What did you 'invent' then discovered was already a thing?

[goingback]

When i was young i stayed in a tent watching my dad fishing and some people were on a boat fishing and i invented a floating cabin you could fish from and stay in . Years later saw someone had beaten me to it.
Also remember being told i was daft for suggestion using the vacuum cleaner to dry up the shower.

I had the awesome idea of filling pancakes, rolling them up and baking them in sauce like cannelloni. That's right. Crespolini.

My son has invented ironing gloves, so you can stroke your clothes to get the wrinkles out.

Also my friend Toe invented Spotify back in 1992.

in 2002 my son who was then eleven entered a television competition for new inventions. His invention was a shopping trolley with a device that scanned your shopping as you went a long. He filled in an online form with all the details and sent it off without keeping a copy, I wasn’t concerned as I thought we wouldn’t hear anything else. Several months later he had a letter asking him to attend the next stage, and discuss his idea with an ‘expert’.

We went along and he had written down what he remembered but it was quite sketchy in detail, so thankfully didn’t get any further in the process.

I did wonder when Tesco first introduced self scanners several year later.

I dreamed when I was younger of a magic TV that would pause if you needed to go to the loo or answer the phone, and which let you watch programmes at any time, not just when they were on. It seemed impossible.

I also 'invented' drops that you put in your eyes and they perfected your vision by forming a perfect shape over your eyeball to create 20/20 vision. This was before any sort of contact lenses existed. Then soft lenses arrived.

@Vinylloving me too - was looking for someone to build the website for me before I discovered I'd been beaten to it!

In 1989, when I was 8, I invented a miniature TV that would fit into the head rest of the seat in front. It would prevent boredom on long car journeys to Cornwall.

I invented the Knock Knock Joke…
Knock knock
who’s there?
Dr
Dr Who
You just said it.

I was livid when I heard other people tell it at primary school as I distinctly remember thinking it up myself 🤣

Penicillin! In science class I state that something in the petri-dish was destroying the bacteria

25 or so years ago I was student living in crappy digs with no insulation. I was constantly freezing so my lovely mum made me an oversized fleecy babygro type garment to keep me warm. Oh how my housemates laughed.

20 years later and the whole country was wearing onesies. So yeah, my mum invented the adult onesie.

Walking home from school one day my 6year old ds explained to me his brilliant idea for catching bad guys, and he’d basically invented the concept of undercover policing.

@LLittleGreenDuck

Sorry to shatter your dreams but ...

In 1988, as a 19 year old, I had what my friend called my baby pyjamas - yep a fleecy onesie.

thanks , some of these are brilliant.

This isn't a thing I invented - but could be in the future if some one could invent it - I want a thing which I can point at the TV and it tells you what those actors have have been in before . Can't be that hard surely ? DH would appreciate it to stop me say what has he / she been in at regular intervals. Ha ha . Friend & I I reckon we invented Sat Nav by having maps and photos of roads in a box in the back of the car and a rather rubbish system of grabbers would pick them up and show them to you in the front seat. Of course we did have actual maps in those days 😁

Not me but I thought I let u know that a cruffin has already been invented: croissant pastry baked in a muffin shape.

Selfie sticks - although I think I got in there first (well mentally anyway!)

Covers for seat belt clips so small just out of car seat humans couldn't unlatch themselves

Dang it. Mine was bottle green with a teddy bear motif stitched to it. It was a thing of beauty.

Years ago dh mentioned he’d come up with the concept of an app that told you where the nearest taxi was. I told my friend and she diplomatically sent me in said app. Dh was broken for days!!!

The Ralwplug for making shelves hang on a stud wall - the drywall bit.

It was 1985 and after the umpteenth standard Rawlpug had fallen into the abyss I imagined what one would have to look like in order to hold - a bit like a Christmas tree.

I was very pleased to see them when I went to a hardware shop the next week.

Two things:

1. adult colouring in. I used to buy the kids ones to colour in when I was about 20. Found it fun/relaxing. This was 20yrs ago.
2. Cloud storage. I used to email all my university essays each time i created a new version/draft. I was worried that I'd lose the floppy disk so I knew that I'd always have a copy on my emails!

Terrible trouble sleeping so always drop off with the TV on. whilst drifting off I thought if only there was no light from the TV it would be much better, I must remember that for the morning.
woke up and realised I’d invented the Radio.

A try under the toaster to collect crumbs. But later I realised they are pretty standard. Just don't bloody work

When my daughter and her friends were 16, one of them was convinced she had invented the phrase

'winner, winner, chicken dinner'

😂