I had an appliance expert on the show last week. Let's do a quick quiz on what you may know about appliances and who invented them...
Here is a list of people and the things they invented. Can you guess who did what?
1 – Edwin Ruud. Mr. Ruud invented the automatic storage water heater way back in 1889. We know it today as the water heater.
2 – Willis Haviland Carrier. Good guess – Mr. Carrier invented the air conditioner in 1902.
3 – C. G. Johnson. Wrong – in 1926 Mr. Johnson invented the electric garage door opener.
4 - Josephine Cochrane. She, yes - she, invented the first commercially successful, hand cranked dish washer in 1887. It was unveiled to the public at the 1893 Chicago World's fair.
5 - William Cullen. Cullen - at the University of Glascow - invented the first artificial refrigeration system. In 1748. It wasn't until Edison invented the lightbulb in 1879 that we could see what was in the fridge...
6 - Percy Spencer. Percy invented the microwave. In 1945. By accident. Spencer, an American self-taught engineer, was working in a lab testing magnetrons, the high-powered vacuum tubes inside radars. One day while working near the magnetrons that produced microwaves, Spencer noticed a peanut butter candy bar in his pocket had begun to melt — shortly after, the microwave oven was born.
7 – Joseph Henry. In 1831 Mr. Henry invented the electric door bell. Before 1831 we never knew when Avon was calling.
8 – Sir John Harrington. Wrong again. Sir John is credited with inventing the earliest water closet in 1596. Wait, what of Thomas Crapper? Sorry – although Crapper is often associated with inventing the, well, the crapper, he really had no hand in that invention - so to speak.
However, Crapper, who was not even born until 1836, was an accomplished plumber.