Q 01/05

The spray lubricant WD-40 was perfected on its 40th formula, so what do the letters WD stand for?

A) Wear Defense

B) Water Displacement

C) Weatherproof Dressing

D) Wax Dissolver

Answer · why

B) Water Displacement

Water Displacement was the goal: the spray was first made in 1953 to protect the outer skin of the Atlas missile from corrosion. The formula was never...

Q 02/05

Which tool sold in hardware stores began in the 1780s as a hand-worked surgical aid for difficult childbirth?

A) Bolt cutter

B) Hacksaw

C) Chainsaw

D) Pipe wrench

Answer · why

C) Chainsaw

Chainsaw ancestors were fine serrated chains pulled between two wooden handles by Scottish doctors. A German bone-cutting version, cranked by a handle...

Q 03/05

Which hardware store essential was created in World War II to keep moisture out of ammunition boxes?

A) Masking tape

B) Electrical tape

C) Packing tape

D) Duct tape

Answer · why

D) Duct tape

Duct tape reached the army after ordnance worker Vesta Stoudt wrote to President Roosevelt in 1943 with her idea for a cloth tape. It was designed to ...

Q 04/05

Which adhesive was found in 1942 by a team seeking clear plastic for gun sights, then rejected as too sticky?

A) Super glue

B) Epoxy resin

C) Contact cement

D) Silicone sealant

Answer · why

A) Super glue

Super glue stuck to everything it touched, so Harry Coover's team set it aside. He rediscovered the formula in 1951 while working at Eastman Kodak, an...

Q 05/05

Which actor's Oscar for The Philadelphia Story went on display in his father's small-town hardware store?

A) Cary Grant

B) James Stewart

C) Humphrey Bogart

D) Henry Fonda

Answer · why

B) James Stewart

James Stewart grew up in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where his father hoped he would take over the shop after Princeton. The statuette sat there beside fam...