US Inventions of the 1890s - If You Can Believe! Quiz

Answer: Shredded Wheat

Mr. Perky, who suffered from a gastric ailment, met a man with the same ailment who was eating boiled wheat with cream. This made the lawyer-cum-inventor think about how to make "wheat mattresses". A friend of his and he invented the machine to do so.

In 1901 he built a plant in Niagara Falls, NY, called the Natural Food Company. In 1904 it became the Shredded Wheat Company and in 1928 it was bought by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco).

Answer: Smoke detector

Upton and Dibble invented the first "automatic electric fire alarm". Although Upton worked with Thomas Edison there is no evidence that Edison, himself, worked on that apparatus. Although it was not like the modern smoke detector, it did the job and was far better than having none. They were issued patent #436,961.

Answer: Civil engineer

Mr. Ferris, a civil engineer with an interest in bridge-building, lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when he invented the Ferris Wheel. It was first opened and used at the Chicago World's Fair in June, 1893. After the Fair closed, Mr. Ferris accused the Exposition management of withholding the proper monies that the Ferris Wheel had made from him and his investors.

The Wheel had brought in approximately $750,000 which was a lot of money in 1894. Ferris spent the next two years suing the Exhibition, trying to get what he felt was his fair share of the profits of the Wheel. George Ferris died in 1896 of typhoid fever.

Answer: Zipper

Judson, of Chicago, Illinois, was issued 30 patents over 16 years for various inventions. However, his biggest and his claim to fame was the chain lock fastener, a forerunner to the zipper. The item manufactured by his "clasp-locker" machine that he also invented, a hook and eye type of fastener meant by him to be used on shoes.

However, in his first patent application he also wrote that there were "possible applications for corsets, gloves, mailbags and generally wherever it is desired to detachable connect a pair adjacent flexible parts" [sic].

It took a while but his patent was finally issued in 1893 just in time to be exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair. Incidentally, Elias Howe invented a type of zipper some 40 years or so before Judson, but it was unsuccessful because of the work one had to put into it to use it. I'm indebted to blakey for bringing this up.

Answer: Pinking shears

The pinking shear is a scissor with sawtooth blades rather than smooth, straight, ones. It is used not only to prevent fraying of the fabric but also for decorative reasons. There have been a number of later patents issued for pinking shears that have, allegedly, improved upon Louise Austin's scissors. However, she has patent #489,406, issued in 1893.

Answer: Johns Hopkins Hospital

William Steward Halsted was a famed surgeon who emphasized aseptic surgery. Thus, the invention of the "medical glove". He was also an early believer in the newly invented anaesthetics and introduced new operative techniques such as the radical mastectomy for breast cancer.

His new glove was rubber. They are now made from various materials including latex and neoprene as well as others and come either unpowdered or powdered. The powdered make them easier to put on. Johns Hopkins Hospital is a research center and teaching hospital, and a part of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD.

Answer: Volleyball

Volleyball is a game with six players on each team with a net in between them. Points are scored by the ball hitting the ground on the opposing team's side. It is now an Olympic sport, so Mr. Morgan should be very proud of himself for having invented it while studying at the YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

He had met James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, and invented Mintonnette as a sport that would be more suitable for older players. Later the game was renamed by Alfred S. Halstead.

Answer: Cotton candy

Morrison and Wharton were from Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Wharton was a candy-maker and Dr. Morrison a dentist, of all things. Morrison was quite an inventor and one of his first inventions, with Mr. Wharton's help, was the cotton candy machine (building his dentistry practice, perhaps?) The machine was electric and melted the sugar.

Then it used air to push it through a wire screen, making the strands. They originally called it "Fairy Floss" at the 1904 World's Fair, where it was a big hit.

Answer: Charles Gerard Conn

The Sousaphone, named after John Phillip Sousa who suggested it be developed, is a "wearable" tuba which was descended from the helicon. It fits around the body so it can be easily played while being worn, perhaps in a parade, by the player. It is sometimes known as the "marching tuba". C. G. Conn Ltd., was a US manufacturer of musical instruments, especially brass instruments.

In 2000, the assets of C.G. Conn were bought by Steinway. Steinway later merged other of its assets along with Conn into Conn-Selmer, which now sells the instruments made by Conn.

Answer: Vertical filing cabinet

Mr. Seibels invented the first vertical filing cabinet. The Globe-Wernicke company made him five wooden boxes into which he felt he could put papers into large envelopes and stand them up in the file drawer. Thirty-nine years later, Globe-Wernicke gave him a bronze plaque that, in effect, thanked him for inventing the filing cabinet.

In 1941, the Smithsonian Institute asked Seibels for one of the original box files and he was gracious enough to give it to them. As with most inventions, his wooden boxes have been improved upon over the years, but the main idea on which the new ones are based is the same and is still his.