The world is always changing, and with it come fresh ideas from bright inventors. As any creator knows, the path to a groundbreaking product is often full of twists, turns, and big question marks. Many inventions have flashed into existence only to disappear just as quickly. Some were funny, some were downright strange, and others simply belonged to a different time. Let’s dive into a list of ten wonderfully weird gadgets and contraptions from various eras that truly make you wonder: “What were they thinking?”
10Full-Body Umbrella
Imagine an umbrella that covers you from head to toe! That’s the idea behind the full-body umbrella, which popped up in China and Japan around 2012. It promised ultimate protection from rain and wind from every angle. However, walking around in one wasn’t exactly easy or convenient, especially when it came to managing space.
One patented design from China, by Zeng Yi in 2012, featured a long plastic sheet hanging from the umbrella’s edge. This clear sheet wrapped around the user, looking much like a personal, vintage shower curtain. Another, more space-age model spotted in Tokyo in 2008, seemed to be made by joining five transparent umbrellas to create a plastic dome, almost like a see-through igloo. While these sound great for staying perfectly dry, picture trying to browse a street market or squeeze onto a bus. You might feel like you’re in a sci-fi movie or a personal bubble, making everyday tasks a bit tricky and perhaps a little embarrassing!
9Spinning Ice Cream Cone
Sure, this motorized ice cream cone sounds like a fun toy for kids. But let’s be honest, we humans were given amazing fingers and thumbs for a reason – like twisting an ice cream cone! Yet, the American giftware company Hammacher Schlemmer introduced this gadget, promising to save us from “tiresome head turning or wrist twisting.” It was even said to help “lethargic lickers” avoid the “tedious task of moving one’s mouth.”
This brightly colored cone came with a built-in drip basin to catch any mess. While the Lazy Licker’s Spinning Ice Cream Cone is no longer sold, old reviews from 2017 and 2018 show it was a quirky hit with children. For adults, though, it mostly seemed like a solution to a problem nobody really had.
8Vending Machine for Tanning
Back in 1949, the Star Manufacturing Company in the U.S. came up with the suntan vending machine. At first glance, you might have thought it was a gas pump! During the 1950s, when having a suntan became a symbol of health and glamour, these machines started appearing near pools, beaches, and tennis courts.
For just 10 cents, you could get a 30-second spray tan on the go. Can you imagine the results? It’s likely some people ended up looking rather streaky and blotchy before their big beach trip or tennis match. However, model Betty Dutter famously showed everyone how to use it perfectly at the Annual Vending Machine Convention in Chicago in 1949. A quick tan fix, but perhaps not always a flawless one!
7Pluto Lamps
As the Victorian era drew to a close, strange and wonderful Pluto Lamps started appearing around London. These clever contraptions were a mix of street lamps and old-fashioned vending machines, becoming quite a novelty for city folks. Created by a company founded in 1896, the first Pluto Lamp was unveiled in Leicester Square in 1898. It used a gas lamp to quickly heat water.
For a small price, the machine could give you a gallon of hot water, or a halfpenny’s worth of tea, coffee, cocoa, milk, sugar, or even beef tea essence! Sadly, Pluto Lamps didn’t last long. By April 1899, The Daily Mail reported that one lamp in London, only two months old, was found stuffed with over 1,000 pieces of tin. Sneaky Londoners had figured out they could use tin bits instead of real coins! So, the hot drink dream faded away as quickly as it arrived.
6Anti-Bandit Bag
In 1959, before online banking and super-secure money transport, cashiers carrying money were easy targets for thieves. This led to the invention of the anti-bandit bag, heavily promoted by British media after a string of robberies. Though the inventor’s name is lost to time, a demonstration video shows its dramatic features.
Looking like something from an old Batman episode, the bag had a hidden container. If a thief snatched the bag, a wire would activate it, sending up clouds of red smoke! The red dye would also stain the bandit’s clothes and the money, making it hard to get away with the crime. Unfortunately, this invention never quite took off, possibly because the very obvious wire attached to the user’s wrist was a bit of a giveaway. Interestingly, the “criminals” in the demo video were actually famous British cricket players!
Other anti-theft bags followed. One 1961 model had three metal poles burst out and a siren wail when grabbed, trapping the thief’s hand. Another, patented in 1963, would eject its entire base if a chain was pulled, scattering the contents everywhere – hopefully foiling the thief, unless they were quick enough to grab something from the ground!
