Thursday - August 14, 2008

The Sat-Nav wristwatch from 1920.  Who would have thought. There really isn’t anything new.

THIS STORY REMINDS ME OF MY DAYS IN NASHVILLE, WORKING WITH WRITERS AND MUSICIANS AND THE OLD SAYING, “THERE’S NOTHING NEW.”

It contains no temperamental microchips and would never send a lorry truck down a bike track.

By Nick Allen
Last Updated: 4:16PM BST 14 Aug 2008

Invented in 1920 the original Sat-Nav wristwatch relied instead on good old fashioned paper maps wound around wooden rollers.
It was intended to allow drivers to navigate around the UK but with so few cars on the roads the invention never really took off.

Now consigned to the scrap heap of history the watch is one of many gadgets patented by inventors looking to strike it rich with their bizarre contraptions.
Fifty of the labour saving devices, all conceived between 1851 and 1951, have been collected by author Maurice Collins.
They are on show as part of the British Library’s Weird and Wonderful Inventions Display.

Many of them reflect the inventive spirit of the Victorian era and embraced new technology to make every day tasks easier.
They include a mechanical page turner from 1890, a two-handled self-pouring teapot from 1886 and a whisky bottle lock patented in 1882 which was designed to stop servants pilfering the drink.
There were also self-lighting matches and “Go no further” honeymoon garters.

Other potentially ingenious, but ultimately futile, inventions included a clockwork burglar alarm from 1852, a grenade that puts out fires from 1890 and an automatic nose hair cutter from 1920.

In 1940, as the Blitz began, one budding inventor was more worried about patenting his new beer can hole maker. Needless to say his creation did not make a him a millionaire.

http://tinyurl.com/6quzpd

Posted by Drew458     on 08/14/2008 at 10:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Science-Technology • UK •  
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