Weird Inventions

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WEIRD INVENTIONS
The term invention makes us think about the great in-
ventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Alfred Nobel. But
there are the inventors, who came up with some odd and
weird inventions. Read on to know more about them.
Running Alarm Clock
Gauri Nanda (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
invented “Clocky”, an alarm clock that runs away and hides
if you don’t get out of
bed on time. When
the alarm sounds, you
can snooze one time.
If you still don’t wake
up, Clocky will jump
off of the bedside ta-
ble and wheel away,
bumping into objects
until he finds a spot to
rest. You’ll have to get
up to silence his alarm. Clocky will find new spots everyday,
kind of like a hide-and-seek game.
Anti-Smoking Hat
Can you ever imagine a hat that can prevent smoking?
The answer lies in this weird invention called ‘anti-smok-
ing hat’, which makes it impossible for a person to smoke
while wearing that hat. The mechanism works like this: a
small container with dense and non-toxic foam is attached
to the inner side of the hat. The brim of the hat has a spray
container, which is connected to the container and a sen-
sor that can detect heat or smoke. Whenever the person
who is wearing a hat starts smoking, the sensor detects it,
sends a signal and the foam inside the cylinder gets sprayed
on the cigarette.
Cup Lock
Are you tired of others stealing your coffee cup? At last,
this new Cup
Lock will solve
your problems!
Just unplug the
cup key when
you leave your
cup alone, and
nobody el s e
will be able to
use it!
Metal Detecting Footwear
You might have heard of metal detectors, which are
used for finding traces of metal in soil, sand, wood and a
wide range of other substances. This tool is used in various
spheres like security checking, treasure hunting etc. Even
food industries make use of metal detectors while checking
for metal traces in their packed foods. If you are interested
in metal detectors, forget about the conventional ones,
which are not easy to carry. You can go for metal detecting
sandals, which can be worn while you walk. This weird
invention looks like ordinary sandals, but is attached to
a small black box, which can be tied around one of the
legs. The sandal, which is attached to the black box, has a
built-in copper coil that can detect the presence of metal
within a range of two feet and produce a buzzing sound or
flashing lights. You can get a pair of these metal detecting
sandals of your size and go for treasure hunting too.
Nail Clock
Cool Straw Lips
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The Weight Watch Belt
Shower Mic
Penguin Tea Timer
Making tea is easy to do,
but it also deals with time.
Place your tea cup under the
beak and set it to the desired
time. As you turn the timer
dial, the beak lowers the tea
bag into the hot water.
When time is up, a
bell sounds and the
penguin au-
tomatically
lifts his beak,
removing the
tea bag from
the water.
Pillow Wig
This weird invention is for those who look forward to a
nap but fail to do so as they need the comfort of their bed
for sleep. It is not possible for such people to carry their
bed and pillow to public places. So, pillow wigs can be
the perfect solution for them. It is nothing but a wig made
of a pillow. The user can wear it as a wig and enjoy it as a
pillow too. According to the inventor (Joon Youn Park)
of this weird invention called ‘pillow wig’, this product
enables the user to sleep or rest comfortably at any time
or place.
Fish ‘n Flush!
Goldfish die and then what
happens next? You flush them
down the toilet! The Fish ‘n Flush
is a toilet aquarium kit that
turns your toilet into a
model of the Great Bar-
rier Reef,complete with
colourful fish and bub-
bling treasure chests.
Finding Nemo has never
been easier. The poor fish! Im-
agine what views they have to
watch every day.
Pierced Glasses
Anyone who wears glasses knows that the earpiece that
holds your glasses on your head can be annoying and, on
a bad day, causes headaches. The earpieces have to be
tight enough to hold your glasses on and loose enough to
be comfortable.
Some fearless inventors discovered a new way to hang
eyeglasses on your face – by using body piercing studs.
That’s right… pierce your face, hang your glasses! Finally,
piercing gets practical!
Discussing some of the weird inventions we must not
forget the Japanese who have made a huge contribution to
this field. There are numerous Japanese weird inventions
and the following are some of them.
Chindōgu is the Japanese art of inventing
ingenious everyday gadgets that, on the face
of it, seem like an ideal solution to a particular
problem. The Japanese are famous for their
crazy inventions. Probably these products
aren’t used by anyone except the inventors
themselves.
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Other weird inventions include a chopstick fan, which
is nothing other than ordinary chopsticks attached with
small fans so as to cool the food; a subway hat for relax-
ing your head while travelling on the subway; an umbrella
tube, which is an umbrella that has extensions to cover the
whole body of the user.
Kenji Kawakami is one of the most famous inventor of
strange and funny, sometimes even absurd inventions.
Now you have a basic idea about some of the weird
inventions till date. While most of them are considered
funny or absurd, there are some that are accepted and
found to be useful. If you are interested in knowing more
about wacky and crazy inventions, then conduct a research
and explore the world of inventions. You can also add up
to the list of these weird inventions by contributing some
unique and strange inventions of your own.
From the Internet resources,
http://planetoddity.com/tag/weird-inventions,
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/weird-inventions.html,
compiled by Anna LIASHEVSKA
Glossary:
come up – з’являтися;
odd, weird /wIqd/ – дивний;
snooze – дрімати;
bump into – натикатися;
dense – густий;
foam – піна;
be attached to – бути прикріпленим до;
brim – криси капелюха;
conventional /kqnveSq`nl/ – звичайний, тра-
диційний;
copper coil – мідна котушка;
straw /strL/ – соломинка для напоїв;
weight – вага;
beak – дзьоб;
pillow – подушка;
wig – перука;
nap – полуденний сон;
flush – змивати;
kit – комплект, набір;
tight – щільний;
loose – нетугий;
stud – цвяшок для пірсингу;
ingenious /In`dZi:njqs/ – оригінальний;
gadget /`gx GIt/ – пристрій, технічна но-
винка;
chopstick – паличка, що править за виделку;
fan – вентилятор, віяло;
extension – розширення, подовження;
wacky – ексцентричний, з дивацтвом
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