Our modern world is full of innovative, genius, and crazy inventions — planes, smartphones, social media, virtual reality, and many other things. Yet, we still create some weird things. An invention that seems bizarre does not mean that it is totally useless; somehow, it opens a door or sets standards for future inventions. Bygonely has compiled a list of some weird inventions from the past, so scroll down to check them out and upvote your favorite or worst one.
Dr. Young himself praised rectal dilation as a cure for insanity, claiming that at least “three-fourths of all the howling maniacs of the world” were curable “in a few weeks’ time by the application of orificial methods.” Young also admitted that some patients panicked at the sight of the devices.
An amphibious four-wheeled vehicle designed to patrol and defend the vast roadless wastes of Alaska and Canada. Weighing in at five tons, the four-wheel-drive machine could hit speeds of 45 miles per hour on the highway.
The purpose of The Isolator was simple: the wooden helmet blocked out sound and vision in order to help the wearer focus on whatever task they had at hand. Gernsback claimed that the helmet reduced noise by up to 95 percent, and the tiny glass spy-hole ensured that no amount of nearby movement could rouse the wearer from their work.
The first selfie stick was invented by Hiroshi Ueda, who at the time worked for the Minolta camera company and was a keen photographer. “Whenever I went overseas I took my camera with me and took loads of photos,” he told the BBC.
This lawnmower had a five-foot-diameter plastic sphere in which the rider sits on an air foam cushioned seat. It has its own electric generating system for operating running lights, a radio telephone, air conditioning, and even a cooling system to provide a chilled drink on a hot day.
The Honeywell Kitchen Computer was a 16-bit minicomputer preprogrammed with a few recipes. These computers had 4KB of magnetic memory, which was later expanded to 16KB. Its official name was actually the H316 Pedestal. Its system clock ran at 2.5MHz. It took 475 watts to operate.
Edward Otto invented and patented the Dicycle as a safer alternative to the towering ordinary bicycle (later known as the penny-farthing). His bike had two huge 56-in. (142-cm) wheels mounted side by side and connected by a sturdy axle. For balance, the rider used a slender trailing arm with a rubber roller on the end to stop himself — or, more unusually for the period, herself — from toppling over backward.
The creation of Ben Skora, of Palos Hills, who is now in an assisted-living facility. AROK (Skora’s name spelled backwards without the S), when operational, could perform a variety of tasks such as vacuuming, mixing drinks, talking, taking photos, lifting up to 150 pounds, and walking the dog.
In 1921, René Tampier tackled the problem of designing an aircraft that was self-propelled and steerable on roads by including a second, low-powered engine driving the main landing wheels through a standard car-type transmission. The road wheels were completed with a retractable pair nearer the tail. These were steerable, so on the road the Tampier Avion-Automobile, with its wings and tailplane folded, traveled tail first. Only two prototypes were built.
Teenager Malcolm Pickard built a device to measure the voltage of snogs, aptly calling it a “snogometer.” The couple holds electrodes in their hands, and their passionate snogging is measured with sound effects and a lighted scale.
Despite how dangerous the idea of an infant precariously perched in a cage outside an apartment window, these devices were actually handed out in London to members of the Chelsea Baby Club.
You’ve got two lungs, gotta have two cigarettes.
This is a machine for massaging and/or washing breasts. And also possible proof that SkyMall started as a 1930s catalog of erotic housewares.
If you didn’t want your dog riding inside your car, it could ride “safely” on a running board attached to the car.
This metal device is one of a number of similar devices invented in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries to prevent masturbation. A leather strap that would have kept it in place is now missing.
This special bra was made entirely from plastic to protect female factory workers during World War II. The special women’s undergarment, made entirely of plastic, succeeded in preventing certain occupational accidents.
A Colt .38 carrying a small camera that automatically takes a picture when you pull the trigger. The camera was configured so that each time the trigger was pulled, a photo was snapped simultaneously.
A phrenology machine from the early 20th century used to measure the shape of your head. The machine consisted of 1,954 parts in a metal carrier with a continuous motor-driven belt inside a walnut cabinet containing statements about 32 mental faculties.
It is fixed upon the dashboard of a vehicle. According to the designer, the machine held enough water for three cups of coffee and could also be used for preparing soups, boiling eggs, or heating water for washing or shaving.
In this 1931 picture, a German engineer prepared his rocket bicycle with 12 rockets mounted on the back wheel. Moments after this photo was taken, the bicycle exploded. Fortunately, the engineer was not seriously hurt.
French inventor Alain Dham invented spaghetti spinners in 1968. They were designed to automatically rotate noodles for easier pasta consumption.
Designed to be easily transported, these 1953 monopod seats could provide a quick and easy place to sit when on the go.
In 1955, Russel E. Oakes invented an “automatic tip requester” which comprises an artificial hand and cashbox to be worn around the waist. A “No Sale” sign is displayed if a tip is not sufficient.
A mechanical soup spoon designed to cool a bowl of scalding hot soup.
