Category:
Sleep and Dreams
In the 1950s, reports came out of the Soviet Union about an unusual experiment in which a dog's life was radically lengthened by putting it into an artificial sleep for three months.
The research was done by S.N. Braines (I have no idea what "S.N." stands for). I believe that he reported his results in a 1952 article titled,
"Result of artificial sleep in a biological experiment," published in a Soviet journal. But I can't be sure because I can't find the text of the article.
The results he achieved sound unlikely to me.

Omaha World-Herald - Oct 17, 1958

Text from Main Street, U.S.S.R. (1959), by Irving R. Levine
Japanese spa chain Goku no Kimochi has created a blanket based on udon noodles. The first picture shows some udon noodles. The second and third photos show the blanket.
The idea is that you can easily stick an arm or leg out through the 'noodles' if you feel hot. In this way, it is a "user-configurable blanket."
More info:
Core77.com,
goku-nokimochi.com
New from Japan: nap boxes. The idea is to discourage workers from locking themselves in toilet stalls to nap by instead offering them an upright container in which they can seal themselves and (somehow) nap.
Reminds me of the
Iron Maiden torture device from medieval times.
More info:
Bloomberg
Source:
The Escanaba Daily Press (Escanaba, Michigan) 30 Jun 1953, Tue Page 8
Over the years, inventors have dreamed up a variety of ways to keep drivers awake while driving.
In 1936, Carl Brown got a patent on a chin-operated alarm device. If a driver started to nod off, and his head fell forward, this would depress a trigger, setting off an electric bell that would wake him up. (
Patent No. 2,066,092)
In 1940, Raymond Young had the idea that whenever a driver was feeling drowsy he could press a button on the steering wheel and this would squirt an aromatic spray in his face, waking him up. (
Patent No. 2,199,060)
And just last month, Hyundai was granted a patent for a system that shoots ultrasonic beams at a driver's eyes when it senses he's falling asleep. (
Patent No. 11007932)
In case your bed partner has bad breath.
Patented in 1922 by Darwin Comings of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
I've come across reports in early 20th-century newspapers of an invention, designed to stop snoring, that worked by directing the sounds of the snoring into the snorer's own ear.

Oakland Tribune - Nov 26, 1933
I'm not sure if anyone ever really built this device, or if it was just a joke repeated by reporters.
The earliest report of it I've been able to find ran in newspapers in 1871. It attributed its invention to an unnamed woman from Iowa. However, I haven't been able to find a record of anything resembling this in the U.S. Patent Office, although there are numerous patents for anti-snoring devices.

Atchison Daily Champion - Feb 24, 1871
Madeline Robertson was recently granted a patent for a pillow with a foam hand sewn onto it. She explains that the hand (or 'tactile object,' as she refers to it) "provides tactile sensory feedback to the user designed to comfort the user."
It reminds me of that
robotic hand for people who have no one to hold their hand on walks we recently posted about.
Patent No. 10806281:
Substrate having a therapeutic tactile object attached
Patent No. 2,533,526 was granted to Yvonne Bersia Snyder of Forest Hills, NY for a "Beauty Pillow":
This invention relates to an article to be worn to prevent wrinkles and damaging of the skin tissues such as on the face. More particularly it deals with a pad or pillow which may be adjustably held against the side of the head to keep the skin from wrinkong or folding when the face is resting against a support, such as a pillow.
During sleep the tissues of the face are usually crushed or folded in the same position for hours at a time. For example, the flesh of the cheeks or face when flattened against the pillow during the sleeping hours pushes the skin forwards and settles in the hollows of the eyes where it produces wrinkles.
It is an object of this invention to prevent wrinkles or damaging of the skin tissues during rest.
Looks like it could also double as headgear for full-contact sports.
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