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Inventions Trivia

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George Hale's 100-inch telescope lens, built in the early 1900s, was the largest solid piece of glass made until then. The lens was made by a French specialist who poured the equivalent of ten thousand melted champagne bottles into a mold packed with heat maintaining manure so that the glass would cool slowly and not crack.

George Washington Carver developed more unconventional products from the peanut and its oils than anyone in history. For grooming, he came up with shaving cream, face cream, soap, and shampoo – all made from the lowly peanut.

Glue dates back to prehistoric times. Artists once mixed colorings with raw eggs, dried blood, and plant juices to make sticky paints for cave murals. Later, ancient Egyptians and other peoples learned to make stronger glues by boiling animal bones and hides.

Hair salons in Britain in the 1870s concocted their own shampoos from varying amounts of water, soda, and bar soap.

Hans Berger created the electroencephalograph (EEG) in 1924. By attaching 2 pieces of silver to his son's head and connecting wires between them and a galvanometer, he recorded electrical signals emanating from the brain.

Heinrich W. Brandes made the first weather map in 1815, based on data gathered in 1783. Brandes waited so long because it was the only way he could be certain the information was correct.

Henri Nestlé was originally a baby food manufacturer. His work and research with condensed milk aided Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter in inventing a method to successfully combine chocolate and milk in a solid form — the first milk chocolate — in 1875.

Henry D. Perky and William Ford received a patent in August 1893 on a machine for making the shreds, or filaments, of wheat for shredded wheat biscuits. The duo later formed The Cereal Machine Company in Denver to manufacture them.

Henry Ford called his first car a quadricycle.

Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. It was the invention of several 19th-century engineers, paramount among them being two Germans: Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz. What Ford did accomplish was to mass-produce automobiles and provide affordable service for them.

The first foghorn was used at a Boston lighthouse in 1719; it was a cannon. The lighthouse keeper had to fire the cannon every hour when there was fog to warn nearby ships. The hourly booming kept townspeople awake through the night, so other long-range s

The first hot air balloon to carry passengers was invented by the Montgolfier brothers in France in 1783. It flew five miles. The air in a hot air balloon is about 212o F.

Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972), the mother of 12 children, had good reason to improve the efficiency and convenience of household items. A pioneer in ergonomics, Gilbreth patented many devices, including an electric food mixer, and the trash can with step-on lid-opener that can be found in most households today.

The first jet passenger airliner was the de Havilland Comet, which serviced the British Overseas Airways starting in May of 1952.

Linus Yale patented the pin lock, or Yale lock, on May 6, 1851. Yale drew his inspiration from the Egyptian pin-and-bolt locks which were made of wood.

The first lightweight luggage designed for air travel was conceived by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.

Lithiated Lemon was the creation of Charles Griggs from Missouri, who introduced the lemon-lime drink in 1929. Four years later, he renamed it 7-Up. Sales increased significantly.

The first lithographed American lunchbox appeared in 1902. It was shaped like a picnic basket and had children at play painted on it.

Louis Jaques Mandé Daguerre agreed with the French government to disclose his secret photographic process to the public in exchange for an annual pension of 6000 francs.

The first patent issued for modern suspenders – those with the familiar metal clasp – was issued in October 1894.

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