Stuff they could have invented a long time ago, but didn't

[John Backlund]

Hang gliders, a thousand years ago (or longer).

Strong, Lightweight, fabric was around (silk), and strong Lightweight woods for frames (bamboo?).

 

[Grandy]

Six saddle tele bridge?

 

[bottlenecker]

If they couldn't use wheels back then, how did they move the trains?

Good point. The trains weren't slowed by cobblestones at all.

 

[radtz]

Rolling suitcases are simply the worst, people back then had the common decency not to impede everyone around them for their own minor convenience. Pick up your stuff and get moving!

My contribution would be car cupholders. My first car was a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder, which had zero cupholders. Did modest to-go cups of coffee not exist in 1990? If they didn't then that's two point for me in this thread already!

Granted....we only used them to hold beer cans in the 80's.....

 

[fjblair]

Silly Putty/Slinky combo.

 

[Red Ryder]

Good point. The trains weren't slowed by cobblestones at all.

View attachment 987015

And that's exactly why I park mine downstairs in the living room.

 

[mindlobster]

In train station scenes in movies from the 30s and 40s, you see people carrying suitcases. Why didn't they use rolling bags with telescoping handles? Technology was advanced enough to have produced them in 1900 or earlier. But nobody thought of this!

Other examples of stuff they could have invented, but didn't? Maybe plastic cable ties, my favorite innovation of the last 40 years?

I know I'm pushing it...going out on a limb...taking a risk...but I'd say zip ties are even better than duct tape. Especially the reusable ones.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Hang gliders, a thousand years ago (or longer).

Strong, Lightweight, fabric was around (silk), and strong Lightweight woods for frames (bamboo?).

They could have also used some of that material to invent underwear for Vikings!

 

[brookdalebill]

Funny you should mention that. I'm sitting here adjusting the intonation on my new Squire Tele right now, and I am going to order new tuners (the only thing I don't like so far) . . . actually, I'm going to take a belt sander to it as well (rib relief), but that's me, not the guitar.

Though they’re slightly controversial with the brethren here, locking tuners really help, IMO.
My Cabronita has locking Sperzels, and I’m sold on em.
My avatar guitar gets them next.

 

[trev333]

Good point. The trains weren't slowed by cobblestones at all.

Just looking at this pic and wondering why the coal in the tender hasn't spilled forward with the impact and piled into the engine cab?...

 

[Brad Pittiful]

My dad traveled for work, driving all over three states in an industrial sales job. He had all sorts of different add on cup holders over the years in the 1970s and 80s. I recall an early plastic commuter cup that had a little base "puck" that he glued to the top of the dash(!), and the cup would click into it. Edit- He was usually taking coffee from home, but you could get little styrofoam cups to go with the thin lid. I think it was Wendy's or Bob Evans that had the first plastic commuter cup he had.

go to the 30 second mark

 

[StoneH]

Though they’re slightly controversial with the brethren here, locking tuners really help, IMO.
My Cabronita has locking Sperzels, and I’m sold on em.
My avatar guitar gets them next.

But wouldn't locking tuners ruin the value of my finely crafted, made in Indonesia Squier?

Never mind, they would probably increase it's value.

 

[bottlenecker]

Just looking at this pic and wondering why the coal in the tender hasn't spilled forward with the impact and piled into the engine cab?...

Maybe it was all burned up coming in that hot.

Montparnasse derailment - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[SRHmusic]

go to the 30 second mark

Yeah, sort of like that. The one we had had a thinner base that the cup slid forward into. And I think he had a compass ball at some point, too.

 

[Buckaroo65]

I know I'm pushing it...going out on a limb...taking a risk...but I'd say zip ties are even better than duct tape. Especially the reusable ones.

I'll have to disagree with you on that one...(actual picture from work today)

 

[Twelvefrets]

A little off topic here, but one time my wife and I were on a pretty long bike tour and she ran over a coke bottle bottom that cut the tire and both sides of the tire walls-a perfectly devastating cut on the road. I replaced the tub, but it was going to bubble through the tire. What to do? Looked through everything we had and...found a ......Kotex! even had small amount of adhesive on one side. (Who knew?) Tucked that puppy in the tire, tube back in and sweat to God, got 32 miles out of that puppy to the next town. Should have written the company, new selling point.