Best of the Best: American Inventors Quiz

Answer: Phonograph

Although it would be difficult to prove that any of Edison's inventions are more important to the world today than the electric light bulb, it does perhaps make sense that the general public at the time gained enjoyment from listening to his phonograph.

It was said that the phonograph seemed magical to the public; in addition, news of the invention came rather early in Edison's career. The electric light bulb came the year after the phonograph, and that is not the end of the list! Working as a telegrapher early in his career, he made improvements to the telegraph.

After the light bulb, he also invented the Edison screw, which was a standard size socket in which the bulb fit. Altogether he held over 1,000 patents, including motion pictures, the fluoroscope, and the stock ticker!

Answer: Willis Carrier

Willis Carrier is known to many as "The Father of Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning." He submitted drawings in July 1902 to a publishing company in Brooklyn that was experiencing "quality problems". His design added humidity control, which was a new idea in the design of air conditioners; he came upon this revelation after standing in the fog on a train platform! In 1906 he received a patent for what he called the "Apparatus for Treating Air". Carrier opened his own domestic company by 1915 and expanded his business to Japan and Korea in 1930. Today the Carrier Corporation is a world-wide business that remains a leader in refrigeration and HVAC.

Answer: Vulcanized Rubber

The world experienced what was called "rubber fever" in the early 1800's; there had been a high demand for the substance until consumers found that it froze hard in the winter and turned into a gooey mess in the summer. Charles Goodyear began his first experiments on stabilizing rubber while serving time in jail for being in debt. After one unsuccessful result after another, and sinking deeper and deeper in debt, he became a bit of a laughing stock.

It was just pure luck - his newest gummy substance flew out of his hand and landed on a hot stove - that he found his first clue about how to vulcanize rubber. At great expense to his own health and to his family, Goodyear continued his experiments until he found success. "Life," he wrote, "should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents. I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps". Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, a company to which neither he nor his family was ever connected, was named in his honor.

Answer: Isaac Singer

After receiving the first patent for a sewing machine in the United States in 1846, Elias Howe moved to England in order to perfect its use. Upon his return, he found that Isaac Singer (whose name sewing enthusiasts may recognize) was not only using his machine, but also selling it.

He finally won the dispute with Singer and collected royalties from his selling of the machines. There is a very compelling story that Howe worked out the placement of the eye on his sewing needle in a dream! Previous efforts had placed the eye at the heel of the needle, but in his dream he realized that it would work better at the point.

Interestingly, Howe donated much of his earnings to the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, a unit in which he served as his failing health permitted.

Answer: Alexander Graham Bell

The photophone transmitted speech on a beam of light, and is believed to be the predecessor of fiber optic communication systems. At the time of the experiments with Charles Sumner Tainter in 1880, Bell was said to be so proud of the new invention that he wanted to name his daughter "Photophone". He wrote to his father, "I have heard articulate speech by sunlight! I have heard a ray of the sun laugh and cough and sing! ...I have been able to hear a shadow and I have even perceived by ear the passage of a cloud across the sun's disk. You are the grandfather of the Photophone and I want to share my delight at my success". By the turn of the century, Marconi's success with radio waves had largely made the photophone obsolete. However, German interest in the invention during WWI led to the production of units made for the German navy.

As a side note: While Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scotland, he did give up his British citizenship in 1882 to become an American citizen. In fact, there are three countries proud to claim him - Britain, the U.S., and Canada, where he lived for a time. According to a 1915 quote, Bell also viewed himself as an American: "I am not one of those hyphenated Americans who claim allegiance to two countries".

Answer: Eastman Kodak

When twenty-three year-old George Eastman was planning to take a trip in 1875, a friend suggested that he might like to take along a camera. As it turned out, Eastman didn't take the trip, but became so interested in the camera that he began to experiment on making equipment that was less cumbersome and cheaper to use.

The roll film he invented was also the basis for motion picture film. He founded the Eastman Kodak company in 1888, selling an inexpensive camera, and making money from the sale of the paper, chemicals and film needed to use it.

A bachelor his entire life, Eastman used his earning to make life better for others, founding The Eastman School of Music, as well as medical and dentistry schools.

Answer: Moving Assembly Line

Using the moving assembly line, Henry Ford's workers could assemble a Model T in just 93 minutes! Many benefits were discovered using this method. First there were fewer worker injuries due to the fact that they weren't moving around so much. Also, as Ford himself wrote, it wasn't necessary for the workers to pick up anything or lift anything, so on-the-job injuries were dramatically reduced. Next, the cost of the car was lowered from $825 to $575, making it more affordable and increasing demand. Ford passed on part of the profit to employees eventually able to increase pay from $1.50 per day to $5.00 to employees who worked on the line after three years.

In addition the hourly work week was reduced. The down side? Well, one of the problems was that it took longer for the paint to dry than it did to assemble the car. That explains why many of the cars were black - the paint that dried fastest!

Answer: Jonas Salk

Polio was considered by many to be the most frightening public health problem after World War II. A 2009 PBS documentary said that the only comparable fear at the time in the U.S. was the atomic bomb. The fact that Franklin Roosevelt contracted the disease and was so prominent a public figure had contributed to rising awareness. Salk's vaccine was field tested in 1955, and was so successful that he was proclaimed a "miracle worker." Because of the success of the vaccine in eradicating the disease, it is difficult today to image how fearsome and devastating it was to so many people.

In 1985, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the discovery, President Reagan proclaimed May 6 as "Jonas Salk Day".

Answer: Air Brakes

During his lifetime George Westinghouse formed and directed more than sixty companies to market his 361 patented inventions. Although many people, including Thomas Edison, believed the use of alternating current was a health hazard, his Westinghouse Electric Company became one of the greatest electrical manufacturing companies of its time.

The invention of the air breaks enabled trains to be stopped with more quickly and effectively, and was eventually adopted on most railroads worldwide. Actually, Westinghouse has a long list of other contributions, including leaf springs that made train riding much more comfortable, a reduction valve that made natural gas a safe energy source for home use, and the first hydroelectric power plant in New York.

Answer: Richard Gatling

Richard Gatling invented an impressive array of items including a screw propeller for steamboats, wheat drill, hemp breaking machine, and steam plow. He invented the Gatling gun after noticing the high fatality rate of soldiers from disease, and said, "It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished".

Although Gatling worked out the design for the gun during the early years of the Civil War, it was not until 1866 that the U.S. government actually "officially" purchased any. Shortly after, Gatling sold his patent to Samuel Colt.