Inventions
Refrigerated Camels
Instead of using refrigerated trucks to deliver medical supplies to people who live in the deserts of Africa, inventors have built solar-powered refrigerators that can be carried by camels, and so the medicines are delivered via refrigerated camel.Apparently it wasn't that easy to build a camel-carried refrigerator. It had to be lightweight, but also sturdy enough to survive the motion of being on the camel as well as the extreme desert conditions.
More info: ABC News, inhabitat.com
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 31, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Inventions, Medicine, Transportation, Africa
“Follow Me” Cooler
Engineers have created a cooler that will follow you wherever you go. Science marches on!More info at hackster.io.
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 25, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions
Height Increaser For Short People
"The patient lifted himself by the chin which was cradled in a sling attached to ropes looped to an overhead beam."In 1937, the American Medical Association warned the public that this device, despite being widely advertised, didn't actually work.
The Muncie Star Press - Apr 9, 1937
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 11, 2017 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, 1930s
Holcombe’s Mechanical Partner
I'd like to see this gadget in action. Unfortunately I can't find any videos of it.It doesn't seem to have survived past 1954.
LA Times - July 1, 1954
Posted By: Alex - Sun May 07, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Inventions, 1950s, Dance
The Rhino
More info here.
1954 coverage here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 04, 2017 -
Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Motor Vehicles, 1950s
The Sex Detector
The Sex Detector made its debut around 1920. It was a gadget, sold by "Sex-Detector Laboratories," that promised to be able to detect the gender of an egg — or any piece of biological matter whose sex one might want to find out (oysters, butterflies, caterpillars, beetles, worms). It supposedly even worked on blood. So police could use it to discover the sex of a criminal.It was basically an empty rifle shell suspended on a piece of string. When held over an egg (or whatever) it would reveal through the direction of its motion the sex of the chick inside.
It was probably more accurately described as an idiot detector... the idiot being the one holding the string.
For a while it was heavily advertised in poultry journals, but when inspectors at the U.S. Dept of Agriculture investigated the efficacy of the device, they found it to be useless. It worked no better than a piece of cardboard attached to a thread. Advertisements for the product were banned.
Wilmington Evening Journal - May 4, 1928
Williams News - July 8, 1921
San Francisco Chronicle - Oct 17, 1920
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Feb 5, 1922
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 25, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, 1920s
The Dimple Maker
Invented by Mrs. E. Isabella Gilbert in 1936 (although I think similar gadgets had been on the market before). They came with these instructions: "Wear dimplers five minutes at a time, two or three times a day, while dressing, resting, reading or writing. Look into the mirror and laugh. There will be a semblance of a line where you should always place the dimplers until your dimples are made."According to History By Zim: "The American Medical Association argued that the 'Dimple Maker' would not make dimples or even enlarge original dimples. They also stated that prolonged use of the devise may actually cause cancer."
Louisville Courier-Journal - June 19, 1937
Battle Creek Enquirer - June 19, 1937
Detroit Free Press - Aug 9, 1936
Medford Mail Tribune - Nov 22, 1936
Update: I was curious to know when exactly the American Medical Association denounced the Dimple Maker, since the History by Zim blog didn't mention a date. I tracked it down to 1947, when the AMA put together a collection of quack medical products that it displayed on a nationwide tour of museums.
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Jan 11, 1948
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 23, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Inventions, 1930s
The Knife-Fork
Edward Towlen of Detroit invented the "knife-fork" around 1917, but he only got around to selling it as a product in 1945. It looks like you can still buy one (or something like it), such as here for $17.99. Although science has moved on. There are now rivals, such as the Knork (see video below).
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader - Dec 15, 1945
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 19, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions
“Iron Mask” Wristwatch
I can't find any evidence for the widespread distribution of this watch outside this advertisement. Evidently, it did not catch on. Even Ebay does not seem to feature any as collectibles.
Of course, offering a watch that cost $17.50 (2017 equivalent: $307.40) during the Depression might have had something to do with their failure.
Original advertisement here. (Scroll down.)
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 02, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions, 1930s
Smart Socks
"Imagine your phone could communicate with your socks," says the Blacksocks company. But imagine no more, because the company has now created "the smartest men's dress socks in the world." The company admits that, "This is something we dreamed about and we have made the dream come true."
The socks feature a "communication button" that allows the socks to speak to your iPhone. The things your socks might tell your iPhone include:
how often you have washed your socks,
when your socks were produced,
when you ordered your socks and
when your socks were dispatched.
Your iPhone can also tell you if your black socks are no longer properly black and help you buy new socks.
The smartest socks in the world come with a price tag of $189 for 10 pairs. So $18.90 for each pair.
Product page, via Oh Gizmo.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 29, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Inventions
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
