What in the World Does That Invention Do?
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/history_of_innovation/2014/06/patent_models_quiz_can_you_guess_what_these_inventions_were_supposed_to.html
From the article:
How do you convey the concept of a telephone or sewing machine to someonesay, a patent examinerwho has never seen one before? The Patent Act of 1790 tackled this issue by requiring all patent applicants to submit a scaled-down model of their invention. This spawned a vibrant industry of professional patent model makers. They crafted hundreds of thousands of models before the patent office ran out of storage room in the 1870s and requested that inventors stop sending them.
Now these models are collectors items. Alan Rothschild has amassed more than 4,000, the largest private collection. He discovered patent models at an antique show in the early 1990s. I thought, These are the craziest, most interesting things Ive ever seen, Rothschild recalls. I didnt even know they existed. Items from his collection have been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Curator Charles Robertson selected a mix to showcase the diversity of early inventions. Some are so familiar-looking, says Robertson, while others are completely opaque.
Take our quiz: Can you guess what these inventions are?
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I knew what some of them were from being on old farms. Take the quiz. Some of these inventions are ingenious.
These were tough . I've never been on a farm ... I scored a lousy 8 out of 20 ... ugh .
I scored 8 out of 20, too. Most disgusting, because in many cases, the right answer was my 2nd choice!
Interesting, Grump! Thanks!!! It was actually quite fun!
That's pretty good, Gunny. I got 10 also. I kept forgetting they were miniatures of the real thing and that was throwing me off. I've actually seen a washing machine like that in an old barn.
That threw me off, too!!!
Back then the dental assistant turned the crank. No motors. Was that spooky or what? Eeeeek. I remember when I was a kid, the dentist's drill had belts running on pulleys to turn the drill. I'll have to see if I can find a photo of one of those. They were sure scary.