Truth Hurts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Foot-powered pedals

Until Kirkpatrick Macmillan adapted the treadle to fit the bicycle as the first pedal-style bicycle in 1839, the dandy horse (also called draisine) was the most common bicycle. This vehicle, however, relied on pure foot power on the ground. The dandy horse was considered the first two-wheeled vehicle (invented in 1817 and patented in 1818), so although Kirkpatrick Macmillan's treadle addition revolutionized transportation on two wheels, he did not invent the bicycle itself.

If you are like me, and thought the pedaled bicycle was much older than 1839, perhaps you'll find this extra tidbit as interesting as I did... Charles Babbage, inventor of the mechanical computer, did so six years EARLIER, in 1833. That's right, we had mechanical computing before we had pedaled bicycles.

Answer: Sewing Machine

Designs for sewing machines existed as far back as 1790, but it wasn't until 1846 that Elias Howe earned his patent (US patent 4750) for his design that sewing machines really took off. His was the first using the lockstitch design; which includes a needle with an eye at the point (for looping through the fabric), a shuttle underneath the fabric (to put thread through the eye), and an automatic feed (no more pesky flipping cloth and hand sewing).

Having the eye of the needle at the point was a revolutionary thought indeed; with the eye on the other end, the entire thing would have to go through and back through again to put a small piece of thread in the fabric; having it at the point allowed for a simpler, automatic method to get the thread through quicker and more efficiently than before.

Answer: Thomas Watson

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his newly invented telephone with a phone call to his assistant, Thomas Watson. The phone call was this: "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you." Interestingly, claims of the invention as the first are disputed; inventor Antonio Meucci created what is often claimed as the first telephone five years earlier, in 1871. However, his patent did not include electromagnetic transmission, whereas Bell's did.

Perhaps even more interestingly, Alexander Graham Bell did not want a telephone in his own home, as he felt the accidental invention was a distraction to his other endeavors. It's too bad he wasn't around for the smartphone era; he could have set his device to do not disturb when he was busy inventing other things!

Answer: Carbon

Carbon filaments allowed Edison's light bulb design to burn for over 14 hours, making it the first successful light bulb in 1879. Further refining allowed for a more commercially accessible version to be available, as the initial bulb was too fragile to be viable. In a few short years, these carbon filaments were replaced with carbonized bamboo filaments; and this allowed the bulb to last for over 1200 hours.

It wasn't until 1904 that the tungsten filament was created to allow for more efficient and longer lasting bulbs to exist. Nowadays, incandescent bulbs such as Edison's carbonized bamboo filament bulbs, are in much less use, as they take more power to operate than eco-friendly LEDs.

Answer: Boots

The original zipper was known as a clasp locker, and was originally designed for the use of shoes and high boots. The patent itself said it could be applied anywhere where two flexible parts needed to be connected but disconnected easily, such as corsets, gloves, and mail bags.

Being that it was originally intended for shoes, however, that is where it was much more commonly found. In that era, high boots with buttons were quite popular but very tedious to put on, and the clasp locker was a much quicker way to put on these boots and stay fashionable. It wasn't until 1923, however, that the Zipper brand of galoshes included these clasp lockers, and the brand name became synonymous with the style of connection since.

Answer: Stooky Bill

Though several people around the world were working on similar inventions and advancements relating to transmitting images, Baird has been credited as having the first public demonstration in 1926. He was able to transmit a short live video of a ventriloquist dummy, named Stooky Bill, from his laboratory to the Royal Institution. His, however, used mechanical disks, when electronic means were already underway. In 1927, a successful transmission of a single line became the first electronic image over television.

As for the 576 reference, two common digital video modes exist for television around the world. NTSC uses 480i over 525 lines, more commonly used in North and South America; SECAM uses 576i over 625 lines, popular in most of Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa.

Answer: Microwave Oven

The Radarange was a massive structure first available in 1947. It stood at five feet 11 inches tall, weighed 750 pounds, and cost an enormous price tag... between $2,000 and $3,000 in 1947. Unlike modern microwave ovens that use much less power, these large devices used 3 kilowatts and were water cooled.

The first counter-top microwave oven would not be made available until 1967, introduced by a subsidiary of Raytheon. One of the earliest installed Radarange machines is found on the passenger ship NS Savannah, still in use today, and was installed in 1961 on the ship.

Answer: Odyssey

The Magnavox Odyssey was released in 1972, and was the world's first home video game console. With the immense success of arcade games, many inventors and companies went to work to make smaller versions that can be played at home, but it was Ralph H. Baer and his team who created the hardware that was released by Magnavox to become the first commercially accessible console.

28 games were available for the original Odyssey (a series of consoles were given the Magnavox Odyssey title), and one of the most popular was "Table Tennis". This game helped the Magnavox Odyssey sell much better, due to the success of a similar arcade game, "Pong". Interestingly, "Pong" itself was inspired by an early demostration of the Odyssey's "Table Tennis", creating an interesting video game invention loop... "Table Tennis" created "Pong", "Pong" helped "Table Tennis" sell, and eventually, "Pong" found its way to home consoles in 1975.

Answer: CERN

The World Wide Web was developed by Tim Berners-Lee to help facilitate easier communication of research documents between CERN scientists in 1989. The Web was not available outside of CERN until 1991, however; first to other research institutes and eventually, by 1993, royalty-free for more widespread use.

The reviewer's name in the photo, Archie Query, is a reference to the very first search engine, Archie, created in 1990. As a scientific research tool, it was much different from modern search engines you're familiar with today.

Answer: Sony

E-readers had been around long before they were finally commercialized; the first was in 1972 though it was overshadowed by other innovations of the time. Electronic paper was invented in 1997, and e-readers hit commercial markets with success in 1998. Interestingly, the two did not merge into a singular device until 2004, with the release of the Sony Librie, the predecessor to the Sony Reader.

The release of the Amazon Kindle in 2007, however, was a commercially tremendous success. The device sold out in under six hours, and proved that, even in the modern age of technology, literature is here to stay. And... without real paper, we avoid that pesky "451" book burning.