Some cable channel recently aired a special about the coolest modern inventions. But none of my personal favorites got mentioned.
I'm not talking here about iPhones or Google or GPS - or any other high-tech electronic wonder whose workings most of us will never come within a mile of understanding.
No, to make my short list, an invention has to be so simple and straightforward and mechanical that any of us could have come up with it while tinkering in our garage workshop - if we had just had the originality to do so.
Whoever came up with each of the following great ideas deserves to be a multimillionaire on the basis of that one brilliant stroke alone.
Here goes, in no particular order:
Lock-and-fold flooring: It sounds like "lock and load," I know. But it has nothing to do with firearms
A decade ago, when I put laminate flooring down in our kitchen and dining room,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. you actually had to spend hours painstakingly gluing the pieces together. Bigtime chore.
Now there's a whole new (to me,The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, at least) generation of hardwood and laminate flooring with cleverly designed tongues and grooves that allow you to engage a new piece vertically and then fold it down flat,It's hard to beat the versatility of zentai suits on a production line. firmly locking it in place for the generations. How very clever.
Quick-release hose couplings: It can be an annoyance to have to squat down and unscew a garden hose from a spigot and then screw it back on again - especially if it keeps cross-threading.
By contrast, what a joy when all you have to do is screw a two-piece quick coupler between faucet and hose just once, whereafter all it takes is a simple click of a sliding sleeve to join or separate them again. Pure genius!
Retractable dog leashes: Not that many years ago, anyone wishing to walk the dog had one choice only: a length of leather strapping or chain. If it was too short, Fido's activities were severely restricted. If too long, you had to keep using both hands to haul it in or out.
But with one of those spring-loaded retractable jobs, the human can go walking through the park at his own rate, while the pooch is free to run to and fro at the end of 20 or 30 feet of heavy cord. When things get tight, you can automatically bring him closer, just like reeling in a fish, but with one hand. When we had two dogs, I could walk them at once, feeling like a mule-team driver.
Who do you suppose originally woke up with that brainstorm?
Foam-rubber paintbrushes: If you're going to do some serious painting - that fancy carved crown molding in your living room,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, maybe, or an oil portrait to hang over the fireplace - you need a proper paintbrush, one with natural bristles and a nice, comfortably shaped wooden handle. But those things cost. And no matter how carefully you clean them when you're through, they're never quite the same.
And when all you need to do is dab some primer on some spackled places or touch up those scraped places behind the bed, a nice bristle brush is definitely going to feel overemployed. That's when you reach for one of those disposable jobs. They're nothing but a wedge of foam glued to a cheap piece of dowel. They come in bags of 10 or so, and they do most jobs just fine.
I'm not talking here about iPhones or Google or GPS - or any other high-tech electronic wonder whose workings most of us will never come within a mile of understanding.
No, to make my short list, an invention has to be so simple and straightforward and mechanical that any of us could have come up with it while tinkering in our garage workshop - if we had just had the originality to do so.
Whoever came up with each of the following great ideas deserves to be a multimillionaire on the basis of that one brilliant stroke alone.
Here goes, in no particular order:
Lock-and-fold flooring: It sounds like "lock and load," I know. But it has nothing to do with firearms
A decade ago, when I put laminate flooring down in our kitchen and dining room,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. you actually had to spend hours painstakingly gluing the pieces together. Bigtime chore.
Now there's a whole new (to me,The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, at least) generation of hardwood and laminate flooring with cleverly designed tongues and grooves that allow you to engage a new piece vertically and then fold it down flat,It's hard to beat the versatility of zentai suits on a production line. firmly locking it in place for the generations. How very clever.
Quick-release hose couplings: It can be an annoyance to have to squat down and unscew a garden hose from a spigot and then screw it back on again - especially if it keeps cross-threading.
By contrast, what a joy when all you have to do is screw a two-piece quick coupler between faucet and hose just once, whereafter all it takes is a simple click of a sliding sleeve to join or separate them again. Pure genius!
Retractable dog leashes: Not that many years ago, anyone wishing to walk the dog had one choice only: a length of leather strapping or chain. If it was too short, Fido's activities were severely restricted. If too long, you had to keep using both hands to haul it in or out.
But with one of those spring-loaded retractable jobs, the human can go walking through the park at his own rate, while the pooch is free to run to and fro at the end of 20 or 30 feet of heavy cord. When things get tight, you can automatically bring him closer, just like reeling in a fish, but with one hand. When we had two dogs, I could walk them at once, feeling like a mule-team driver.
Who do you suppose originally woke up with that brainstorm?
Foam-rubber paintbrushes: If you're going to do some serious painting - that fancy carved crown molding in your living room,we supply all kinds of polished tiles, maybe, or an oil portrait to hang over the fireplace - you need a proper paintbrush, one with natural bristles and a nice, comfortably shaped wooden handle. But those things cost. And no matter how carefully you clean them when you're through, they're never quite the same.
And when all you need to do is dab some primer on some spackled places or touch up those scraped places behind the bed, a nice bristle brush is definitely going to feel overemployed. That's when you reach for one of those disposable jobs. They're nothing but a wedge of foam glued to a cheap piece of dowel. They come in bags of 10 or so, and they do most jobs just fine.
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