Test your “Invention IQ” with this quiz          By Paul Niemann

[SEPT. 15, 2005]  Based on reader feedback asking for more quizzes, the education division here at Invention Mysteries World Headquarters has put together another one of our patented quizzes. Some – but not all – of the answers can be found in previous quizzes.

Here’s a hint: The first letter of each answer forms a nine-letter word, which you will definitely recognize. For those answers that list the inventor’s name, it’s the first letter of the last name that is part of the nine-letter word.

1. Which of the following products was created by accident at Proctor & Gamble?

A. ice cream
B. Ivory Soap
C. the Flo-Bee haircutting device
D. engine muffler

2. He didn’t invent the apple, but he did invent the reflecting telescope way back in 1668.

A. Sir Isaac Newton
B. Ben Franklin
C. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs

3. He was a musician who patented an invention to help him play his guitar. Bonus points if you can name the invention.

A. Paul McCartney
B. Eddie Van Halen
C. The other Van Halen brother

4. Who invented the Popsicle as an eleven-year-old kid and originally named it the “Epsicle” after himself? (Be careful with this one – it could be a trick question.)

A. Frank Epperson
B. Thomas Edison
C. The guy who played Doogie Howser, M.D. on television
D. Ralph Waldo Emerson

5. This group of Americans Indians invented the secret language that was used to encode and decode messages to help the Allies in every major World War II battle in the Pacific, including Iwo Jima. It was also the basis of the 2002 movie, “Windtalkers.”

6. TRUE or FALSE: Michael Jackson patented an invention.

7. What was the occupation of Elijah McCoy, for whom the “Real McCoy” is named?

A. oilman
B. college professor
C. unemployed
D. professional boxer

8. Which of these famous people was NOT an inventor?

A. Walt Disney
B. Rube Goldberg
C. Archimedes
D. Mark Twain

9. He invented the saxophone in 1846 (another possible trick question).

A. Antoine Sax
B. Ben Franklin
C. Ben Franklin’s long-lost German cousin, Wolfgang Franklin

ANSWERS:

1. Ivory Soap
2. Newton
3. Van Halen. His invention was the “hands-free guitar support.”
4. Epperson
5. Navaho Indians. Their own language was the code.
6. True. Jackson was a co-inventor of a “method of creating an anti-gravity illusion.”
7. Oilman. McCoy’s automatic oiling cup for trains became known as “The Real McCoy” when engineers began asking for it by name.
8. Rube Goldberg
9. Sax

What word do you get when you arrange the first letter of each of the nine answers?

I-N-V-E-N-T-O-R-S.
 

[Paul Niemann]

Paul Niemann is the author of Invention Mysteries. He can be reached at [e-mail].

© Copyright Paul Niemann 2005