The Snore Consumer

I've come across reports in early 20th-century newspapers of an invention, designed to stop snoring, that worked by directing the sounds of the snoring into the snorer's own ear.

Oakland Tribune - Nov 26, 1933

I'm not sure if anyone ever really built this device, or if it was just a joke repeated by reporters.

The earliest report of it I've been able to find ran in newspapers in 1871. It attributed its invention to an unnamed woman from Iowa. However, I haven't been able to find a record of anything resembling this in the U.S. Patent Office, although there are numerous patents for anti-snoring devices.

Atchison Daily Champion - Feb 24, 1871

Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 25, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Sleep and Dreams, Nineteenth Century, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Bathing Poncho

The bathing poncho, invented by Timothy and Brenda Reardon, allows someone to shower while clothed. From the patent:


I can appreciate the problem this addresses, but I wouldn't want to be the kid who shows up in the locker room shower wearing one of these.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Feb 07, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Hygiene, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, Inventions, Patents

Groundhog Detector

Feb 1947: the residents of Quarryville, Pennsylvania used strange, new technology in an attempt to detect and communicate with groundhogs.

Chairman of the Hibernating Groundhog Lodge in Quarryville, Pa. calibrates the "ultra-secret invention" that will be used to contact "10,672 registered groundhogs in Lancaster County" on Groundhog Day.
image source: Temple University Library

Louisville Courier-Journal - Feb 2, 1947

Brooklyn Daily Eagle - Feb 2, 1947

Posted By: Alex - Tue Feb 02, 2021 - Comments (2)
Category: Holidays, Inventions, 1940s

Wearable Boat

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 30, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Hunting, Trapping and Other Wilderness Activities, Inventions, Chindogu, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1930s

Airbag Jeans

Another addition to our growing collection of weird jeans:

Moses Shahrivar, who calls himself "The Artist Moses," has invented airbag jeans. From upi.com:


It seems similar in concept to the wearable airbags, designed to prevent the elderly if they fall, that we've posted about before.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 27, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Inventions, Denim

Whistling Accelerators

Accelerators have inspired a number of weird inventions. For example, a few years ago we posted about the "Deaccelerator" which was a device that aimed to prevent speeding by making it harder to depress the pedal in your car once you reached a pre-set speed (usually 50 mph).

We've also posted about an effort to replace the accelerator with a pedal. The faster the driver pedaled, the faster the car would go. This was designed to give drivers some exercise as they commuted to work.

And yet another odd accelerator invention is the whistling accelerator. The idea is that if the accelerator is depressed too rapidly it will produce an annoying whistle. This will remind the driver not to accelerate too quickly, thereby saving gas.

The idea for a noise-making accelerator goes back to a 1958 patent granted to Philip Kershman of Los Angeles. He had rigged up an accelerator so that it would ring a bell if depressed too quickly.

Eighteen years later, in 1976, Henry Merriman of Michigan simplified this idea by replacing the bell with a whistle. He basically took a squeeze toy and attached it to the underside of the accelerator.

Merriman's squawking accelerator

St. Joseph News-Press/Gazette - Apr 30, 1975

Another whistling accelerator was patented in 2012. Its design was more sophisticated, but it was overall the same idea — accelerate too quickly and the thing starts whistling. The patentees described it as a "vehicle fuel efficiency monitor and signalling device".

Personally, I'm content to drive without any bells or whistles attached to the accelerator.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 20, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Cars, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

The Balance Watch

In 2005, John Paul Castro of Santa Monica, CA was granted a patent (No. 6,840,665) for what he called the "Balance Watch". From his patent:



Based on the quality of the artwork in his patent, it's apparent he chose not to splurge and hire a professional illustrator.

As far as I know, the balance watch never made it to market. But it would seem easy enough to make your own. Get two identical watches. Remove the minute hand from one, and the hour hand from the other. Then wear them simultaneously on opposite wrists.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 17, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Fashion, Inventions, Patents, Technology

The Trash Creations of Dinaa Amin

More at her YouTube channel.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 17, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Garbage, Trash, Waste and Other Detritus, Inventions, Outsider Art

Cheese-Filtered Cigarettes

We've previously posted about "cheese candy", which was the invention of Wisconsin lumberman Stuart Stebbings. Another of his inventions was cheese-filtered cigarettes. He was, apparently, a man driven to find new uses for cheese.



Lab tests demonstrated that a cheese filter could remove 90 percent of the tar in cigarettes. A hard cheese worked best, such as Parmesan, Romano, or Swiss. Although an aged cheddar could also be used. Or even a blend of cheeses.

In 1966, Stebbings was granted Patent No. 3,234,948. But as far as I know, his cheese-filtered cigarettes never made it to market.

Mason City Globe-Gazette - Feb 8, 1960

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 03, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Food, Inventions, Patents, Smoking and Tobacco, 1960s

An apparatus for holding eyelids open

Alexander Barash of Illinois was recently granted a patent for an "apparatus for opening and holding eyelids open" (Patent No. 10842477).




I guess that A Clockwork Orange didn't count as prior art.

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 12, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Eyes and Vision