Scavenger Hunt #2: Inventors and Inventions Answers

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1. Who received a patent for "dry scouring of clothes" and may have been the first African American inventor to receive a US Patent?

Thomas Jennings received patent in 1821 for "dry scouring of clothes". He may of been the 1st African-American inventor to receive a US patent.

Patent Trivia Calendar provides information for every month of the year on interesting inventors and inventions.It tells when items received patents, trademarks or copyrights.

HINT: Use these next questions to help students understand how to use the two different types of database resources provided as resources- one is alphabetical by inventor and the other is by invention.

2.What did George Washington Carver receive patents for?

"Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovered hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers, especially in the South"
The answer is: his patents were awarded for the development of cosmetics, stain, paint and process for producing them. 

IDEA: Have students use the databases to research inventors and create their own scavenger hunts, word finds and crossword puzzles. Challenge groups to select an inventor from the database and defend why their invention was important or more important than those selected by another group.

 3.This inventor didn't invent the elevator, but did invent what led to the elevator being safe to use in tall buildings? Who was it and what did he invent?

The answer is:Elisha Graves Otis invented an elevator brake to make elevators safe and skyscrapers a reality.

4. This inventor has over 300 patents to his credit. He is responsible for inventions which led to the modern day Television. Who is he?

The answer is: Philo Taylor Farnsworth

5.Who may have received the very first US patent? What was it for?

The answer is:The first US patent was granted in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia for "making pot and pearl ashes"-a cleaning formula used in soapmaking. 

6. This woman invented a machine that made the brown paper bags we all have used. She received the patent in 1871. She had other patented inventions credited to her as well. Who is she? ______________

The answer is: Margaret Knight

IDEA: This web page lists 6 women inventors. Take this opportunity to discuss the role of women and how their contributions have been important to our way of life and economy. Early women inventors were often not able to patent inventions in their own names and sometimes their husbands or others males had to get patents for them. Here are some other related web sites which discuss women inventors:

http://www.women-inventors.com/

http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/ilives/womeninventors.html

http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/AAweek3.html (Discusses African-American Women Inventors)

http://www.engineergirl.org/Troop2409/page2.html

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HINT: Try setting up a page of URLs to help students locate information on this topic. You can place resources as bookmarks in your browser or can create a file which can be opened in the browser to display the URLs they are to use. Most browsers now have a place to "compose" a page which can be used to do this.

URLs students can use to use for help:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/kids/kidprimer.html (US Patent Office Kids Pages)

http://www.uspto.gov/web/menu/intro.html (US Patent Office)

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_0_0_hall_of_fame.asp (Inventors Hall of Fame)

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_3_listing_invention.asp?vAlpha= (Database of inventions in alphabetical order)

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/1_1_2_listing_inventor.asp?vAlpha= (Database of inventors by name)

The US Patent Office Trivia Calendar offers month by month interesting facts about trademarks, patents and copyrights which were issued.

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