Inventions — Part 2 MCQs with Explanations

Ann got the idea for the Snugli infant carrier from the traditional African baby carriers she observed while a volunteer for the Peace Corps in Africa.

William Gray, inventor of the pay telephone, also invented the inflatable chest protector worn by baseball umpires and catchers.

Ralph Samuelson was only 18 when he invented water skis.

Benjamin Franklin invented bifocal lens.

Karl Benz gets the credit for inventing the automobile because his car was practical, used a gasoline-powered internal-combustion engine and worked like modern cars do today.

The first scanning of the now-ubiquitous Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company chewing gum in June 1974 at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, using scanner produced by Photographic Sciences Corporation. QR codes, a specific type of 2D barcode, have recently become very popular.

The first Frisbee were pie tins from the Frisbee Pie Company in Connecticut. In the 1950s, the pie tins were changed to plastic plates. The name then became the Flying Saucer, but later changed to Frisbee.

The bikini, a two-piece swimsuit named for the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, made its debut on July 5, 1946.

The MIDI specification was published in August 1983. The MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, who received Technical Grammy Awards in 2013 for their work. In 1982, the first instruments were released with MIDI, the Roland Jupiter-6 and the Prophet 600.

Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first successful controlled powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903. The twelve second flight covered a distance of 120 feet and an altitude of just ten feet.

Groovy, baby! Lava lamps, which were a fixture in every hip pad in the 1960s and 70s, featured a mixture of water and colored oil that created swirl patterns when heated by a light bulb.

The first message ever sent over what is now called the Internet took place at 10:30 PM on October 29, 1969. Back then, the Department of Defense called it ARPA net (Advanced Research Projects Agency network).

Birchall's of Launceston in Tasmania started selling the world’s first notepads, calling them 'Silvercity Writing Tablets' after J A Birchall thought it would be a good idea to back sheets of paper with cardboard and glue them together at the top. His British paper suppliers weren’t so keen, but, they were persuaded by Birchall that it was a good idea!

Viscount Charles 'Turnip' Townsend developed this revolutionary concept of crop rotation.

Will Keith Kellogg discovered the corn flake, by mistake, in 1906. They were the result of an experiment which went wrong.

William Frederick is credited with the invention of the modern frisbee in the mid 1950's. In 1957 the Wham-O Company bought his idea and the rest is history. They named the toy after William Frisbie who was a pie maker.

Instant mash was invented by Edward A Asselbergs, a Canadian, in 1962. The mash is actually dehydrated potato flakes.

Alfred B. Nobel invented dynamite.

Jan Ernst Matzeliger received 5 patents in the field of shoemaking.

Christopher Cockerell invented the hovercraft in 1956. His early experiments with the idea involved a cat food tin, a coffee tin and an industrial blower.

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) was formed in 1963 by the merger of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE, founded 1912) and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, founded 1884).

All of the inventors mentioned invented an early mechanical television system.

Sir Isaac Newton invented Chronometer.

Kirkpatrick Macmillan invented bicycle.

Synthesis of the first complete gene, a yeast tRNA, was demonstrated by Har Gobind Khorana and coworkers in 1972. Synthesis of the first peptide- and protein-coding genes was performed in the laboratories of Herbert Boyer and Alexander Markham, respectively.

In the 1920s Clarence Birdseye discovered that if food was flash-frozen under pressure, it would freeze without the formation of ice crystals.

Johnny Gruelle patented the Raggedy Ann doll in 1915. The Raggedy Andy doll and the Raggedy Ann books came later.

Sir Frank Whittle, (born June 1, 1907, Coventry, Warwickshire, England—died August 8, 1996, Columbia, Maryland, U.S.), English aviation engineer and pilot who invented the jet engine.

Joshua Lionel Cowen and Harry C. Grant started the Lionel Manufacturing Company on Sept. 5, 1900 in New York City. The first train, which was called the Electric Express, was manufactured in 1901 and was an open gondola propelled by a fan motor. As time has passed, the trains have been made in different colors and styles.

Vacuum cleaner originally called the 'Whirlwind', was invented by Ives McGaffey in 1869.

Leo Hendrik Baekeland invented the first plastic called Bakelite.

Joshua Lionel Cowen (August 25, 1877 – September 8, 1965) was an American inventor and the co-founder of Lionel Corporation, a manufacturer of model railroads and toy trains. Cowen also invented the flash-lamp in 1899, an early photographer's flash light source.

Unfortunately Blount could never get anyone to buy her invention. Finally, in 1952 she sold the rights to the French government.

Miniature golf by Garnet Carter made its debut at the Fairyland Inn Resort in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, in 1927.

John Kruesi was a mechanic for Edison, and Kruesi built the phonograph. Edison designed it, and later improved the phonograph.

Dr. Pepper was invented by Charles Alderton in 1885 in Waco, Texas.

Jethro Tull invented the seed drill.

Charles Leiper Grigg (May 11, 1868 – April 16, 1940) was the inventor of Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime soda, better known by its later name, 7 Up. He invented the drink in October 1929.

Charles Babbage is known as the Father of Computing. He began his 'Analytical Engine' in 1833. The first computer, although he never completed it.

On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile.