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Quiz about Plastic Makes Perfect
Quiz about Plastic Makes Perfect

Plastic Makes Perfect Trivia Quiz


Growing up in the 1950s, most of my toys were made of metal but going into the 1960s that all changed as plastics took over because of safety and cost-effectiveness. See if you recognize these innovations in playthings.

A multiple-choice quiz by bigsouthern. Estimated time: 8 mins.
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Author
bigsouthern
Time
8 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
330,425
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1094
Question 1 of 10
1. In an age when toy safety was of little concern (the 1960s), this one was GREAT! Let a 9 year old create his own plastic toys using hard plastic molds, thin sheets of softer meltable plastic, and an exposed hot plate. Just place the sheet of plastic in the attached hinged frame, heat it up on the hot metal surface, then flip the frame holding the near-molten plastic over and press it onto the mold. Then manually operate (without tipping) the vacuum pump handle and it would suck the hot soft plastic down tightly over the mold and cool the plastic. After letting it cool down, get some good, sharp scissors - or a razor blade - and cut off the excess plastic. Now you have a toy or parts to assemble into a toy. Use of model glue and paint is optional but advised and there were neat decals included as well. What was this marvelous toy called? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. In 1937, a carpenter from Richfield, Utah with a penchant for aerodynamics named Fred Morrison designed a "flying" toy based on the cake pans that he and his fiance (Lucille Nay) would toss back and forth for fun. In 1946, he came up with the design for a flying disk to be molded from plastic and, in 1948, began selling his "Flyin'-Saucer". In 1955, he redesigned the disk again and, in 1957, sold the rights to the Wham-O Toys company, who marketed it as the "Pluto Platter". In 1958, they further modified the toy and trademarked the name "Frisbee". Where did the name "Frisbee" come from? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. They may be the perfect boy toy. Standing around 2 inches tall, this seemingly indestructible icon first appeared made out of good old American plastic in 1938 as painted figures. After World War II, mostly unpainted and sold by the bag-full, they became a "must-have" toy and spread throughout bedrooms, living rooms, and sand boxes across the U.S. Nowadays, you'll even find them as heroes in video games and movies. What is all the fuss about? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. She was born to George and Margaret Roberts of Willows, Wisconsin on March 9, 1959. Her younger siblings include her sister Skipper, twins Todd and Stacie (aka Tutti), Kelly, and Krissy. She loves animals, the color pink, collects clothes, cars and homes, and is an unfocused, albeit very successful, career woman who has at one time or another been, among other things, a fashion model, hair stylist, entertainer, astronaut, nurse, doctor, flight attendant, pilot, and a Nascar driver - obvious proof that a woman can accomplish whatever she seeks to achieve in life. By what single name is this can-do iconic woman best known?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 5 of 10
5. The problem: Michelle Khine of the University of California was experimenting with microfluidics in an attempt to create a biochip that would utilize tiny liquid-filled channels which could be used in clinical pathology and applied to the immediate point-of-care diagnosis of diseases. However, in order to continue her pursuit, she was in need of the specialized equipment used to make microfluidic chips and that equipment has a cost of more than $100,000, money that her new lab did not have available. Solution: She turned to a childhood toy and found something that made microfluidic devices bette­r, faster, and cheaper than a hundred thousand dollar high-tech machine ever could. We know that plastic toy as what? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Simply put, this company is the world's largest manufacturer of scale models. Their model kits run the gamut from airplanes to automobiles to ships to Universal Studios' monsters to spaceships to Star Wars figures and beyond. Just buy the kit, glue the pieces together, paint, and add decals where necessary and - Voila! You have your own personal plastic museum piece. What company has been the leader in replica plastic kits since 1945? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. This deceptively simple toy was all the rage beginning in the late 1950s but its origin is basically unknown. It has been supposed that, over 3000 years ago, Egyptian children used dried grape vines to create its earliest version and that the ancient Greeks utilized this toy as a form of exercise to lose weight. In the 1400's it became popular in England until the British began to blame heart attacks and back disorders on its use and playing with the toy became discouraged. It has been made from every sort of material from vines to wood to metal and, in the late 1950s, its colorful plastic version created by the Wham-O Toy Company triggered a fad that would last well into the 1960s, with over twenty million sold in the first 6 months of production. What is this ancient but thoroughly modern toy? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Boys don't play with dolls - they have "action figures"! And this one is the biggest, baddest of them all. Inspired by real-life World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York, Hasbro's creation of this icon in 1964 directly lead to the term "action figure" with 12" jointed figures of "Action Soldier", "Action Sailor", "Action Pilot", and "Action Marine". Great Britain's "Action Man" followed in 1970, licensed by Hasbro to Palitoy. Anti-miltary and anti-war sentiments couldn't stop these guys any more than the threats to international peace that they were charged with halting and, by the 1980s, cartoons, comic books, animated and live action movies, 3.75" scale action team set, video games, and even pro wrestlers became part of the phenomenal franchise. What name was given to this fantastic plastic toy?

