How would you feel if someday you invented something extraordinary, but then someone
came around and like, ‘Oh, that would make a good coat hanger!’ and everyone used it
like that ever since?
(Me?
I don’t think I’d mind as long as the royalty check had enough zeroes in it.
Ha) Believe it or not, it appears something like that happened regularly in the past,
and probably still does!
1) Bubble wrap.
If you entered a room with walls covered in bubble wrap, you’d probably be left scratching
your head.
But when it was first made in 1975, this was the actual purpose of the invention!
Further down the line bubble wrap was proposed as greenhouse insulation, yet it didn’t
find success there either.
Only three years later it was finally noticed as a good wrapping material and found its
place, where it still belongs.
2) The smallest pocket of your jeans.
It even has a proper name, in fact – a watch pocket.
As time moved on, we adapted this little pocket to fit change, or something equally small,
but at the time when jeans were just invented people used small metal watches on a chain.
This tiny pocket was perfect to fit one right there.
3) Play-doh.
A long time ago, fireplaces were used to heat homes, and wallpapers in rooms inevitably
turned into a mess from a layer of soot.
The play-doh’s ancestor was invented to remove this soot with no harm to wallpapers.
But when easily cleaned vinyl wallpapers emerged on the market, and fireplaces became more
of a luxury, it became obsolete.
But kids still loved to play with it!
That’s also why play-doh became so colorful in upcoming years.
4) Post-it notes.
We like these colorful things because you can stick them anywhere without a second thought
and then just lift --- them away leaving no glue marks.
But the initial idea was just the opposite!
Their inventor tried to make the most adhesive glue ever, but failed dramatically.
Still, further testing of this not-so-sticky glue in addition to small notes showed that
it may prove even more useful after all.
5) High heels.
These sources of self-confidence for some and painful discomfort for others were never
meant to attract attention and add height.
In fact, they were even originally made for men to wear while riding a horse.
See for yourself: the shape of heels matches a stirrup like key matches a lock.
Heeled boots helped a horseman to be more stable on horseback and even to steadily aim
his bow right on the go.
6) Microwave oven.
There was absolutely no intent to make a microwave at all.
It happened by accident when a group of scientists were testing radar equipment.
Microwaves it emitted melted a chocolate bar!
Guess what was used for further testing of microwaves’ heating potential?
It was the first ever microwaved popcorn.
7) Facebook.
One of the biggest social networks today didn’t aim that high at the beginning.
In 2004, it had strictly limited membership to students of Harvard, but pretty soon it
became so popular that it was expanded to all the colleges of the Ivy League.
After that it was just a matter of time and lots of funds for Facebook to become what
it is now.
8) Teflon pans.
In 1938, when Teflon was first introduced, nobody even thought of marrying it with kitchenware.
The initial research was aimed at producing a new kind of gas for fridges.
No luck there, sure, but the result was the most slippery stuff ever that could form a
coating able to completely protect anything from high temperatures and corrosion.
Plus, nothing can stick to it and it’s easy to clean – a must for every kitchen.
9) Slinky.
It was first produced by a naval engineer as a means to suspend naval equipment.
At some point one of the tension springs dropped down to the floor and… slunk away in such
a familiar wibbly-wobbly fashion.
Guess that was a eureka moment!
Since then hundreds of millions of these fancy springs were sold all over the world.
10) Treadmill.
Today you may sweat on a treadmill after that burger you’ve eaten recently, but when first
invented it was used as part of correctional works for prisoners.
That treadmill had different shape – more like a set of stairs that never ends.
It had another purpose too, and it’s in the name – it served as a criminal-powered
mill.
11) Tea.
The first wave of tea’s popularity wasn’t about having a cozy time on a cold winter
day.
It was supposed to be a medicine.
Some ads even went as far as to say you could cure anything with 50 cups of tea, which was,
of course, not true.
To be fair, though, tea does have some positive effects on your well-being, but with 50 cups
of tea, well, it’ll certainly give your bladder a workout.
12) Chewing gum.
People were known to chew on bark or dry natural resin for thousands of years, but the first
time the modern chewing gum was produced, it was as part of continuous efforts to produce
a new kind of rubber.
Funny enough, the experiment was in vulcanizing the same kind of natural resin that was already
used as a chewing gum, but it led to nothing.
Instead this resin was used to make a new chewing gum – much more convenient and tastier.
13) A pacemaker.
A perfect example of how a small mistake can eventually become a savior of many lives.
The first ever prototype of a pacemaker was made from a heart rhythm recording device,
but with the wrong kind of resistor in its scheme.
When it was turned on, it started to produce signals instead of recording them, and these
signals had the same rhythm as a healthy human heart would have.
Can’t think of an accident happier that that.
14) Braille This language system was initially used as
a means of coding short messages to secure secret information.
It was called night writing and a bonus feature it had was that you didn’t even need to
look at the code to get the message – just touch the writing.
Of course, it was further adapted for blind people to use, but it all started with spy
games.
15) Artificial sweetener.
This one might’ve not even seen the light of day if one scientist had had a good habit
of washing hands while working with chemicals.
It was in the middle of an endeavor to find a cure for peptic ulcer, when an inventor
dropped a piece of paper and licked his finger to pick it up.
He discovered that it tasted sweet, and this is how aspartame sugar replacement appeared.
16) Neckties.
One thing ties have always been is classy.
But when they first appeared, they were a part of military uniform and not to help in
looking more presentable at a job interview.
Instead they served to tie the top of a jacket and hold it in one place.
Later they were also used as a distinguishing mark for separate military structures.
17) Mouthwash.
A safe and powerful antiseptic we now use as a mouthwash was previously used in literally
every field it could be applied to.
At some point it was even a remedy for toenail fungus and a floor cleaner, but originally
it was introduced to be used for surgery.
That’s a long road to your bathroom.
18) Cell phones.
It took half a century for cell phones to get where they are now.
Did you know that the first cell phones were made to use in a car to talk while driving?
Yes, the one thing we try not to do with modern-day cell phones.
Good thing today we can do so much more with them.
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