Genius inventions we no longer use

[Grumpypants78]

Inspired by a chat with a friend after struggling back from the corner shop yet again with the mountains of stuff my family can't survive without. My gran in the 70s used to have a little shopping trolley on wheels she'd take with her. You never see them anymore but what a brilliant idea. They sell them in Amazon, I'm going to buy one and be like my gran only without the curlers and housecoat 🤣
What else do you remember your DPs/DGPs use I can be inspired to invest in?

Fax machine.

I've just bought a trolly for shopping to live in the car boot. It's one of those festival trollies that packs up. When we do the big shop I tow it around Aldi fill it. Get it scanned and re pack it. I then lift the entire thing into the boot and out again (estate car).

The rest of the time I walk down to the shops with it. Usually with the kids in, fill it and then they walk back and I pull the shopping. Twas inspired by a visit to Camperjam

Disgusting stuff-it was all slimy.

When I worked in a chemist's shop in the 70's I wore white overalls with those type of buttons.

I see those trolleys in shops and town a lot. Last week I saw an elderly lady with one that is sturdy and she could use it as a seat too. Genius.

@PeachyPeachTrees my current shopping trolley is falling apart and I am quite tempted by the ones that convert into a seat 😂

I'll say solar panels because we don't have a government scheme to install them cheaply.

Teasmaids for the bedroom.

The milkman on his float! I know some people still have milk delivered, but none in my area for decades and they used to be a daily pleasure. Ours delivered milk, bread, OJ in milk bottles, eggs, pop and yogurts. He had the most delicious cream soda I have ever tasted and have never found the like since.

Three inventions people don’t use that much anymore:
1 Electric carving knife. Not just for meat but great for slicing through bread and a frozen Vienetta
2 whistling kettles - I recently went back to one and have read that currently it’s cheaper to boil water on a gas hob than by electricity
3 Teapots - anymore than two people then not worth using one bag in a cup
4 soda syphons - was a common feature in my aunts/grandparents house. With the trend for cocktails I’ve recently got one and can’t think why I waited so long

@myfaceismyown the milkman (milkandmore)is making a big comeback due to being so environmentally friendly as in reusable glass bottles. Also sell all of the other stuff you mention.

I still have one in burnt orange! It's probably oozing micro plastics by now. I lost the business part, the whippy thing sadly.
My mum had a butter maker, a glass container for the cream with a red plastic lid and a handle you pumped. I think it gathered dust after a while.
Soda syphons (sparklet?). Think they are still available? The cola tasted vile.
Pac a mac's and rainmates.

I've had one since my daughter was in uni. Always had forgotten something. Too much hard work carrying stuff from the train station uphill to her dogs. Great for shopping now x

Electric carving knives were also excellent at slicing through fingers...

I can't tell if this is a joke? You see them everywhere. Even more than in the past because nowadays young people use them too.

Fax machines

Followed a van yesterday with a fax number on the back.... My teens asked me what that meant. I explained what a massive innovation it was when I worked in an office on the 80s, but they just dont get it....

@Spain1980 electric carving knife was never used for its purpose in our house - used for sculpting polystyrene packaging into an indoor wendy house held together with kebab sticks!
@entropynow We have an orange one. My DH uses it for making batter for the most excellent Yorkshires. When the little cap broke he was distraugth.. My diet shaker worked almost as well, then I managed to get an exact match vintage replacement on eBay. Very happy DH!

@Meadowland I want one! My bf at the time's Dad worked for the Milk Marketing Board (or similar) and gave me an apron from their TV campaign which featured Barbara Windsor's voice with a pic of a cream cake. Doubt anyone remembers it. It is still my everyday pinny. Yes I use one, it stops getting flour on my clothes, and there is something a little saucy about Mummy in a black pinny which says "naughty but nice".

Bel cream maker anyone? My mother's one came out for every time she entertained and as an independent adult I made delicious vegan cream with it. I'm thinking I should think about replacing mine.

@MrsRuggles Bel cream maker - me too! My DM had one with a mottled bakelite brown top and I had a "modern" version in the eighties that she bought me with an orange plastic top.

Oh yes, the bakelite ones were the biz. My mother's one was green and I had a modern plastic one. I think something crucial in the valve collapsed.

Now I've a treasured glass bunny mould that needs resurrecting after reading this thread. Chocolate blancmange rabbit, green jelly with home made cream. Time to indulge the grandchildren.

@MrsRuggles I have several inherited jelly moulds but very sadly none are rabbits. My collection is lacking. My DM used to have a special steamed pudding bowl with a saucer like lid. It had holes so you could pass string around the bowl. We had many many steamed puddings, mostly suet and either marmalade or syrup. I ate it politely but did not like it. Not something I have ever been tempted to cook for my DCS and probably only good for people post war to bulk up those deficient calories.

iPods
Albums on CD
Soubd system (that doesn’t require internet)
ewebank

@Notoironing some people still use cds as a lot of the stuff we have you can't find on line yet. Ditto old vinyl albums, although we have a high tec recording player thingy. I have some albums that have become incredibly rare, Beatles Revolver for example, which sounds so good on vinyl. and others like George Melly and the Footstompers that I had signed when I saw them perform in my youth. Ewebanks definately available and getting a comeback if you read the other posts. Really environmentally friendly.

@Spain1980 l use a teapot every day. It is much more economical as it is just one teabag per two people (generally myself and my husband). It tastes much nicer too. A trusty 1980s M & S Harvest teapot. I only use the bag in the cup method if I am making a cup for myself only. Occasionally, I make a pot of loose leaf tea and, although I generally use mugs, prefer cups and saucers.

I am yet another with a shopping trolley. It is extremely useful.

Agree on the teapot thing. More economical. Also somehow can't drink tea in a mug as it tastes odd. Have to use a cup and saucer. Happily have coffee in a mug. No idea why.