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?

Redding for the clay red hearth tiles and front door tiles. Although I do still black the fire.

I wish they would bring back the alarm clocks that made a pot of tea.

@Longdistance yes!! I was telling my teenage son about the whistling keyring the other day as I always loose my keys. He looked at me like I was nuts😄

My grandmother had a mini mangle that clipped on to the edge of the kitchen sink. When my washing machine broke down and I was handwashing for a few days, I really wished I had one!

Howevr, I did inherit her trebuchet. I use it every day to catapult DS into school from our garden. Saves him having to walk round three sides of the school to get to the main gate.

When I went to college in 1985 the laundry facility in my halls was a top loader washing machine with an electric mangle on the back. We also had a separate hand crank mangle.

The newer halls had a twin tub washing machine: one per hall.

You don't see many of twin tubs now but it seemed the height of luxury compared to our mangle monstrosity.

I brought one of these back from France. It is made out of real ostriches.

Oh yes, my dad has (had?) one of those whistling keyrings!

I have this idea that mangles would wreck clothes but maybe I'm being a bit unfair? I don't think in general we make modern clothes like they used to make them when people used mangles.

The telephone was quite a cool invention that needs to come back.

Real-time communication, no delayed response, voice only (no need for typing, grammar or spelling), human-to-human contact, less room for misunderstanding (you could actually explain yourself properly), less identity fraud.

Why have people stopped using them?

I have this idea that mangles would wreck clothes but maybe I'm being a bit unfair?

I think buttons/some buttons could be an issue - I think you might have taken them off and sew back on. I think there was often more faffing around washing - even deconstructing outfits - to wash dependent on time period and clothes.

Loved tomorrow's world I watched a few recently from thev70,s and 80,s on you tube ,one featured a marvellous new invention a phone you could take out and about with you 🤣 and the presenter said up to 4000 people might eventually have one I thought the Internet will blow your mind!
Another featured a device that had programmed voice telling you the direction to drive to get to your destination it was based on lots of different destinations being programmed into the device ,so like a very primitive version of sat nav kind of 🤣

Most of the students around here just use a suitcase for their shopping, but even still, sholleys are defo not a rare thing.

I think the tin opener is on its way out, it wasn't invented for years after canned food and for the most part you don't need one to open the can anymore. I think it's only a matter of time before all tinned food adopts the same method.

They're working on it. A friend of my DH's is currently working on a project about it.

They're just having a few issues surrounding hydrogen being a little... erm... explosive (moreso that petrol).

I remember Ikea doing a very flowery shopping trolley a number of years back that everyone coveted.

Teasmaid my Grandma had one ,I think my sister might have got a more modern version when she got married in 2001 ,if she's still got it ,it lasted longer then the marriage did!

@Sprogonthetyne you can still buy teasmades. My mum still has and uses her ancient swan one, complete with lamp on top.

I've used a shopping trolley for years, my current model is a neon pink stairwalker. It's fab.
I also still have my late grandmother's original Hoover electric washing machine, complete with mangle. It's like a square metal tub with a mangle over the top which folds neatly away inside it when not in use. She bought it in 1935 and it still works perfectly.
A picture of a similar one.

DH used to have a small Tupperware pot with a ridged lid that whipped small amounts of cream when you shook it. Got lost or broken sometime and I miss it.

@MercurialMonday They don't ruin clothes, or at least mine doesn't.
The trick with buttons is to fold the material over them to act as a ' pad '
If you fold the items that you are feeding through the mangle, they come out pressed literally crease free, it's great for duvet covers, sheets and pillow cases.

Video recorders were an amazing invention.
Frustrating at times, but amazing all the same.

I have one. Mine isn’t very old and was bought new. I have to say, I think a travel kettle in your bedroom would do the job just as well. The Teasmade is really big and a bit annoying. It starts clicking and whooshing before the tea is ready. It also doesn’t seem to get the tea hot enough.

They were but my parents were very late to buy one by which time everyone had moved on to sky tv🤣

Sadly, with Ken Dodd's death the principal market for them also expired.

I so want a pink feather duster 😍

@DancingBudgie good tip - I have looked and there are very small mangles still made (seem to be a thing in USA) but start at £200 and go right up so possible sadly not for us.

Ceiling drying racks for kitchens are an old idea that's made a come back - I wish we could have one but wrong ceiling type.

Our current house came with a double pulley system washing line in garden - we thought it great hoists washing up to first floor height out the way so kids can still play and not get tangled in washing( issue in last house with washing lines) and catches the wind - not a thing where we grew up and in places we've lived - estate agent and most people who live here think we are odd for not knowing about them before.

I suppose most people have oven chips now, but my mum had a great chipper that you put a whole spud in, pressed the handle down and evenly sized chips chips came out.

And of course, a chip pan, full of solidified lard. Those were proper chips!😋