The quiz resumes.
In 1902, a Scots physician, James McKenzie, was engaged in a line of medical research which led to his consultation with a local watchmaker to help perfect a device to further his studies. Although he published a book with the results which had strictly medical applications, the machine which he and the watchmaker developed became the basis for a gadget which has a function quite different than McKenzie's researches envisioned.
What is the device that McKenzie can (inadvertently) be credited with inventing?
CAUTION: do not take the quiz when operating Google or any other search engine. Posting your answer to comments below may cause you to win a copy of Margaret Cheney's recent biography of Tesla. Side effects include headache, drowsiness, perplexity, frustration, and repetetive stress injury from clicking "refresh."
Posted by BT at October 04, 2002 01:04 AMBob Hope!
Posted by: scott on October 4, 2002 10:38 AMAll I can think is pacemaker, pacemaker. But that is medical. Fuel pump? Alarm clock?
Posted by: Christina on October 4, 2002 10:58 AMGarlic peeler? Egg timer?
Posted by: KF on October 4, 2002 11:03 AMPerhaps due to my county of residence, all I can think of is some sort of gun technology. Well, that and Bob Hope. But I think that most of the major gun tech was on its way to invented by then -- revolvers, machine guns.
Posted by: scott on October 4, 2002 11:09 AMI should perhaps point out that the use of this device is, in many cases, a point of controversy and debate. Nor is it a garlic timer, fuel clock, egg pump, fuel peeler, or any recombination thereof.
And though I wish to heaven that I had the felicity to fashion a quiz for which the answer is "Bob Hope," I have not.
Posted by: BT on October 4, 2002 11:11 AMI'll say the A-bomb. Or breast implants. Which were initially just large pocket watches placed under the skin, with added value in that you always knew what time it was. But winding was a hassle, and as metal detectors became standard in airports -- causing considerable embarrassment, as you can imagine -- silicone and, later, saline implants prevailed.
Posted by: scott on October 4, 2002 11:46 AMThe Electric Chair? (seems a bit late, and it opens me up to the irritating buzz sound)
The Lie Detector Test? (I don't know the machine's name, and also has irritating buzz sound potential)
Hey, Wombat, I called last night. I think. BZZZZZ!
Called by some the "polygraph," the modern lie detector is indeed the descendant of Mckenzie's machine and research for "The Study of the Pulse." I confess my admiration for you, Mr. Fracture, and let there be heard only the resounding gong of congratulation, and not the buzzers of derisive incorrectitude.
(Hmmm..."resounding gong of congratulation"...Note to self: no more coffee today... )
Posted by: BT on October 4, 2002 12:33 PM"Poly . . . graph?" What a strange and wonderfully rare word!! Yeesh. No more coffee for me either. *slinks off with prize*
Might I propose an Extra Credit question:
Though not used for lie detection, what famous American had a polygraph in his house?
Pardon the hour, I'm fightin' a time zone here.
Um...Howard Hughes?
Posted by: BT on October 4, 2002 03:53 PMJ. Edgar Hoover?
Posted by: KF on October 4, 2002 05:43 PMThomas Jefferson. Polygraph at its simplest means writing many times, and a polygraph (or EKG, or similar) applies many pens at once to the paper. Jefferson's was a pair of two pens in a frame that allowed him to write a letter on one page, and make a copy for his files on the other page. He didn't invent it, but he made a laptop version.
Posted by: Jonathan on October 5, 2002 08:06 PM