Answer: (Name With or Without Punctuation)
Question 9 of 10
9. "We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow." [Led Zeppelin ~ "The Immigrant Song"]...or, at least, from Denmark. In 1932, carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen was making wooden toys in his Billund, Denmark wood shop, little realizing that he was on the verge of creating a multi-billion dollar empire built out of little pieces of cellulose acetate! In 1934, he founded his toy company, using a play on the Danish phrase "play well" for its name. In 1940, the little wooden toy company introduced multi-colored plastic versions of a traditional wooden stacking block. Hard to believe but it was not a story of instant success as the toys were not well-received but instead considered to be an inferior product to the original wooden ones. In 1958, under the guidance of Christiansen's son Godtfred, the plastic pieces were improved upon, given their modern design, and patented. By 1963, their composition was reformulated to a sturdier material and the building boom began. The name of this plastic take on wooden tradition is now known worldwide as ____? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. How much fun could you possibly have with a length of hose that has a bunch of holes running down its length and a sheet of plastic? Well, I guess you can roll it out on the back lawn and let the kids play with it.
Wow, what toy did you just invent?
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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In an age when toy safety was of little concern (the 1960s), this one was GREAT! Let a 9 year old create his own plastic toys using hard plastic molds, thin sheets of softer meltable plastic, and an exposed hot plate. Just place the sheet of plastic in the attached hinged frame, heat it up on the hot metal surface, then flip the frame holding the near-molten plastic over and press it onto the mold. Then manually operate (without tipping) the vacuum pump handle and it would suck the hot soft plastic down tightly over the mold and cool the plastic. After letting it cool down, get some good, sharp scissors - or a razor blade - and cut off the excess plastic. Now you have a toy or parts to assemble into a toy. Use of model glue and paint is optional but advised and there were neat decals included as well. What was this marvelous toy called?

Answer: Vac-U-Form

The Vac-U-Form was sold by Mattel around 1964. Some of the molds included were for making boats, automobiles, funny faces and disguises, costume jewelry, numbers and letters, roofs and walls to build tiny buildings plus wheels and axles to snap onto the small cars. When it first came out, we all had to have one! But once the novelty wore off, or when the plastic sheets ran out, it was found to be more fun experimenting with the heat and melting "stuff" like sister's plastic and rubber dolls, crayons, pieces of lead, etc.
2. In 1937, a carpenter from Richfield, Utah with a penchant for aerodynamics named Fred Morrison designed a "flying" toy based on the cake pans that he and his fiance (Lucille Nay) would toss back and forth for fun. In 1946, he came up with the design for a flying disk to be molded from plastic and, in 1948, began selling his "Flyin'-Saucer". In 1955, he redesigned the disk again and, in 1957, sold the rights to the Wham-O Toys company, who marketed it as the "Pluto Platter". In 1958, they further modified the toy and trademarked the name "Frisbee". Where did the name "Frisbee" come from?

Answer: From Yale University students' slang for the toy

During the 1920's, students at Yale University threw pie tins (acquired from the nearby Frisbie Baking Company) around for fun, calling out "Frisbie" to warn passersby. When Wham-O redesigned the "Pluto Platter" in 1958, their owner decided to rename it based on what the students at the Ivy League university were now calling the disk, albeit misspelling the name. Since its debut, Wham-O has produced more than one hundred million disks.
3. They may be the perfect boy toy. Standing around 2 inches tall, this seemingly indestructible icon first appeared made out of good old American plastic in 1938 as painted figures. After World War II, mostly unpainted and sold by the bag-full, they became a "must-have" toy and spread throughout bedrooms, living rooms, and sand boxes across the U.S. Nowadays, you'll even find them as heroes in video games and movies. What is all the fuss about?

Answer: Green Army Men

Until Bergen Toy and Novelty came out with the first plastic Army Men to be manufactured in the United States in 1938, most toy soldiers were cast from lead or tin. After World War II, they grew in popularity because of their being cast as soldiers of war complete with weapons and in action poses, the creation of accessories such as plastic tanks, jeeps, trucks, and boats, their relatively inexpensive price, and their durability.

