Strictly Canadian: Inventions Trivia Quiz

Answer: Joseph-Armand Bombardier

A mechanic, Joseph Armand Bombardier created his first snowmobile at the age of 15. It was basically a sled attached to an old Model T ford motor. His intentions where to create a machine that was capable of traveling on snow. In 1937 he created his first official snowmobile, the B7, which was an enclosed snow machine and could hold up to 7 people. That same year he received the patent for his "tracking drive system" called the caterpillar track, which enabled the machine to travel over the snow.

In 1942 he created the B12 model which was able to hold up to 12 people. By the 1950's Bombardier was working on an individual snow machine. He had originally called it the Ski-dog, but a typo at the patent office and that's how the ski-doo got its name.

The J Armand Bombardier Museum is in Valcourt Quebec.

Answer: The Jolly Jumper

This mother of 7 created originally created the jolly jumper for her first child in 1910. It was a type of baby swing that allowed her to be hands free, while her child was entertained, in one location and safe. She recreated the jolly jumper for her grandchildren, and on her son's suggestion, applied for and received the patent for the jolly jumper in 1957.

Answer: Arthur Sicard

Robert Carr Harris of New Brunswick in 1870 received the patent for his "Railway screw snow excavator" except nothing developed from that patent. Outremont Quebec, 57 years later, the first "Sicard Snow Remover Snow blower" was sold. This snowblower consisted of three parts, a 4-wheel drive chassis and truck motor, a part that did the snow scooping and two adjustable chutes with a separate motor.

This method did not push the snow out of the way instead it scooped the snow and threw it away. This snowblower was capable of scooping and throwing either hard packed or soft snow. Sicard founded Sicard Industries in Sainte-Teresa, Quebec.

Answer: Marquis Wheat

Marquis wheat, is a hybrid wheat that grows exceptionally well in the Canadian west. It was able to withstand the Canadian climate, the wheat being resistant to colder temperatures and wind. Saunders wanted a wheat that was a "strong, hardy, durable wheat" that grew faster (matured earlier) than traditional brands of wheat. Between 1904 and 1908 he experimented with various types of wheat grain, before discovering the Marquis wheat. During this time he had test farms growing his brand of wheat, with success.

By the 1920s the majority of wheat grown in Canada was Marquis wheat. For his contributions to agriculture, this Canadian agronomist (a scientist who specializes in the "science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed and fiber") was knighted by King George V in 1934.

Answer: Green garbage bag

Harry Wasylyk invented the common green garbage bag in 1950. Along with Larry Hansen they created the green polyethylene disposable green garbage bag. Originally the garbage bag was intended for commercial not household use. It was first sold to the Winnipeg General Hospital. Larry Hansen worked for the Union Carbide Company in Lindsay Ontario, and the company saw the potential of garbage bags for household usage.

They purchased the invention and began producing garbage bags during the 1960's under the name of Glad Garbage Bags.

Answer: J.D. Millar

As Canada developed, so did car ownership. With more Canadians owning and using cars, road traffic increased. John D. Millar, an engineer for the Ontario Department of Transportation, in 1930 saw the potential of having lines on the roads separating each lane. By 1935, painted lines became a standard on Ontario highways. Millar's idea, although simple has made road traveling much safer.

Answer: Pablum

These three Canadian doctors in 1931 working at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, in an attempt to prevent rickets in children created Pablum. Pablum was the first baby food that was nutritious, precooked, dried, specifically for babies and was easy to prepare. Pablum was available in Canada and the United States. All profits from the sales of pablum for the first 25 years, went to Toronto's Pediatric Foundation for research. Pablum greatly improved childhood malnutrition, since it contained many minerals and vitamins that every baby needs to survive and thrive.

Answer: UV degradable plastic

Ordinary plastics are not biodegradable. Guillet, a University of Toronto chemistry professor created a UV degradable plastic. At the University of Toronto he worked on plastics and photochemistry, his main interest was the way that polymers react to sunlight.

As a result he created a plastic that, when exposed to sunlight, disintegrated fifty times faster than ordinary plastics, reducing the plastic to a powder.

Answer: Goalie Mask

During a game against the New York Rangers in November 1959, Plante got injured by a puck. After leaving the game, he was patched up but refused to return to the game without his facial mask. He created this mask and had been wearing it during practices since 1956.

The idea of a facial covering was not a new idea, Clint Benedict wore a mask/nose guard when he had a broken nose during the 1920s, but after his nose healed he never wore it again. In co-operation with Fibreglass Canada, they created the first goalie's mask. Plante was also the first person to consistently wear the mask during games. Today every goalie in the NHL is required to wear a goalie's mask. Plante was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Quebec Sports Pantheon in 1994.

Answer: Poutine

Poutine - basically meaning mushy mess, is cheese (usually cheese curds) french fries and gravy. In 2004 the "Globe and Mail" (the largest circulating newspaper in Canada) labeled Fernand Lachance Mr. Poutine. Originally in 1957, a customer, Eddy Lanaisse, asked for cheese curds to be added to his fries, and poutine was created.

It wasn't until 1964 before the gravy was added. There are many others who claim to have created poutine but Lachance claims (and is widely accepted he did create poutine) that he created it first and the others were just copying him. On Saturday December 11, 2004, the CBC's (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) children show "The X" in Dundas Square in Toronto, held the "X poutine party" they attempted to created the world's largest poutine.

Their poutine weighed 808 pounds, now that is a lot of fries, cheese and gravy. Thanks for playing my quiz, I hope you found it as interesting to play as I did in the researching and writing.