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Invention Trivia (Cont.)
Everyone knows the Wright brothers were the first to build and fly an airplane, right?
Or were they? The Wright brothers occupy the history books as the first
to develop and operate a motor driven "heavier than air flying machine."
They also received all the glory and fame for the feat. But there are those who
believe that someone beat them to the punch. According to the August 19, 1901, Boston Transcript and New York Herald newspapers, Gustave
Whitehead took to the air three times in his airplane "No. 21," which was shaped like an
albatross. The date the papers recorded for the flights was August 14, 1901, more than
two years before the December 1903 flights that made the Wright brothers household names.
Is there a National Inventors' Day?
On January 12, 1983, President Ronald Reagan dedicated February 11,
1983 (the anniversary of Thomas Edison's birth) to the creative
and resourceful individuals who make up the pool of America's
inventors. He called it National Inventors' Day "In recognition
of the enormous contribution inventors make to the nation and
the world." The President went on to write that the "key to our future
success [as a nation] will be the dedication and creativity of
inventors." President Reagan also "call[ed] upon the people of
the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities."
Who designed the American Flag?
It's not Betsy Ross. The current flag was designed by a 17-year-old named Bob Heft. As part
of a class project, he redesigned the flag to recognize Hawaii and
Alaska. His teacher awarded him a "B-minus." Heft lobbied for a better
grade, but the teacher said he'd only award an "A" if Congress accepted
his design.
What famous American Cookie takes its name from a small Massachusetts town?
In the late 1800s, Charles Roser created a cookie recipe and sold it to the Kennedy Biscuit
Works (which later became Nabisco). At the time, the Biscuit Works
named products after nearby towns. In this case, the town was Newton,
Massachusetts, and the cookie, of course, was the Fig Newton®.
How were windshield wipers invented?
On a snowy day in 1903, Mary Anderson was travelling in a streetcar. Every now and then,
the conductor stopped to get out and clean the windshield. Anderson
immediately set to work designing a device controlled from inside
the car to clear the windshield. She received a patent for it in
1904. Since 1913, a version of her windshield wiper has been standard
equipment on automobiles.
When was television invented?
Television broadcasts on a large scale began after World War II.
However, television-broadcasting experiments were underway as early
as the 1920s and broadcasts were available on a limited basis in
the late 1930s. But the actual earliest known work occurred in 1837
when Sir William Crookes experimented with sending moving visual
images over a distance.
Read more invention trivia from InventHelp®
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