10 ‘Left-Field’ Things We All Wish We Had Invented

Entrepreneurs are normally at the absolute forefront of new innovations and are always looking for the next big thing. The fortunes that are made from brilliant new designs are the stuff of legend, and who wouldn’t want a piece of that?

Here is a selection of the things that we never really knew we needed but now somehow can’t seem to do without. They have, of course, made the people behind them very wealthy or lauded within their industry.

This list excludes things like the smartphone, Google, and other sweeping tech creations, as what we’re after here is something invented by an ordinary person without a degree from MIT or research labs at their disposal, that was a stroke of absolute genius and had the rest of us slapping our heads in frustration because we didn’t think of it first.

In short – here are some of the ‘left-field‘ things we all really, really wish we had invented.

Toastabags

These are those little bags that we put sandwiches into, pop them into the toaster, and then come out as toasted sandwiches. Once the mainstay of those little catalogs that fall out of the Sunday papers, these are works of absolute genius that has saved many a person and countless students from starvation.

Invented in the early 2000s by Guy Unwin, it went on to wider popularity after getting the backing of various business owners in the UK television program Dragon’s Den (the original version of the US TV series Shark Tank).

The Slanket

This other godsend to the student population was created in 1997 when Gary Clegg, freezing in his room, didn’t want to take his hand out from under his blanket to change the TV channel. Like all great inventions, it went through a design phase in which saw Gary simply cut holes in the blanket.

After the obvious flaw here was exposed, Gary decided to ask his mother to sew sleeves on the blanket. This led to a very cozy future.

The Slinky

During the Second World War, a naval engineer named Richard James was working and dropped a tension spring, and thus a billion-dollar idea was born. This invention seems to have been the high point of Richard’s inventive streak, as he subsequently had a mid-life crisis and joined a cult.

Luckily, his wife salvaged the business and ran it until selling in 1998.

The Smiley

Now, this is one where this inventor didn’t cash in as much as the people that picked up the ball and ran with it. The Spain brothers, Murray and Bernard, bought the legal rights to the Smiley and the ‘have a nice day’ line, and they put it on everything they possibly could in their new novelty store.

To say it caught on would be an understatement, and although sales only really peaked for a couple of years by 1971, items adorned with that simple yellow Smiley had amassed sales to the tune of 50 million.

Automatic Sliding Doors

When the widespread use of these doors on the front of stores occurred in the late 60s and early 70s, they truly looked like something from the future. In fact, the only place we’d seen doors like this was in Star Trek, yet ironically, Horton and Hewitt’s invention pre-dates the 1966 series by a decade.

What was once a very expensive innovation has recently been adapted by evoproducts.com so that you can turn your existing sliding doors into ones that operate automatically, even for your pets.

TV Dinners

This precursor to today’s microwave meals was originally invented during the height of the US’s love affair with television in the 50s and 60s. These were usually a foil tray, which was placed in the oven to cook while the family watched TV, then also consumed while watching other shows.

These were mass-produced and stored in freezers at the start of what has now become a multi-billion-dollar industry, which now contains a ‘ready meal’ for every taste, preference, and appetite.

Duct Tape

This tape was invented by Johnson and Johnson in answer to a wartime need for a waterproof cloth tape to keep the damp out of cases of ammunition. For this reason, Duct tape was originally green instead of the silver color we are all used to.

It was also originally known as ‘Duck tape’ by the soldiers who used it because of its waterproof properties (as water slides off a duck’s back) and changed its name and color when re-purposed for use in the home maintenance industry in post-war America.

The Thighmaster

Star product of the 1990’s infomercial world, the thighmaster is made if two pieces of bent metal covered in rubber (with a spring in the middle to provide resistance) and sold by the truckload. Still popular today though often supplanted by more complicated exercise aids, it was hard to use while remaining in any sort of dignified pose.

For that reason, although it sold well, it didn’t get used that often, so closets and attic spaces throughout the country are the home to many, hardly used thighmasters.

The Rubiks Cube

When Erno Rubik designed his cube, originally to help students get their heads around three-dimensional problems, he had no idea he had created what was probably the greatest toy and puzzle of the last century. After making a six-sided cube with interlocking pieces, he painted each side a different color and found that twisting the structure changed the combination of squares.

A decade after this 1974 discovery, the cube was at its most popular and to date has sold over 450 million units. No figures exist, however, as to how many of those 450 million cubes have ever been solved.

The Pet Rock

It would take a lot to top the Rubiks Cube, but this one might come close. ‘Invented’ a year later in 1975, Gary Dahl worked out how to sell a small rock in a cardboard box, with some hay and a training manual for 4 dollars a time.

Raking in a 75% profit on each sale, these made sales to the tune of 15 million dollars in six months. Despite being seen as a bit of a joke, it’s quite clear that it was Dahl who was laughing all the way to the bank.