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When was it? (9)
When was the first modern lawn mower patented?
1830
Edwin Beard Budding patented the reel lawn mower in 1830 in Gloucestershire, England — it was based on a cloth-cutting machine.
Source: Wikipedia: Lawn mower
When was the first practical telephone demonstrated?
1876
Alexander Graham Bell was granted the telephone patent in March 1876 and demonstrated it the same year.
Source: Wikipedia: Telephone
When was the first electric air conditioning system built?
1902
Willis Carrier designed the first modern electrical air conditioning unit in 1902 to control humidity at a Brooklyn printing plant.
Source: Wikipedia: Air conditioning
When did the first skyscraper — Chicago’s ten-story Home Insurance Building — go up?
1885
Completed in 1885, it is widely called the world’s first skyscraper because of its metal-frame construction.
Source: Wikipedia: Home Insurance Building
When did the first composite decking go on sale to homeowners?
The early 1990s
Composite decking is a 1990s product: the technology was bought by Mobil in 1992 and Trex launched in 1996.
Source: trex.com company history
When did pressure-treated wood for home decks and fences really take off?
The 1960s–70s
Water-based preservatives such as CCA displaced creosote and spread into residential decking and fencing in the 1960s and 70s.
Source: USDA Forest Service, Wood Preservatives in Historic Structures
When did arsenic-based (CCA) pressure treatment stop being used on US residential lumber?
2003
As of December 31, 2003, manufacturers voluntarily ended CCA use for residential wood such as decks, picnic tables and landscaping timbers.
Source: US EPA / Federal Register (2003)
When was the first dishwasher patented?
1886
Josephine Cochrane patented the first commercially successful dishwasher in 1886 — built because hand-washing chipped her china.
Source: Wikipedia: Dishwasher
When was the flush toilet first patented?
1596
Sir John Harington patented a water closet for Queen Elizabeth I in 1596.
Source: Wikipedia: Flush toilet
Who was first? (8)
Who patented the first practical electric light bulb?
Thomas Edison
Edison’s lamp patent came in 1880 after a carbon filament that lasted 13.5 hours in 1879; Swan and Edison later merged firms in Britain.
Source: Wikipedia: Incandescent light bulb
Who built the first electrical air conditioning system?
Willis Carrier
Willis Haviland Carrier — still the brand name on the equipment today.
Source: Wikipedia: Willis Carrier
Who invented the first commercially successful dishwasher?
Josephine Cochrane
Josephine Garis Cochrane, 1886.
Source: Wikipedia: Dishwasher
Who invented the CCA wood preservative in 1933?
Sonti Kamesam
Indian chemist Sonti Kamesam invented chromated copper arsenate (CCA) in 1933; it was patented in Britain in 1934.
Source: Wikipedia: Chromated copper arsenate
Who is credited with inventing composite decking?
Roger Wittenberg
Roger Wittenberg turned leftover plastic into the board that became Trex — first called Rivenite, then Timbrex.
Source: trex.com company history
Who was the last person to walk on the Moon?
Eugene Cernan
Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, in December 1972.
Source: Wikipedia: Eugene Cernan
Who patented the first electric drill, in 1895?
Wilhelm Fein
C. & E. Fein’s Wilhelm Fein patented the first electric hand drill in 1895.
Source: Wikipedia: Drill
Who introduced the first cordless drill?
Black & Decker
Black & Decker released the first cordless power tool in 1961.
Source: Wikipedia: Cordless drill
Which came first? (6)
Which came first?
The patent for the flush toilet
Flush toilet 1596 — a full 280 years before Bell’s telephone patent.
Source: Wikipedia: Flush toilet / Telephone
Which came first?
The modern lawn mower
The lawn mower was patented in 1830; Edison’s practical lamp came in 1879.
Source: Wikipedia: Lawn mower
Which came first?
Air conditioning for buildings
Carrier built air conditioning in 1902; composite decking arrived in the 1990s.
Source: Wikipedia: Air conditioning; trex.com
Which came first?
The cordless drill
The first cordless tool shipped in 1961; composite decking came in the early 1990s.
Source: Wikipedia: Cordless drill; trex.com
Which came first?
The first dishwasher patent
The dishwasher patent came in 1886, one year after Chicago’s Home Insurance Building.
Source: Wikipedia: Dishwasher
Which came first?
