Q 01/05

According to a 2012 find near Kenya's Lake Turkana, the use of simple hammers dates back roughly how far?

A) 1.2 million years

B) 3.3 million years

C) 300,000 years

D) 30,000 years

Answer · why

B) 3.3 million years

That makes the hammer possibly the oldest tool with definite evidence; hafted hammers with handles appear around 30,000 BCE.

Q 02/05

The Oldowan stone tools are named after which site in Tanzania?

A) Turkana Basin

B) Ngorongoro Crater

C) Laetoli

D) Olduvai Gorge

Answer · why

D) Olduvai Gorge

Louis Leakey found the first ones there in the 1930s; the oldest known examples, from Kenya, are about 2.9 million years old.

Q 03/05

The screwdriver was probably invented in the late 15th century in which two countries?

A) Italy or Spain

B) England or Holland

C) Germany or France

D) Sweden or Denmark

Answer · why

C) Germany or France

Early screws held together jousting armour and matchlock guns; gunsmiths still call the tool a turnscrew.

Q 04/05

The Phillips cross-head screw was designed to solve which annoying habit of slotted screws?

A) Camming out

B) Rusting

C) Stripping threads

D) Splitting wood

Answer · why

A) Camming out

Ironically it is now criticised for camming out at lower torque than newer cross designs like Pozidriv.

Q 05/05

Which carmaker was an early Henry Phillips customer, using his screws on Cadillac lines in 1936?

A) Ford Motor Co.

B) General Motors

C) Chrysler Corp.

D) Packard Motors

Answer · why

B) General Motors

Phillips bought the design from inventor John P. Thompson, who had failed to interest manufacturers himself.