Community Stories

Inventions that are so handy day-to-day, that we rarely acknowledge…

M'Bob
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It was raining the other day, and, without thanking, I expanded and popped open my umbrella, went out in the rain, got to my office, gave it a shake, and was inside with nary a drop on me.

And I thought: wow, this thing is small, portable, effective, you can use it for years without breaking, and it’s inexpensive. It’s close to perfect.

I was wondering what little inventions or gadgets you use on a regular or semi-regular basis that you think are well-designed, helpful, and under-appreciated unless their attributes are brought to your attention.
 
140dave
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The Zipper
But one of my favorites: a kid I went to school with, who lived in a much different neighborhood, was the grandson of the guy who patented the paper pulp egg carton we all use today.
 
dsio
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One that surprises me is the O-ring, it wasn’t invented until 1896, and it enabled so much from modern pumps and hydraulics to water resistant watches to vehicles of all forms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-ring

Such is the importance of this piece of engineering that a failure of one of these cheap rubber parts will cause your Tiffany Nautilus to leak, and the Challenger space shuttle was brought down by the failure of some O-rings.
 
Zman4eva
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Eyeglasses. Around 60-70% of Americans wear them. It's even higher in Asia.
 
p4ul
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pdxleaf pdxleaf
These little round things are quite handy.

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Yes, my stomach is perfect for resting my iPad on.
 
Alpha
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Suction lifters in all forms are a truly amazing advance and I am talking from many years of experience in the construction industry 👍
Now happily retired 😀
 
pdxleaf
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Found these inside my lego box from the sixties 😲 after pulling the box a out for a neighbor's child to play with. Batteries, rechargeable and lithium, have taken on a bigger role in life, becoming almost a basic necessity.
 
Wlcutter
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The object I come back to most frequently is the screw. It's ~2500 year-old technology and life is unimaginable without it.
 
Archer
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The shovel...truly a groundbreaking achievement...
 
Syrte
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Magnets. Recently I very unfortunately dropped a set of keys in the worst possible place as I was bringing my bike to the repair shop. And the keys - which happened to control access to my mother’s basement - fell in the most impossible location.
A powerful magnet at the end of a very long roll of movers string brought a very unpleasant adventure to a happy end.
 
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Zman4eva
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Magnets reminded me of lasers. No one thinks about it but lasers are the backbones of the internet and most electronics we use, whether that's in the manufacturing process or the actual operations of electronics.
 
Walrus
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GPS, how did I used to find places.

that little button on word that lets you undo your last entries, omg that is so helpful
 
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