US Inventors Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Ray Milton Dolby, who was born on January 18, 1933, was an exceptional American engineer and inventor. He developed the renowned Dolby NR system, which significantly enhanced sound clarity. Additionally, Ray Dolby contributed to the advancement of the videotape recorder and founded his own company, Dolby Laboratories. Dolby died on September 12, 2013.

Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, U.S. Edison was an inventor and businessman. Edison's inventions received a total of 1093 patents. A patent serves to safeguard the design. This figure represents the highest number recorded for an individual. One of Edison's inventions was the phonograph in 1877. Here he recorded himself reciting the nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'.

King C. Gillette was born on January 5, 1855, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, U.S. Gillette is famed for his safety razor, which is now known all over the world. The original company was known as the American Safety Razor Company and was founded on September 28, 1901. In July 1902 Gillette changed the name to the Gillette Safety Razor Company. Over the years millions of his safety razors have been sold. Gillette died on July 9, 1932. The company is now owned by Procter & Gamble, who bought the company in 2005.

Larry Stevenson was born as Richard Lawrence Stevenson on December 22, 1930, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Larry Stevenson is recognised as the creator of the kicktail, the upward-curved end of a skateboard that enabled many modern skateboarding tricks and transformed the sport. Additionally, he founded MAKAHA Skateboards and is known for producing the first high-quality skateboard. In 1969, he obtained a patent for the double kicktail, formed the first skateboarding team in 1963, and organised the inaugural skateboard competition that same year.

Eli Whitney Jr. was born on December 8, 1765, in Westborough, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America. One significant invention of the Industrial Revolution that impacted the economy of the Antebellum South was the cotton gin, by Whitney. His invention converted upland short-staple cotton into a profitable crop, thereby strengthening the economic foundation of slavery in the United States and prolonging the existence of the institution.

Stephanie Kwolek was born on July 31, 1923, in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, U.S. Stephanie worked for the DuPont company for over forty years. DuPont is an American company involved in the chemical industry. Stephanie Kwolek's claim to fame is the invention of Kevlar. Kelver is made from a synthetic fibre which is very strong and very light. Because Kevlar is so strong and light, it is used in bulletproof vests and can also be made into a kind of rope to moor ships at the quayside.

Elias Howe was born on July 9, 1819, in Spencer, Massachusetts, U.S.A. On September 10, 1846, Elias Howe received the first sewing machine patent in the United States. His invention used a distinctive method called the lockstitch, which is still used in most sewing machines today. His machine included three key parts: a needle with the eye at its tip, a shuttle that moved under the fabric to create the lockstitch, and an automatic system to move the fabric through the machine.

Samuel Morse was born on April 27, 1791, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, U.S. Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system. This system was founded on previous European designs. Additionally, he played a role in the development of Morse code and enhanced the telegraph's utility for commercial purposes. What you may not know is that before Morse became an inventor, he was a famous portrait painter.

Garrett Morgan was born on March 4, 1877, in Claysville, Harrison County, Kentucky, U.S. Garrett Morgan developed a hair-straightening lotion and invented a three-way traffic light in 1923. He created a protective type of gas mask, which he utilised during a tunnel construction disaster rescue in 1916 in Lake Erie, along with various other hair care products. Drawing from his concepts for hair products, Morgan established the successful "G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company".

Levi Hutchins was born on August 17, 1761, in Harvard, Massachusetts, US. Levi is known for the invention of the first American alarm clock in 1787. On December 6, 1777, Levi and his brother Able worked for Simon Willard as apprentices in the watchmaking industry. In 1780 the brothers left Simon Willard and moved to Abington, Connecticut, where they continued their apprenticeship for another eight months. The brothers then returned to Concord, New Hampshire, where they opened up their own business in 1787 and invented the alarm clock.

Incorrect answers are as follows.

Alexander Fleming was born on 6 August 188, in Darvel, Ayrshire, Scotland. Fleming was known for
the discovery of penicillin.

John Logie Baird was born on 13 August 1888, in Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Baird's claim to fame was that he unveiled the first mechanical television system in the world on January 26, 1926. Subsequently, he developed the first colour television system that was publicly demonstrated and also created the first practical fully electronic colour television picture tube.

Christopher Cockerell was born on 4 June 1910, in Cambridge, England. Cockerell was the man who invented the hovercraft. The first prototype was built in 1958, and the first hovercraft was manufactured under licence from the NRDC. On 11 June 1959. On 25 July 1959, Cokerell launched the hovercraft from Calais and Dover successfully.

Joseph Swan was born on October 31, 1828, in Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland, County Durham, England. Swan was the individual credited with the invention of the incandescent light bulb and for pioneering the initial application of incandescent lighting for home illumination.

Tim Berners-Lee was born on 8 June 1955, in London, England. We all have to thank Lee for the World Wide Web, or as we all know it, WWW. The WWW first began in December 1990. It has changed all our lives since its launch. Lee was also the man behind HTML (HyperText Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and the URL (uniform resource locator), meaning 'web address'.

Peter Hobbs was born on 3 May 1916, in Langton Green, Kent, England, UK. Peter Hobbs is the man who started the company Russell Hobbs in 1952. One of the first designs from the company was in 1952 with the first electric coffee percolator. In 1955, Russell Hobbs introduced the first automatic kettle, establishing itself as the leading kettle manufacturer in the United Kingdom.