The bra claimed to develop and strengthen the bust and was designed to vibrate while the person wearing it was at work.
Ted Spence, an engineer at the Los Angeles Brush Manufacturing Corp, invented a hairline brush. This brush is constructed to fit the contour of a bald head, with bristles for brushing hair and a felt pad to gently massage the scalp.
A bell was sent to the bottom and then weighted. The assistant survived on the air trapped in the bell, and the diver, wearing a smaller “diving bell” on his head, could make his way around to the extent of the tube that drew air from the bell. The two were resupplied with air in weighted barrels sent down from the surface, to be retrieved by the diver and brought over to the bell.
In the 1950s, dentists recommended this vibra-finger gum massager for personal use.
The beauty micrometer, also known as the beauty calibrator, was a device designed in the early 1930s to help identify the areas of a person’s face that needed their appearance reduced or enhanced by make-up. The inventors include famed beautician Max Factor, Sr.
If your skin lacked that youthful glow sometime in the 1940s, the best available solution was to sit a spell under the Glamour Bonnet. The vacuum helmet reduced “atmospheric pressure around the beauty seeker’s head,” which inventor Mrs. D. M. Ackerman believed would help stimulate circulation and improve the complexion.
This apparatus enclosed the head in a metal drum and doused it with ultraviolet rays. The Solar Bath Apparatus was meant to clear up catarrh of the ears, nose, and throat, along with other head-related illnesses.
In 1940, smokers who were tired of loaning out cigarettes could keep track of how many smokes they were using themselves and how many were being “bummed” by friends. Two separate buttons opened the case: one for when the owner was grabbing a smoke, and another for when a friend asked for one. It was up to the owner to decide what to do with that information once he determined how many of his cigarettes were being given away.
A noise-excluding telephone that only transmits vibrations from the vocal cords when the microphone is placed against the throat or cheek.
You can carry it anywhere and everywhere — like the office, public washrooms, or even on public transport.
The Slenderizing Salon claimed to help women lose weight without exercise by stimulating muscle contractions.
At the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, consumer electronics maker Sanyo demonstrated their vision for the future by showcasing a series of appliances they thought would populate the home of tomorrow. Included was the Ultrasonic Bath, or Human In Roll-lo Bathing (HIRB), a pod-like human washing machine that cleans, massages, and dries the user in a fully automated 15-minute process.
Before waterproof mascara was invented, women were offered these special masks as a way to protect their make-up from the elements.
This 19th-century machine could shave a dozen men at once. One reason for its commercial failure was that it could not alter its movements according to face shape.
This 1963 mechanical cat meowing device from Japan can meow ten times a minute, with the eyes lighting up each time. The idea was to use the machine to scare rats and mice.
For fathers who can’t bear to hurt a child when a spanking is needed, this brush with rubber bands replacing the bristles was offered by the Los Angeles Brush Corp. in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 12, 1950. The idea was suggested by a Montana father who objected to the conventional type hairbrush.
A 1920s advertisement from a Central London store, the Wash Away Fat soap claimed that users could “wash away fat and years of age.”
Although it looks like this woman is the subject of intense scientific experiments, she is just getting her hair curled. This was a 1930s invention that promised permanent waves that would never again be ruined in the rain. This photo from 1935 shows a woman at a hairdressing exhibition sitting with long wires attached to curlers on her head as she demonstrates the device.
Mr. Walter Nilsson developed this unusual construction in the 1930s, which allows you to walk along the street while seated.
It is a device that pressed holes into your face if you wore it for an extended period of time. Here, a young woman demonstrates a dimple machine at the Inventors’ Congress in Chicago.
The four-position bicycle gave a family the opportunity to travel as a unit. The invention also contained a built-in sewing machine for the mother.
The helmet’s inventor, G.M. Ackerman, claimed that wearing this device resulted in a more natural beauty for those willing to give the “glamour bonnet” a try. Ackerman initially invented the helmet with Hollywood stars in mind. It was supposed to mimic the technology of the scuba diving helmet and was said to lower the atmospheric pressure around your head, in a similar way to what mountain climbers feel at higher elevations.
Invented by Max Factor in the late 1940s, this mask was covered with plastic ice cubes that you would strap onto your face. While wearing it, you could sleep and then wake up feeling refreshed.
Invented in 1931 and then popularized during the late 1940s, this helmet was a big hit in the US. It had a built-in radio that you could take everywhere.
An electrically driven wheel capable of speeds of 30mph, invented by Mr. J. A. Purves of Taunton and his son.
This 1936 wheel-laden vehicle was an all-terrain car that could descend slopes up to 65 degrees in England.
A Swiss engineer created this motorwheel, a motorcycle with a wheel that runs on a rail placed inside a solid rubber tire.
Piano especially designed for people who are confined to bed. Britain, 1935.
These giant trumpets were used to detect planes by the sounds of their engines in the days before radar.
A shovel on a car meant to reduce the number of casualties among pedestrians. Paris, 1924.
