Category:
Inventions
Inventions
The Korean Nine-Person Shovel
Westerners traveling to Korea in the late nineteenth century were puzzled by this shovel, which they frequently saw in use on Korean farms. It required between three to nine people to operate, but it seemed to shovel dirt no faster or better than a western-style, one-person shovel.However, the westerners may have been mistaken about the lack of efficiency of the Korean shovel. An article in Esquire (June 21, 2010) by John Richardson offers this piece of info:
When I was a teenager in Korea, the lesson was called Three Men on a Shovel. Koreans used to dig trenches using one guy steering the shovel with the handle and two other guys pulling with ropes tied to the shovel. How Americans would laugh! Dumb Koreans, takes three of them just to dig a hole! Then the Army did a test with three Americans with three shovels against the Koreans, and the Koreans kicked our asses.
via Flickr
via wikipedia
Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 28, 2012 -
Comments (4)
Category: Inventions
The Flying Platform
According to the Air and Space Museum:
In the mid-1950s, Hiller constructed a series of innovative Flying Platforms for an Army-Navy program as a one-man flying vehicle that the pilot could control with minimal training. The pilot simply leaned in the desired direction and the platform would follow. The platforms, which utilized the aerodynamic advantages of the ducted fan, were incapable of tumbling, because if the pilot leaned over too far, the platform would pitch up and slow down.
Unfortunately, the flying platform was plagued by engineering problems. Otherwise, we'd probably all be floating around cities in these today. More info here
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 21, 2012 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions, Military
A Hat To Protect the Wearer from Falling Bricks
From The Strand magazine, 1895.
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 17, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions, Headgear
The Husband Detector
Dr. Gordon Volkenant seems like he was quite the character. In 1947, he invented a gadget he called the "husband detector." It was basically a motion detector, designed to help wives catch their husbands who were trying to sneak unheard into the house after a late night at the bar. When it sensed someone coming through the door, it set off a loud siren. link: Pittsburgh Press
Volkenant promptly became the first husband to be caught by his own device, when it rang the alarm as he tried to sneak into his house at 3 a.m. link: Washington Reporter
And based on the look of him, I'm guessing he wasn't just at the bar until 3 a.m. Here he is in 1948 demonstrating another of his gadgets, which he called an "electronic humidistat." He claimed it could detect hosiery defects in nylon stockings when he waved it up and down a woman's leg. It looks a lot like a regular lightbulb to me. I'm sure he found it necessary to test on many women.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 25, 2012 -
Comments (7)
Category: Inventions, Lies, Dishonesty and Cheating, Husbands
How to turn your toaster into a hair dryer
(Popular Mechanics via This Circular Parade)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 17, 2012 -
Comments (6)
Category: Inventions
Rube Goldberg Contraption Uncorks Bottle and Pours Wine
These should be standard in every dining room.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 16, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Inventions, Rube Goldberg Devices
Robotic Anti-Snoring Bear Pillow
Robotic bear will reach out and stroke your face so gently as you sleep.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 04, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions, Chindogu, Sleep and Dreams
Robot Bass Player
More info and another video to be found here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 01, 2012 -
Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Music, Technology, Performance Art, Europe
Sauna Pants
Who wouldn't want a sauna in their pants? Get yours from Amazon. Here's a testimonial from one of the reviews:Like a lot of guys, I sometimes have trouble getting a good crotch sweat going. Wrapping my nethers in plastic wrap and a dozen freshly baked Hot Pockets only goes so far. So, as soon as I saw this magnificent product I knew I must have it. The friendly orange hue and easy-to-use velcro attachments greatly appealed to me, and I was very pleased to see the roomy 54" waistline!
Posted By: Alex - Thu Mar 29, 2012 -
Comments (5)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, Health, Inventions
Mechanical Hair-Brusher
I came across this description of a mechanical hair-brush published in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Nov. 23, 1863. It operated by means of "an endless band of vulcanised india-rubber... that descends to within about a foot of your head and is made to revolve by machinery." Here's a description of it in action:When I went in to get my hair thus brushed, had sat down before the glass, and been tucked in as usual, with bib and dressing-gown, the hair-dresser took up one of his circular brushes and hitched it to the revolving band over my head. In a moment I felt a silent fanning, as if some monstrous butterfly were hovering over me; this was the air of the twirling brush, which caught my hair up and laid it down, and traveled all over my head with incessant gentle penetration. It crept down my whiskers and searched my beard with the same tender and yet decided effect. There was no scratching, not even of the neck and ears, but the skin of cheeks and chin was reached and swept. It was a new sensation. I felt as if I should like to be brush continously for a month.
Evidently mechanical hair-brushes never caught on, because the only picture of one I could find was this:
Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 20, 2012 -
Comments (18)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Inventions, Hair Styling
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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, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. 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. Contact Us |