5Cat-Mew Machine
Humans have been trying to keep rodents away for ages, but perhaps no method was quite as peculiar as the Cat-Mew Machine. In September 1963, the New York Dispatch reported on this Japanese invention designed to “scare the living daylights out of rats and mice.”
The machine was a black plastic cat head on a base, which you’d plug into a regular power outlet. To deter pests, it would let out several cat meows per minute while its eyes lit up. Imagine trying to sleep with that nearby! It probably felt like having the most annoying cat in the world determined to keep you awake all night. Effective against rodents? Maybe. Annoying to humans? Almost certainly!
4Baby Cage
This is one invention that definitely wouldn’t get approval today! Yet, some parents in past generations genuinely thought they were doing a good thing by using a dangling baby cage. At a time when doctors emphasized fresh air for babies’ health, some city dwellers without backyards took this advice to an extreme. They would place their babies and toddlers in cages mounted outside their apartment windows.
The first commercial patent for a baby cage was filed in 1922 in Washington, but the idea really gained some traction in 1930s Britain. Old newsreels from the 1950s even portrayed these cages as safe, sunny “stand-in gardens” for little ones. One clip suggested it helped Mom knit without worrying about her toddler falling out the window. Thankfully, there are no known reports of tragedies involving baby cages, and society eventually recognized the dangers and phased them out. Phew!
3Selfie Toaster
In 2014, Galen Dively from the Vermont Novelty Toaster Corporation brought us the Selfie Toaster. The concept was unique: toasting images, usually faces, directly onto your bread! Customers would send their photos to a “Toast Artist” at a website called Burnt Impressions. The company then created a custom metal template for each toaster.
While Burnt Impressions is no longer around, many people remember the Selfie Toaster as a hilarious gift. However, according to reviews, it wasn’t the best at actually making good toast. One reviewer called the results “wildly uneven,” with darker parts of the image often charred while other areas remained undercooked. So, maybe not the tastiest breakfast, and perhaps a bit strange to butter your own face in the morning. But for sheer novelty and a good laugh, it seems the Selfie Toaster definitely made an impression!
2Keyboard Jeans
In 2008, Dutch designers Erik De Nijs and Tim Smit created a truly one-of-a-kind pair of jeans. They introduced “Beauty and the Geek” keyboard jeans, featuring a flexible silicone keyboard spread across the upper legs. Speakers were integrated into the design, and a mouse, attached by an elastic wire, was kept in the back pocket. These durable pants aimed to offer alternative typing postures and help prevent Repetitive Strain Injury. At a time before smartphones and tablets were everywhere, they relied on a wireless connection to a computer.
While they scored high on uniqueness, there were a few practical questions. Besides some typing positions looking a bit awkward, would anyone actually wear them out in public? What happens if you sit down on the mouse? And could you even wash them? In a 2012 interview, De Nijs admitted that while he’d love to see them in stores, the product was “too complex” and too expensive to bring to market. Maybe that was for the best!
1Radio Hat
The “Man from Mars” Radio Hat hit the scene in 1949, marketed as a “dream-come-true radio hat.” This pith helmet with a built-in radio caused quite a stir for a short time, even if it made you look like an alien. It was created by Victor Hoeflich, founder of a novelty company in New York.
The hat used radio valve technology, which had advanced during World War II. It had two tube-like antennas at the front with a tuner in between, and a bulky loop aerial at the back that looked like a watering can handle. It was designed to pick up broadcasts within a 20-mile radius and promised mobility without extra aerials. The circuitry was hidden in the hat’s lining, connected to an earpiece and a battery charger in the user’s pocket. Though portable radios existed, pocket transistors were still a few years away, so Hoeflich aimed for easy listening on the move. Teenagers modeled the hats in bright colors like Lipstick Red and Canary Yellow.
After appearing in newspapers and magazines, the Radio Hat sold across the U.S. for $7.95. However, its moment in the sun was brief. Users reported poor reception, with frequencies dropping if they simply turned their head, and annoying squealing noises when tuning. Plus, new technology was on the way. The Radio Hat quickly faded from production in the early 1950s, a quirky relic of a bygone era.
What a wild ride through the world of offbeat inventions! From the practical to the plain peculiar, these creations remind us that innovation isn’t always a straight line to success. Sometimes, the most memorable ideas are the ones that make us chuckle or scratch our heads in wonder.
Which of these quirky inventions surprised you the most, or which one do you secretly wish still existed? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
