Nate
It’s hard to count all of the life-changing inventions we use every day. Things that would blow people’s minds 100 years ago. I wish I could go back in time with a lighter just to see the look on a caveman’s face.
People are discussing cheap and mass-produced items that are stupendously well-engineered, and I almost can’t imagine life without some of these.
1.
The humble corrugated cardboard box.
It’s lightweight, strong, splash resistant, somewhat padded, doesn’t break down in heat/cold, scratch-resistant, recyclable, biodegradable, and able to be assembled cheaply into any size.
The basic design has existed for over 150 years. The retail shipping industry runs on cardboard boxes.
2.
The zipper. It’s a very cheap mechanism that secures objects in a very neat fashion. No wonder it’s used in most objects that need to be opened and closed such as luggage and jackets.
3.
Not exactly cheap, but I’m impressed that I can have a ceiling fan run on high for 15 years straight and not have it explode on me.
4.
Toilets.
They use nothing more than gravity to reliably flush. Doesn’t use power at all.
5.
The lighter.
Spontaneously ignite fire basically whenever you want
6.
The transistor.
7.
LEDs.
Cheap diodes. Even colors. Ok, I dislike the blue ones but tint them and you get warm white.
8.
Ball bearings. Even the cheapest ball bearings with the loosest tolerances are still made in the 10~50 micron range of tolerance. It only gets better from there. (Abec spec anyways)
9.
The ballpoint pen, clearly
10.
The aluminium beverage can.
To expand upon this, Guinness wanted to sell their beer in cans but didn’t want to sacrifice the iconic head on their beer. Their solution was a device called a widget. It’s a small sphere filled with nitrogen with a tiny hole in it. Under pressure, the nitrogen stays inside the ball. When the can is opened and the pressure drops the nitrogen escapes, agitates the beer, and creates just the right amount of head.
11.
Batteries are marvels of engineering packed tightly into a miniscule canister, even AA batteries are incredibly sophisticated internally
12.
Glass bottles. Let’s melt this rock into a clear, brittle material and turn it into what? Windows? Decorations? Screens? No, we’re making pressure vessels, baby!
13.
Metal pencil sharpeners (the manual kind, not electric).
Don’t buy the plastic ones in the school supply section. Go to the art section. Those metal sharpeners are CHOICE.
14.
Screws, can you imagine what would happen if all the screws suddenly disappeared from world? Everything would fall apart
15.
Zip ties – such a simple piece of plastic but so versatile. I have one of the old-fashioned chain link fences, some of the fasteners on the middle poles broke, and in high winds, the fence was swaying like crazy. A half dozen zip ties on the three posts and it doesn’t budge and nobody even knows they’re there
— larryb78
16.
Road reflectors – Countless lives saved.
17.
The intermodal shipping container, a/k/a the Connex box. There are millions of the damned things all over the world, in use every single day. They are stackable, can be locked together, attach readily to ships, truck trailer frames, and rail cars, and can bear enormous loads.
The cost of their manufacture compared to their economic use value over their useful lives is next to nothing.
18.
Matches.
Matches are underappreciated because people don’t really understand how complex a match and striker are.
From the Encyclopedia Britannica….
“The head of a match uses antimony trisulfide for fuel. Potassium chlorate helps that fuel burn and is basically the key to ignition, while ammonium phosphate prevents the match from smoking too much when it’s extinguished. Wax helps the flame travel down the matchstick and glue holds all the stuff together. The dye– well, that just makes it look pretty. On the striking surface, there’s powdered glass for friction and red phosphorus to ignite the flame.
Now, the fun stuff– striking a match against the powdered glass on the matchbox creates friction. Heat from this friction converts the red phosphorus into white phosphorus. That white phosphorus is extremely volatile and reacts with oxygen in the air, causing it to ignite. All this heat ignites the potassium chlorate, creating the flame you see here.
Oxidizers, like potassium chlorate, help fuels burn by giving them more oxygen. This oxygen combines with antimony trisulfide to produce a long-lasting flame so you have enough time to light a candle. The whole thing is coated with paraffin wax, which helps the flame travel down the match. Just don’t burn the house down.
As antimony oxidizes, sulfur oxides form, creating that burnt-match scent. The smoke you’re seeing is actually tiny unburned particles resulting from an incomplete combustion. Individually, they’re a little bit too small to see but grouped together, they form smoke. There’s also some water vapor in there.
By the way, all the stuff that we’re explaining in 90 seconds, it all happens within tenths of a second. Chemistry’s fast.”
19.
Qwartz movement clocks, you can literally pick one up for £2.50. The technology and gearing that goes into it’s functions is well worth the costs!
20.
Tarps. A million tasks for them; they’re incredibly versatile. Make a shelter, make a floor, make a carriage vessel, make a weather-proof housing for firewood or anything outdoors you want to be protected. Use it at a picnic; it’s better than a blanket on the ground. Because of the threading, they’re still mostly effective even when a tear develops. And because of that same threading, they can distribute weight and hold up against snow and rain buildup. Then you can just take it down, and spray it with a hose if needed; it’s good as new. Fold it up to a compact form, and toss it in a corner until you need it next. You are never far from a store or gas station that sells them for cheap. Always keep one in your trunk.
21.
Velcro.
22.
Lego. When’s the last time you got two bricks that didn’t fit, or that were loose?
— Torvaun
23.
Tough question, I’d say stainless steel cutlery.
How many other things in life are used almost every day, then machine washed, thrown haphazardly into a drawer & regularly survive in a working condition for much more than a century.
— ramriot
24.
Clothespins/Pegs, the wooden ones. People keep on trying to find some other way to do the job but never come up with something this durable and reliable.
25.
A doorknob and a lock. Not that they don’t have their flaws, but I’d have a hard time making something that works that reliably that frequently.
26.
A red brick
27.
As a new parent…. diapers. Disposable diapers in particular.
Imagine being told as an engineer, that you need to design a device to contain the vilest, grossest materials known to man. Both liquids and goopy solids. This device must have 3 tight seals against a constantly moving and wiggling life form of inconsistent size. Said life form has notoriously delicate skin, so the materials you can use are drastically limited. It must be able to be removed and installed in seconds by amateurs running on approximately 14 minutes of sleep…and it has to cost about 30 cents a unit.
28.
Hard drives. Fucking spinning glass disks that hold terabytes of data.
— BL1860B
29.
Those containers used to store Chinese Food. THey are durable, compact, keep the food hot, and don’t really leak. They also collapse into a plate if you choose too. My favorite thing might be they don’t take up much space in the rubbish bin either. Great product, and must cost less than a cent.
30.
Those thermic isolated cups you see construction workers drinking from, you can’t say Stanley or Yeti is just junk after trying it out.