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.