former Peace
Corps member Anne Moore saw while serving in West Africa?
A: The strap-on baby pouch known as the Snugli. Moore made the first
one for herself when she had a baby shortly after returning to the
United States from Africa in 1964.
What hand-rolled device did Marvin Chester Stone of Washington,
D.C., patent in 1888? Hint: although no longer hand rolled, it's
still very much on the scene today.
A: The wax paper drinking straw.
What food industry innovator invented a recoilless harpoon for
whaling and a fast process for converting sugar cane waste into
paper pulp?
A: Frozen food king Clarence Birdseye.
Learn What To Do With Your Invention!
Who invented the whistle for the railroad train?
A: George Washington Whistler--father of artist James Abbott McNeill
Whistler.
What was the source of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes'
original fortune?
A: His father's invention of an oil drill bit capable of boring
through subterranean rock.
Who invented flexible greasepaint--the first natural-looking
cosmetic used in the movies?
A: Russian-born makeup expert Max Factor.
What was plastic first used for in America?
A: Billiard balls. Brothers Isaiah and John Wesley Hyatt
developed celluloid in 1869 while competing for a $10,000 prize
offered by a company looking for a substitute for ivory in billiard
balls.
In 1937, an American company built the very first auto-airplane
combination. What was it called?
A :The Arrowbile.
Why was Sam Colt--inventor of the six-shooter--expelled from
school at the age of 16?
A: For experimenting with explosives.
What American city bills itself as the home of the first
push-button car radio, the first canned tomato juice, the first
mechanical corn picker and the first commercially built car?
A: Kokomo, Indiana, which calls itself the "city of firsts."
What was the longest flight ever made by aviation pioneer Wilbur
Wright?
A: 77 miles. He made the flight in 1908 (five years after Kitty
Hawk) from Camp d'Auvours, France, setting a world record and
winning the Michelin Prize of 20,000 francs.
What did the first vending machines in the United States
dispense?
A: Chewing gum. The machines were installed on New York City
tan platforms in 1888.
Largelamb, an anagram pseudonym of a famous inventor, was one of
the founders of "National Geographic" magazine. Who was he?
A: Alexander Graham Bell.
How was Coca-Cola originally billed when it appeared on the
market in 1886?
A: As an "Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage."
In 1937, the grocery business was revolutionized by Sylvan
Goldman's simple invention. What was it?
A: The shopping cart.
Who sent the next message after the historic words "What hath God
wrought" were transmitted over Samuel F. B. Morse's telegraph in
1844?
A: Dolly Madison. The words; "Message from Mrs. Madison. She sends
her love to Mrs. Wethered." Mrs. Wethered was a friend of the
76-year-old former First Lady.
What famous American inventor ran twice for mayor of New York
City--in 1836 and 1841-- and lost both times?
A: Samuel F. B. Morse.
Who uttered the famous words, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want
you"?
A: Alexander Graham Bell--not Sherlock Holmes This was the first
complete sentence heard over the newly invented telephone. Blurted
out by Bell on March 10, 1876, when he spilled acid on his trousers,
the words were picked up by his assistant, Thomas A Watson, at the
other end of the line.
