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?

I was seeing them verrrrry seasonally in limited supermarkets up until maybe a decade or so ago?

@BrioNotBiro www.lakeland.co.uk/26340/lakeland-pro-chip-and-dice-vegetable-chopper-and-dicer?src=gfeed&gclid=CjwKCAjwsMGYBhAEEiwAGUXJaYw3sUbt9H6I95gyQ8YsUloCBQkhcEDkPQA4-Nx0zzFVWyqy11byixoC7PUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds. I have one and love it. Our chips were fried in dripping from the pub kitchen next door who specialised in steaks. Truly fantastic.

@HoofWankingSpangleCunt I have one of those. Dh hates it, it's hard to wash, but it brings out the inner 50s housewife in me.

They sell them every summer in my country and they are the loveliest peas ever, we buy big bagfuls of them and sit there shelling them and eating them raw as a snack.

My greengrocer sells peas in pods when they're in season. You want a greengrocer like mine. If he has exotic fruit getting a bit aged he has been known to just give us the whole tray as he knows DS will scoff it down with delight.

Oddly, I was wondering why people used to make such a big deal out of buttons - I think I've had to replace one single button in my entire life. Never made the connection with mangles.

I think of these every single time I lose something, not just my keys but anything 🤣

Good grief-the price of them!!!

Back in the early 70s if I was on washing-up duty after ours had been used I used to whip the water up to a foam in the washing up bowl. It cleaned the whisk up a treat. (I may have used more Fairy liquid than was required.)

I bought myself one about 25 years ago but the beaters were narrow - presumably to take up less space in the drawer - and it wasn't efficient. That knocked nostalgia on the head.

I'm sure Jacob Rees-Mogg will have plans to reintroduce them, once he's finished bringing back imperial measurements.

Hostess trolley. I'd love one 😊

Those old school clicky label makers with the big dials...I so want one...

£13

amzn.eu/4psfnXT

Plenty of shopping trolleys round my way. Haven't RTFT so may have already been mentioned, but what I'd like is a hand-operated clothes mangle! We had one we used on holidays in the 70s for bits of hand-washing. The only ones I've seen nowadays are either vintage, very expensive and/or electric.

I have one of those whisks. I had a dinner party and hasn't got round to whipping the cream, one of the guests offered to do it and they'd never seen one before. The cream ended up rather more well-whipped than I'd planned because everybody wanted a go with it.

Hovercrafts. British invention. I went on one once going between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. It was really fast.

@AxoFreefall I went on the hovercraft to Isle of Wight in circa 1982. It had a hole in the floor and water was coming in.

Is that type of whisk ancient? My mum has one too and I thought they were the ordinary kind of whisk. It had not occurred to me that I have never managed to own one myself. I actually thought I was just a terrible housewife. Until a couple of years ago I used to whisk anything with two forks held back to back

@MichaelAndEagle I watched a fascinating short piece about the genesis of the housecoat presented by Ruth Goodman. Apparently they came along when many households could no longer afford staff so the housewife would be doing housework. Of course if someone called she wouldnt want to be seen doing the housework. A housecoat allowed her to wear her normal clothes. If someone called she could whip off the housecoat and answer the door in 'proper' clothes

I had no idea they were still so popular 😭🤣 Don't get me started on typewriters, I found my old electric one (dead fancy) from when I was at uni in the 90s a while ago and mentioned it to one of the (younger) people I work with. She was very excited and wanted me to bring it to work as she'd only ever seen one in a museum 🤦‍♀️

Such a good idea really!

Usually orange or red, with chopped green jelly round it!

I used to use those big bags on wheels (Trippa) for taking exam scripts how to mark. Also good for shopping!

There is a shop in my village that sells all this stuff, except for maybe trebuchets, but they'd cut you the wood.