We all know who invented the telephone or the airplane, but today we have a list of some obscure and great inventions for you. We found this awesome list on listverse and picked up our favourite 5!
1. Erasers – Edward Naime: In 1770, the first version of the rubber eraser was sold by an English optician and engineer named Edward Nairne. Edward got his invention by acciden. He meant to pick up bread crumbs to erase some pencil markings, as was common at the time, but his hands landed on a nearby piece of rubber. After he discovered how well it worked, Nairne began marketing and selling rubber cubes as erasers.
2. Vaseline – Robert A. Chesebrough: After Robert’s job of clarifying kerosene from sperm whale oil became obsolete, he traveled to Titusville, Pennsylvania to research newly discovered petroleum. Robert’s idea sprouted when he witnessed oil workers smearing a sticky substance called Rod Wax onto their cuts and burns.
3. Can Opener – Robert Yates: Robert Yates of Middlesex, UK patented the first can opener on July 13, 1855. This particular cutter used a curved blade and a lever knife. Later in the 1850s, containers became thinner, inspiring Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut to invent his version of the can opener.
4. Superglue – Harry Coover: Dr. Harry Coover discovered the powerful adhesive cyanoacrylate while developing clear plastic precision gunsights for Allied soldiers in 1942. During the Vietnam War, field surgeons sprayed the adhesive onto soldiers’ wounds to stop bleeding and buy enough time to get to a hospital. The glue later even helped in forensics because of its ability to capture and maintain fingerprints.
5. Surfboards – Tim Blake: The new era of surfboards emerged in 1926, when Tim Blake invented the hollow surfboard. The 4.5 meter board had hundreds of holes drilled in it, covered only by a thin layer of wood on top and bottom.
Did you know any of these from before? 🙂 Have a happy weekend!