So do you want to know the answers then? Just remember ... don't shoot the messenger!!
1. The Sandwich BRITISHThe sandwich was invented by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792). About 1762, he is reputed to have been too busy to have a formal meal, and instructed his cook to pack his meat inside the bread to save him time - and the sandwich was invented.
2. The Modern Flush Toilet BRITISH In 1596, Sir John Harington is said to have invented 'The Ajax', a flush toilet for Elizabeth I of England, who wouldn't use the contraption because it made too much noise. His design was ridiculed in England, but was adopted in France under the name Angrez. The design had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl.
3. The Sewing Machine AMERICANIn 1833 Walter Hunt invented the first lock-stitch sewing machine, but lost interest and did not patent his invention. Later, Elias Howe secured the patent on an original lock-stitch machine, but failed to manufacture and sell it. Still later, Isaac Singer infringed on Howe's patent to make his own machine, which made Singer rich.
4. The lawn Mower BRITISHThe first lawn mower was invented in 1830 by Edwin Beard Budding. Budding (1795-1846) was an engineer from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. His reel mower was a set of blades set in a cylinder on two wheels. When you push the lawn mower, the cylinder rotates, and the blades cut the grass. Budding patented his lawn mower on August 31, 1830. Before his invention, a scythe was used (or sheep or other grazing animals were allowed to graze on the grass). The first reel lawn mower patent in the US (January 12, 1868) was granted to Amariah M. Hills, who formed the Archimedean Lawn Mower Co.
5. The Burglar Alarm AMERICANEdwin Holmes was an American inventor. He is credited with inventing the burglar alarm, at his factory in Boston, Massachusetts, having begun to sell them in 1858. His son Edwin T. Holmes took over the company after his death. Later, his workshop was used by Alexander Graham Bell as the young Bell pursued his invention of the telephone. Holmes was the first person to have a home telephone.
6. The Telephone AMERICAN1877 The early history of the telephone is a confusing morass of claim and counterclaim, which was not clarified by the huge mass of lawsuits which hoped to resolve the patent claims of individuals. The Bell and Edison patents, however, were forensically victorious and commercially decisive.
.... no it wasn't a trick question David!!
7. The Electric Light BRITISHThe first incandescent electric light was made in 1800 by Humphry Davy, an English scientist. He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. This is called an electric arc.
Much later, in 1860, the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) was determined to devise a practical, long-lasting electric light. He found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly. In 1878, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England.
The inventor Thomas Alva Edison (in the USA) experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed but did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. The incandescent bulb revolutionized the world.
.... oooh a controvertial one, most people give Edison the credit for inventing electric light!!
8. The Hearing Aid AMERICANIn 1880 R.G. Rhodes improved on the ear trumpet with a primitive hearing aid. The device was a thin sheet of hard rubber or cardboard placed against teeth which conducted vibrations to the auditory nerve.
9. Tennis BRITISHTennis as the modern sport, can be dated to two separate roots. Between 1859 and 1865, Major Harry Gem and his friend Augurio Perera developed a game that combined elements of rackets and Spanish ball game pelota, which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham, England. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club in Leamington Spa. The Courier of 23 July 1884 recorded one of the first tennis tournaments, held in the grounds of Shrubland Hall.
In December 1873, Major Walter Clopton Wingfield devised a similar game for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales. He based the game on the older sport of indoor tennis or real tennis. According to most tennis historians, modern tennis terminology also derives from this period, as Wingfield borrowed both the name and much of the French vocabulary of royal tennis and applied them to his new game.
10. The Disposable Diaper/Nappy BRITISHIn 1947, George M. Schroder, working for the Textile Research Institute of the University of Chattanooga, Tennessee, US, was approached by the Henry Frede & Co. to create the first disposable diaper with disposable nonwoven fabric. The same year Valerie Hunter Gordon, a British mother, developed a two piece disposable diaper.
.... another controvertial one ... but according to my reliable source "How to Avoid A Wombat's Bum", Britain beat America to it!!
11. The Coffee Pot AMERICANIn 1806 Coffee drinkers the world over no longer had to chew their brew. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, (an anglo american physicist from Woburn, Massachusetts), invented a coffee pot with a metal sieve to strain away the grounds.
12. The Vending Machine BRITISHThe first vending machine is believed to have been invented by Hero of Alexandria, a first-century inventor. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount of holy water
13. Roller Skates AMERICANIn 1863 James Plimpton of Medford, Massachusetts, gave the world the first practical four-wheeled roller skate. This set off a roller craze that quickly spread across the U.S. and Europe.
14. The Hovercraft BRITISH In the mid-1870s, the British engineer Sir John Isaac Thornycroft built a number of ground effect machine test models based on his idea of using air between the hull of a boat and the water to reduce drag. Although he filed a number of patents involving air-lubricated hulls in 1877, no practical applications were found. Over the years, various other people had tried various methods of using air to reduce the drag on ships.
15. Frozen Food AMERICANIn 1929 Clarence Birdseye offered his quick-frozen foods to the public. Birdseye got the idea during fur-trapping expeditions to Labrador in 1912 and 1916, where he saw the natives use freezing to preserve foods.
16. The Stapler BRITISHThe stapler as we use it today was invented by John Munford in the mid 20th century, an Englishman who sold it to his employer for a small profit and was never officially recognised for his creation.
17. Oral Contraception AMERICANThe Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill (COCP), often referred to as "the Pill", is a combination of an estrogen (oestrogen) and a progestin (progestogen), taken by mouth to inhibit normal fertility. Combined oral contraceptives were developed by Gregory Goodwin Pincus, John Rock, and Min Chueh Chang. They were first approved for contraceptive use in the United States in 1960, and are still a popular form of birth control.
18. The Aeroplane AMERICAN1903: The Wright brothers are generally credited with building the world's first successful human flight in a powered aeroplane and making the first controlled, powered and heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. In the two years afterward, they developed their flying machine into the world's first practical fixed-wing aircraft. The brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of "three axis-control," which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method has become standard on fixed wing aircraft of all kinds. From the beginning of their aeronautical work, the Wright brothers focused on unlocking the secrets of control to conquer "the flying problem," rather than on developing more powerful engines as some other experimenters did.
19. The Postage Stamp BRITISHPostage stamps were first introduced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in May 1, 1840 as part of the postal reforms promoted by Rowland Hill. With its introduction the postage fee was now to be paid by the sender and not the recipient as heretofore, though sending mail prepaid was not a requirement. The first postage stamp, the Penny Black, first issued on the 1st of May for use from May 6, 1840, and two days later, the Two pence blue, with an engraving of the young Queen Victoria, were an immediate success though refinements, like perforations were instituted with later issues.
20. Carbon Dating AMERICAN1946: Carbon dating was developed by a team led by Willard Libby. Originally a carbon-14 half-life of 5568±30 years was used, which is now known as the Libby half-life. Later a more accurate figure of 5730±40 years was determined, which is known as the Cambridge half-life. However laboratories continue to use the Libby figure to avoid inconsistencies when comparing raw dates and when using calibration curves to obtain calendrical dates.
Just give me a minute to tot up the scores....
Susie