30 Dumb Inventions

Some of those were pretty stupid, especially the ones to designed to for cigarettes and of course the glowing tires, but quite a few are precursors for things that we now take for granted, like the mini-TV, the TV glasses, which portend virtual reality devices.

Personally, I'd like to have a quick-draw robot. That'd be lots of fun.

I think it's the author's whose dumb.

I can't believe they have the Flying Platform on that list of dumb inventions!

Personally I think the flying platform is an awesome invention. Just because it wasn't practical for military use, doesn't mean it's a dumb invention. It flew perfectly, and was really stable. Of course it is dangerous, but all flying devices are.

Glad some of those made you laugh.

I guess if we didn't have brilliant minds coming up with what would be perceived "dumb" inventions at the time we wouldn't have the brilliant inventions of today.

Maybe a better title would be "Funny Inventions that Lead to Brilliant Technologies".


"I became interested in long-term trends because an invention has to make sense in the world in which it is finished, not the world in which it is started" - Ray Kurzweil


"An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots" - Charles F. Kettering

Some of these DID seem really dumb, like the cigarette holder that holds a whole pack, why would you want to smoke a whole pack at once?

But some of them were good ideas with poor implementations, like a gun that shoots around corners is really a good idea. The curved barrel is a problem because the bullet practically disintegrates going around the curve. But there is a more modern gun that can shoot around corners, it just doesn't use a curved barrel.

There's a picture of one at this link, and it even has a way you can see what you're shooting at!

The mini TV and TV glasses were just ahead of their time, since now we have miniature screens and VR headsets.

But the saddest one is the guy testing his birdman suit by jumping out of a plane...didn't they have wind tunnels back in the 1950s where he could test his suit more safely than jumping out of a plane?

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
The curved barrel is a problem because the bullet practically disintegrates going around the curve. But there is a more modern gun that can shoot around corners, it just doesn't use a curved barrel.

Actually the German tankers used the curved barrel machine gun succesfully during WW2.

reply to post by Julie Washington


Things that make you go "WTF?"

I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard at 3:00 A.M. before. But, hey, I have to admit! I do know a few people who would probably go for that whole-pack cigarette smoker thingy!

reply to post by spellbound


LMAO, spellbound! That's EXACTLY what I thought when I saw that, HA HA! But then again, probably everyone did, LOL!