The first home electric refrigerator
Home electric refrigerators appeared around 1913; treated-wood decks became common in the 1960s–70s.
Source: USDA Forest Service
How much was it? (3)
How much did Mobil pay for the composite decking technology in 1992?
$10 million
Mobil paid $10 million in 1992 for the breakthrough that became the composite decking division.
Source: trex.com company history
Trex crossed what annual revenue milestone in 2021?
$1 billion
Composite decking went from a garage experiment to a $1 billion-a-year category leader by 2021.
Source: trex.com company history
A high-performance composite deck in Nashville typically runs what range, installed?
$15,000–$35,000
Local published range for a high-performance composite deck with proper framing and railings.
Source: deckbuildingnashville.com published cost guide
How big was it? (3)
How much water does a standard Olympic-size pool hold?
660,000 gallons
A 50 m × 25 m pool at the 2 m minimum depth holds 2,500 m³ — about 660,000 US gallons.
Source: World Aquatics competition dimensions
How tall were the first microwave ovens, like Raytheon’s 1947 Radarange?
About 5–6 feet
Early microwave ovens were roughly 5–6 feet tall, weighed hundreds of pounds, and needed plumbing for water cooling.
Source: Wikipedia: Microwave oven
How many stories was the world’s first skyscraper?
10
Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, 1885 — ten stories, the first with a load-bearing metal frame.
Source: Wikipedia: Home Insurance Building
Did this really happen? (4)
True or false: the world’s first traffic light exploded and injured the policeman operating it.
True
True. The 1868 gas-lit signal outside the Houses of Parliament blew up and injured the constable working it — electric signals only returned decades later.
Source: Wikipedia: Traffic light
True or false: composite decking was invented in the 1940s.
False
False. It is a 1990s product; Mobil bought the technology in 1992.
Source: trex.com company history
True or false: arsenic-treated lumber is still legal for new US residential decks today.
False
False. CCA use for residential wood ended December 31, 2003.
Source: US EPA / Federal Register (2003)
True or false: a wood deck frame can warp enough to make a brand-new composite surface look wavy.
True
True. Composite boards follow the frame beneath them — warped joists transfer straight into the finished surface.
Source: Forever Frame substructure deck, slides 2–3
Deck know-how (5)
In steel deck framing, what does the “G90” designation describe?
A zinc coating class
G90 describes the galvanized zinc coating class on the steel — the part that resists corrosion.
Source: Forever Frame substructure deck, slide 3
Per the deck’s own scorecard, at roughly what age does pressure-treated framing begin functional degradation?
15 years
Fifteen years is the deck’s stated onset of functional degradation for treated lumber, against 50+ years for G90 steel.
Source: Forever Frame substructure deck, slide 7
What drainage pitch does the deck recommend on a deck surface?
1/8″ per foot
One-eighth of an inch per foot — stated as the slope that actually forces water off the boards.
Source: Deck-water-management explainer video
What does WUI stand for in deck and building codes?
Wildland-Urban Interface
Wildland-Urban Interface — the fire-risk zone where non-combustible framing like steel is specified.
Source: Forever Frame substructure deck, slide 5
Which framing choice is chemically inert, with no leaching into soil?
G90 galvanized steel
Galvanized steel is chemically inert and does not leach; treated lumber relies on chemical preservatives.
Source: Forever Frame substructure deck, slide 5
How well do you know Nashville? (8)
In which year was Nashville founded?
1779
Nashville was founded in 1779 — it was incorporated as a city 27 years later, in 1806.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
Nashville was incorporated as a city in which year?
1806
Incorporated in 1806; the metro government was consolidated with Davidson County in 1963.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
Nashville is named in honor of whom?
Francis Nash
Named for Francis Nash, a Continental Army general mortally wounded at Germantown in 1777.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
Which nickname is Nashville known by?
Music City
Music City — the nickname took hold in the 1950s, helped by a 1950 WSM radio broadcast.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
Roughly when did Nashville's "Music City" nickname take hold?
the 1950s
It dates from the 1950s — a 1950 WSM broadcast is generally credited with popularising it.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
Nashville’s city government consolidated with which county in 1963?
Davidson
The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County was formed in 1963.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
Which river runs through downtown Nashville?
Cumberland
The Cumberland River — the city was founded on its banks in 1779.
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland_River
What is Nashville’s formal government name?
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
The 1963 consolidation created the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County — "Metro Nashville".
Source: Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee
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