Imagup General Magazine 2024
Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Leonardo Da Vinci… These are only three famous inventors whose creations helped shape the world we know today. Inventors are often remembered for the masterpieces they made, however, there are some of their creations that were, well, less amazing than their previous ones. If you are interested in learning about creations that went wrong, especially the ones that came from really famous people, you might find this article to be quite helpful. Let’s take a look at the not-so-successful designs:
1. “The Edison Doll”, Invented By Thomas Edison
Edison has over 2.500 patents connected to his name – which means that it is completely natural that this prolific person created a few flops over the course of his career. Edison, who is the person behind both the camera and the light bulb, chose to manufacture a speaking doll for kids.
The toy depended on a phonograph – which is another of Thomas’ creations – being worked at a precise speed, which in return imitated a voice. Naturally, it was unmanageable for kids to run a phonograph properly, and instead of producing a calm voice, it produced a devilish scream.
2. “Shoes For Walking on Water”, Invented By Leonardo Da Vinci
Da Vinci is the painter of “Mona Lisa”, but, he also contributed a lot to the science, art, and literature fields, which makes him one of the planet’s human Geniuses. Some of the ideas that this incredible person though of include various musical instruments, a wide range of pumps, a steam cannon – but, he also created something called “water walking shoes”.
He designed the footwear to aid the army with invading vessels and canals, and they were basically large inflatable floats that were fastened each foot. By following Leonardo’s design, scientists today tried to create these shoes, but, once they were made, they found that it was unlikely to balance on them. And even when people manage to balance on them, they could not walk at all.
2. “A Vocabulary For Dogs”, Invented By Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander’s father was a famous elocutionist, which means that he grew up in an environment that revolved around the theories of articulation and tones. In fact, his dad was the person who created a technique for helping kids pronounce words properly! When Bell was twenty, he wanted to teach his dog to speak – which resulted in him creating a dog vocabulary.
Of course, this did not go so well, especially since the dog did not want to participate in the learning sessions, hence, he never managed to actually finish the vocabulary. Now, if you have an idea that is better than this one, you might want to read some tips and tricks about how you can realize that idea. And, if you want some help, you can check out InventHelp for more info.
4. “A Crotchless Bee Suit”, Invented By Benjamin Franklin
Franklin is the founding father of America, and he was the person behind the bifocals and the lightning rod. However, he is also accountable for the worst creations ever – a crotchless bee outfit. Benjamin was an avid beekeeper and naturally, he determined to make his own bee outfit.
But, there was one thing he was quite worried about – if the suit was a one-piece, how will he go to the bathroom? That is when he decided to make a crotch-less suit. So, although he could go to the bathroom in it, he quickly realized that the suit is not good at protecting his lower regions.
5. “The Earthquake Machine”, Invented By Nikola Tesla
Nikola was far ahead of his time and his brain created some of the most astonishing theories and tech such as x-rays, robots, as well as wireless energy transfer! However, he did create some things that were, a bit, unsettling. One of them was a machine that could replicate and cause the full impacts of a real earthquake.
When he first tried the machine, it almost caused his whole building to collapse, which is probably when he realized that the device was extremely dangerous for the entire world. Thankfully, he chose to destroy the prototype, as well as the entire design papers and concepts.
6. “A Mini TV”, Invented By Clive Sinclair
During the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Clive was the most popular and known name in the realm of electronics, creating various things including the calculator, as well as the first house PC in Britain. Unfortunately, his mini television sets that were released during 1977 were total duds.
The controls were impossible to press, the screens were really small, and the reception was simply terrible. Additionally, the TV sets were not tiny enough to fit in any pocket, hence, people did not like the idea of carrying medium-sized black bricks that constantly emitted white noise and static sounds.
7. “Concrete Houses”, Invented By Thomas Edison
Thomas had more than one terrible invention, and this one was extremely unlucky for him. During 1917, he constructed 11 homes entirely made out of concrete. Now, when we say entirely, we truly mean entirely. Edison built concrete furniture, pianos, and beds in the homes. His idea was that concrete homes can solve the housing crisis since it is a very cheap material.
People, of course, did not like the idea of sitting and sleeping on concrete furniture, hence, this is probably the main reason why he never managed to sell a single concrete home. Once he realized that he’ll never sell the homes, he gave up on his idea and never revisited it again.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are various famous inventors who actually managed to create some of the worst inventions in the world! Now, if you have an idea that you want to realize, there are two things that you should remember. First, your idea cannot possibly be worse than some of the things mentioned above, and second, believe in yourself as these people did, you never know what can come out from your idea.
