The desire to go ahead and invent something new has always been an integral part of man. Talented engineers and inventors from all over the world have tried to make virtual reality glasses and self-driving cars commonplace in our lives. But sometimes this talent led to the creation of very strange devices.
1. Dinasphere
In 1930, British engineer John Archebald Parves invented an extremely unusual vehicle - the unicycle. Outwardly, it looked like a huge wheel with a diameter of three meters and weighing 450 kilograms. Parves created two versions of the monocycle: on electric traction and with a two-cylinder gasoline engine. However, due to serious management problems, the project did not receive funding and was frozen.
2. Cradle for carrying a baby on ice
This simple device was invented by hockey player Jack Milford in 1937. The design of the cradle was a bag with cutouts for the legs with two straps that were hung on the shoulders of the parents. The idea of the device was so that mom and dad would not part with the child, even while skating.
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3. Imitation of a female breast
The Japanese are famous for their hard work, punctuality, and even strange inventions. So, in the middle of the last century in the Land of the Rising Sun, they created an artificial female breast with imitations of a heartbeat. It was not intended for what you might first think about, but for training babies. As conceived by the creators, the device was supposed to help babies fall asleep faster in the crib, and not in their mother's arms.
4. Apparatus for group shaving
In the second half of the 19th century, the British hairdresser Virgil Gates patented a group shaving device. The machine could shave twelve people at a time. However, the device had one significant drawback - it could not independently adjust the movement of the blades to the specific shape of the face. Moreover, the installation swinging sharp blades a priori could not be called safe.
5. Meowing rodent repeller
Another original gadget from Japan. In 1963, at one of the exhibitions of technological developments, a non-standard apparatus for scaring away mice and rats was presented. The electrical installation, made in the form of a cat's head, made meowing sounds with a frequency of ten times a minute, in parallel, the cat's eyes lit up.
6. Radio hat
In 1949, the American company Merri-Lei Corporation introduced an unusual hat-shaped radio to the market. According to Novate.ru, the device was called the "Martian's hat" and sold for $ 7.95. There were a total of eight colors of the radio hats, and special headphones were connected to listen to the radio.
7. "Egg Cuber"
In the 1960s, a strange kitchen appliance called the Egg Cuber was sold in the US. As the name suggests, the gadget shaped boiled eggs into a cube. On the back of the box was a colorful instruction on how to make cubic eggs. One question: who might need it?
8. Masks for protection from snow
Usually, in order to protect the face from the blizzard, people simply wrap a scarf or wear woolen bandages. In Canada, they decided to go the other way and in 1939 they developed special transparent plastic shields. They just looked very strange.
9. Tipping machine
This inquisitive device was patented by the American Russell Oaks in 1955. The device was made in the form of an outstretched hand and a box for money, connected by a pipe. The device was created to facilitate the work of hotel staff, as well as to get rid of the humiliating procedure of waiting for tips with outstretched hand.
10. Nasal stylus
Strange devices were created not only in the past, but also today. So, in 2011, the British designer Dominic Wilcox came up with the concept of a nasal stylus, the scope of which is limited only by the owner's imagination. An ideal device for those whose hands are always busy with something.