The popularity of Green Army Men faded in the late 1960s and into the 1970s as anti-violence and anti-military sentiments grew but they have always been available, usually found in the toy aisles of discount and bargain stores, grocery stores, and convenience stores. Green Army Men appear in the animated "Toy Story" films and, in 1998, Windows debuted the "Army Men" video game franchise for PCs, which was soon followed by a Game Boy Color version and eventually growing to PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, etc.
4. She was born to George and Margaret Roberts of Willows, Wisconsin on March 9, 1959. Her younger siblings include her sister Skipper, twins Todd and Stacie (aka Tutti), Kelly, and Krissy. She loves animals, the color pink, collects clothes, cars and homes, and is an unfocused, albeit very successful, career woman who has at one time or another been, among other things, a fashion model, hair stylist, entertainer, astronaut, nurse, doctor, flight attendant, pilot, and a Nascar driver - obvious proof that a woman can accomplish whatever she seeks to achieve in life. By what single name is this can-do iconic woman best known?

Answer: Barbie

Barbie was created by Ruth Handler, who was inspired by a German dress-up doll called "Bild Lilli". Mattel introduced the "World's Most Famous Fashion Doll" on March 9, 1959 (her "birthday"= at the American International Toy Fair in New York City. Built in 1/16th scale, her life-sized vital statistics would put her at about 5'9" tall and 110 pounds, with her measurements at 36-18-33 inches.

It has long been felt that Barbie represented an unrealistic and unhealthy body-image for women and therefore she is known to have put on some healthy girth around her mid-section in 1997 but no one is revealing how many pounds and inches were added (a women's perogative). Barbie is marketed in over 150 countries with an estimated one billion plus dolls sold.
5. The problem: Michelle Khine of the University of California was experimenting with microfluidics in an attempt to create a biochip that would utilize tiny liquid-filled channels which could be used in clinical pathology and applied to the immediate point-of-care diagnosis of diseases. However, in order to continue her pursuit, she was in need of the specialized equipment used to make microfluidic chips and that equipment has a cost of more than $100,000, money that her new lab did not have available. Solution: She turned to a childhood toy and found something that made microfluidic devices bette­r, faster, and cheaper than a hundred thousand dollar high-tech machine ever could. We know that plastic toy as what?

Answer: Shrinky Dinks

Ah, necessity is ever the Mother of invention! A toy used for creating arts and crafts, Shrinky Dinks was invented in 1973 by two Cub Scout moms from Wisconsin named Betty Morris and Kathryn Bloomberg. A Shrinky Dink kit simply consisted of thin, flexible pre-printed polystyrene plastic sheets (recycled plastic #6) that could be colored with acrylic paints, colored pencils, or magic markers, cut out and, when baked in an oven, would shrink into small hard pieces about 1/3 the size of the original without changing color or shape.
Ms. Khine found that by creating her design for the micro-channels on an AutoCAD, printing out the sheets of Shrinky Dink plastic on a laser printer, and baking the sheets in a toaster oven, the sheets shrunk to the specifications she sought with the ink from the printer forming the ridges needed to contain the fluids. She later found that by etching the sheets with syringe tips, she was able to create deeper, narrower wells in the material and eliminate contamination and imperfections that the ink left behind. Ms. Khine sees the cheap and portable devices being used for bedside diagnostics for HIV and other infections. It was also discovered that, by growing stem cells in a Shrinky Dink device that contains wells instead of channels, the cells can be coaxed into becoming, for instance, heart muscle cells. It's hoped that researchers trying to grow cells for tissue transplants can use the tool to better control the process.
6. Simply put, this company is the world's largest manufacturer of scale models. Their model kits run the gamut from airplanes to automobiles to ships to Universal Studios' monsters to spaceships to Star Wars figures and beyond. Just buy the kit, glue the pieces together, paint, and add decals where necessary and - Voila! You have your own personal plastic museum piece. What company has been the leader in replica plastic kits since 1945?

Answer: Revell-Monogram

The Revell Model Company of Venice, California was founded by Lewis Glaser in 1943. Its chief rival, Monogram Models Company, was founded by Jack Besser and Bob Reder in 1945 and was purchased by Mattel in 1972. In 1986, Odyssey Partners of New York purchased both Revell and Monogram and subsequently merged them and established their new corporate headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois and, eventually, Elk Grove Village, IL. Because of its worldwide name recognition, Revell has become the primary brand name used for most of the kit lines while Monogram is used exclusively for the higher-end "Pro Modeler Kits".

