Strange Inventions

[Onyx]

What's the strangest invention you've ever seen? One of my favorites:

This transistor-based DIY "computer" performs addition and subtraction, making clever use of a rotary phone dial for input. The circuit itself only increments or decrements the binary value; the dial makes it convenient to enter in a number automatically. Multiplication or division are possible with repeated operations. It was described in the book Computers! From Sand Table to Electronic Brain (Vorwald and Clark, 1961).

 

[ChristineM]

Glow in the dark toilet paper.



Weird but useful, anti pervert stockings

 

[John53]

The Bob Semple tank. The idea to build tanks from readily available materials was probably a good idea but the end product wasn't so practical. Fortunately it was never tested in combat.

Bob Semple tank - Wikipedia

 

[Revoltingest]

These were actually put into production
by an after-market company...

 

[Onyx]

About 25 years ago I made this pan flute out of a box of ball-point pens. I wrote a computer program to calculate the lengths. It worked remarkably well though I was no Zamfir.

 

[Brickjectivity]

These were actually put into production
by an after-market company...

It seems to me like they would wear out quickly, what with all of that friction. That is probably why they aren't around, now.

 

[Brickjectivity]

About 25 years ago I made this pan flute out of a box of ball-point pens. I wrote a computer program to calculate the lengths. It worked remarkably well though I was no Zamfir.

How was the sound produced? Was there a mouthpiece?

 

[Onyx]

How was the sound produced? Was there a mouthpiece?

You blow over the holes at the top. I found that leaving the tapered ends on made it easier to play. The frequency is based on the air volume of each pipe.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I will never forget pee in your board certified urologist golf club. People will think your just checking out your club!

 

[Brickjectivity]

I will never forget pee in your board certified urologist golf club. People will think your just checking out your club!

That gives me an idea for a walking stick. I'll make millions.

 

[ChristineM]

Have done a little research on this topic and found a bucket full of weird and wonderful inventions... Here are just a few.

Shoe umbrellas



Crawl your way to a clean floor


And the cycle for when you want to go for a walk

 

[Revoltingest]

It seems to me like they would wear out quickly, what with all of that friction. That is probably why they aren't around, now.

Their use would be in soft conditions, eg, snow, swamps.
Performance vs life could be acceptable.
The design has been used elsewhere.
Russians seemed to like it.
But there are more versatile approaches.

Some efforts were worse than others.