In 1956, Revell established a German subsidiary from which it has since separated. In 2007, Hobbieco purchased Revell-Monogram. While Revell-Monogram continues to be a world leader in plastic modeling kits, they are also well-established as a manufacturer of radio-controlled models, slot cars, die-cast models, "Pinewood Derby" cars, rubber band gliders, and other toys.
7. This deceptively simple toy was all the rage beginning in the late 1950s but its origin is basically unknown. It has been supposed that, over 3000 years ago, Egyptian children used dried grape vines to create its earliest version and that the ancient Greeks utilized this toy as a form of exercise to lose weight. In the 1400's it became popular in England until the British began to blame heart attacks and back disorders on its use and playing with the toy became discouraged. It has been made from every sort of material from vines to wood to metal and, in the late 1950s, its colorful plastic version created by the Wham-O Toy Company triggered a fad that would last well into the 1960s, with over twenty million sold in the first 6 months of production. What is this ancient but thoroughly modern toy?

Answer: Hula Hoop

The modern Hula Hoop, as designed in 1958 by Wham-O founders Richard Knerr and Arthur Melin, is simply a hollow plastic tube that could be twirled around the hips, rolled on the ground, or tossed back and forth. Variations of the hoop are made with a couple of ball bearings, bells, or other noise makers inside the tube and its size varies from 20 inches to about 3 feet in diameter. The name was inspired by the way the motion used to twirl the hoop on the hips resembled the Hawaiian hula dance. While the toy itself could not be patented because of its ancient origins, the plastic they were made from, called Marlex, was patented. In the first two years of production Wham-O sold over 100 million Hula Hoops at $1.98 each [American].
8. Boys don't play with dolls - they have "action figures"! And this one is the biggest, baddest of them all. Inspired by real-life World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York, Hasbro's creation of this icon in 1964 directly lead to the term "action figure" with 12" jointed figures of "Action Soldier", "Action Sailor", "Action Pilot", and "Action Marine". Great Britain's "Action Man" followed in 1970, licensed by Hasbro to Palitoy. Anti-miltary and anti-war sentiments couldn't stop these guys any more than the threats to international peace that they were charged with halting and, by the 1980s, cartoons, comic books, animated and live action movies, 3.75" scale action team set, video games, and even pro wrestlers became part of the phenomenal franchise. What name was given to this fantastic plastic toy?

Answer: G.I. Joe

G.I. [Government Issue] Joe, The Real American Hero. A boy's answer to Barbie, with uniforms and accessories galore to be purchased. When the Viet Nam War put things military out of favor, Hasbro shifted emphasis to G.I. Joe being part of a para-military "Action Team".

Innovations over the years included an "African American Joe", the bionic "Mike Power, Atomic Man", super-hero "Bullet Man", "Kung-Fu Grip Joe" with poseable soft-grip plastic hands, "Eagle Eye Joe" with movable eyes, and a "Life Like Joe" with beard and hair.

When there were no wars to be fought, G.I. Joe was given a terrorist group, "Cobra", to defend against. In 1985, pro wrestler Sgt. Slaughter became part of the "Go Joe" team with a tweaking of his in-ring Marine Drill Instructor character; his was followed by a G.I Joe character inspired by former Chicago Bear football legend William "The Refrigerator" Perry! In 2009, the live action film "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" was released with hints of sequels to come.
9. "We come from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow." [Led Zeppelin ~ "The Immigrant Song"]...or, at least, from Denmark. In 1932, carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen was making wooden toys in his Billund, Denmark wood shop, little realizing that he was on the verge of creating a multi-billion dollar empire built out of little pieces of cellulose acetate! In 1934, he founded his toy company, using a play on the Danish phrase "play well" for its name. In 1940, the little wooden toy company introduced multi-colored plastic versions of a traditional wooden stacking block. Hard to believe but it was not a story of instant success as the toys were not well-received but instead considered to be an inferior product to the original wooden ones. In 1958, under the guidance of Christiansen's son Godtfred, the plastic pieces were improved upon, given their modern design, and patented. By 1963, their composition was reformulated to a sturdier material and the building boom began. The name of this plastic take on wooden tradition is now known worldwide as ____?

Answer: Lego

"Leg godt" became "Lego" and a toy icon was born. The Lego-branded empire now includes robotics, video games, retail stores, children's clothing, board games, computer-animated films, books, magazines, comics, graphic novels, and theme parks.
10. How much fun could you possibly have with a length of hose that has a bunch of holes running down its length and a sheet of plastic? Well, I guess you can roll it out on the back lawn and let the kids play with it. Wow, what toy did you just invent?

Answer: Slip 'n' Slide

Wham-O introduced this marvel of simplicity known as "Slip 'n' Slide" in 1961. They just attached a leaky hose to a length of plastic and there it was! One up-dated version includes a pool attachment at the end of the plastic sheet - another has a hose that sprays water in the air and onto the sliders.
By the way, this toy is one that is NOT recommended for teens and adults because there is more likelihood that they will suffer neck and back injuries, broken bones, and even paralysis while playing on it!
Source: Author bigsouthern

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