Inventions

[Nandragon]

What would you say is the best invention of all time?

I was watching "Manor House" on GPTV last night. In the 1920's, before refrigeration, ppl used an ice house. Ice was shipped from cold climates at a price and stored in tiled rooms. Meat spoiled and rodents ate what they wanted.

My vote is for the refrigerator. Think of it....cold beer, ice cubes, longer lasting produce and meats.

[Bostonmess]

The wheel :)

Incidentally if you invented something yourself and thought it had potential to make money, how would you go about it in the cheapest possible way?

[Nandragon]

Wouldn't cost be relevant to the invention?

[Bostonmess]

Yeah it would be if you built it yourself. I'm on about not paying loads to get it patented but just suggesting it a company for them to build. How would you go about covering your back so they don't say "It's a load of bollox" and then rip you off?

[Asmodeus]

Greatest invention.. hmm..

possibly, the microscope. its opened whole new fields of research and benefit for everyone.

other than that, possibly the concept of the number 0, general math, or the spell checker.

[Bostonmess]

The can or the bottle? Especially if it's got beer in it :)

[Nandragon]

Come on Asmo, the microscope?
Is it better than paper, post its or the refrigerator? And might I add that without refrigeration there would be no airconditioning.

[Asmodeus]

to bring it a bit wider, the lens in general. besides teh microscope, also the telescope.

of course, if you want the grandaddy of all inventions, it woul dhave been teh technology to create fire, since that drove everything back then.

[nukie]

i'd have to go with steel cable, cause earlier last century, buildings couldn't be built past a few stories. having a building product like steel cables allowed elevators to go much higher, and thus they paved the way for the modern highrise buildings.

[Bostonmess]

Originally posted by Asmodeus
to bring it a bit wider, the lens in general.

Was that an invention or a rip off? I imagine it was a rip off?

[Nandragon]

I think GOD created fire. Man just picked up on it.

How do you think that went? Bunch of hairy, smelly pea-brained homosapeins grunting around a burning tree?

[Bostonmess]

I think Asmo was getting at the flint tools or sticks/whatever used to create a spark/friction to get the fire.

They reckon originally it was a bit of a bitch because they didn't have the capability to make fire, just to find it and use it. Then they worked out how to make it happen. So they reckon sort of thing maybe?

[thingy]

Unless it was said with a typo, nobody has said this yet.

SLICED BREAD

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by Bostonmess
Was that an invention or a rip off? I imagine it was a rip off?

it had to be invented at some point, now didnt it?

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by thingy
Unless it was said with a typo, nobody has said this yet.

SLICED BREAD

yeah, so what was teh best thing since before sliced bread.. probably the fire used to bake it ;)

[Bostonmess]

Originally posted by Asmodeus
it had to be invented at some point, now didnt it?

Yeah, but I mean, did they get the idea from the eyeball?

[CMYK]

I think GOD created fire. Please don't bring God into it.

Two inventions that had a great impact on humanity are penicillin (more a discovery than an invention) and the oral contraceptive pill. We'd be in a right mess without them.

The eludication of the germ theory of disease also greatly aided the development of cities and, indirectly, industrialisation.

Refrigeration is no great shakes because there have been methods to preserve meat and other foodstuffs from spoiling for centuries.

[Spingo]

Best invention? Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Without it, we would not have teh puters we are addicted to each day.

And this bum on the train was trying to impress me with his invention - a scooter with car radio... I'll elaborate more later, as I'm heading to work now :D

[CMYK]

I just thought of a few more:

Buttons

The loom

Agriculture

Windscreen wipers

[wolfpac181]

Computers, and Pornography.

[beowulf437]

The two piece tool. When some one figured out you could put a handle on something things really took off.

[Al]

How do you people get to work today?

Do you use a combustion engine????

Best invention is the motorbike / car / plane. Transport basically, without which our world would not function.

[mrwest]

I had a Time magazine a while back with their opinion on top 100. A few I can remember are the printing press, the contraceptive pill, computers, gunpowder, the internet, and penicillin.

I reckon harnessing electricity was a pretty big one, but it's more of a discovery than an invention. It's allowed us to do all sorts of stuff.

[DrDivad]

hmmm teh lens, teh legal system or something like plastic,...i'm undecided

[scathing]

I'd say either irrigation, since its the invention that changed humanity from nomadic hunter gatherers to a sedentary civilisation, or being able to create fire from raw materials (for the reasons given before).

[ersatz]

soap

[AVataRR]

I'd say the printing press is the most important invention ever. It allowed ideas to flow faster and freer leading to all sorts of other things - political change, open dialouge about ideas, other inventions, news and entertainment!!!@##!@@

Really, as historical records state, people had wonderful ideas ever since Egypt, but it was all too easy to snuff things out if someone powerful didn't agree. All that changed with the printing press.

[huwbacca]

id have to go with the refrigerator and cars/planes as the best inventions.

and the worst invention would prolly be the gun. causes so many problems.

[Maestro]

Writing. Without it, inventions are limited to word of mouth. Followed by the printing press that allowed ideas to be spread, and then the technological gadgets and doohickeys that do that job today.

I dunno that language is really an invention in itself, but writing would have to be.

[katana]

You have to differenciate between a discovery and an invention.

Fire,electricity and penicillin were discoveries,being able to reproduce them are adaptations.

The Aust institute of architects held a survey to find out what the most usefull and widly used invention/design of the 20th centuary was and the overwhelming vote was the humble milk crate.

But the two greatest inventions which have helped man become who we are now are refrigeration and the printing press. With refrigeration we can keep food longer and keep medicines longer. There is a debate as to whether African tribes or Inca's invented it in the first place( The Africans had a two clay pot system which would keep food for a period of time and the inca's had cooled rooms in their houses) Air conditioning has been around since Roman times. Another wonderful invention of theirs was sanitary sewarage systems,something which the Europeans took a long time to catch onto hence plagues and other nasty things like that.

As said before the printing press allowed ideas to spread rapidly and increased discovery by the amount of information that could be shared in a smaller amount of time.

[scathing]

Originally posted by katana
You have to differenciate between a discovery and an invention.

Fire,electricity and penicillin were discoveries,being able to reproduce them are adaptations.


Would you class the items used for on-demand creation of fire (whether it be using a lighter, or some sticks, or flint) to be an invention?

I wrestled with that when I made my post, but eventually if you're talking about using tools to create fire, then it becomes an invention.

[Asmodeus]

Originally posted by Bostonmess
Yeah, but I mean, did they get the idea from the eyeball?

I'm not sure, I'll have to research it. I think there was something flating around before that someone had a drinking glass and when holding it up to the light, the fluid and glass was concentrating teh light, or some such.

[Nandragon]

I can't believe that no one has said tampons or kotex

[utopian]

Originally posted by Nandragon
I can't believe that no one has said tampons or kotex
I can't believe how many guys are on this forum and don't think about tampons and kotex.

[Asmodeus]

I think I know the answer, a person whom all guys would want to walk up to, shake that persons hand and say good job..

the invention? The Blowjob.

[KrisEz]

I would have to say Guns were the best invention ever.

if you think about it, If you have a gun, you can acquire almost anything else in the world
including asmodeus' fav

[Tintin]

Glass has been a pretty good one. Hot damn that stuff is everywhere!

Windows (let in light, keep out weather)
CRT (computer screens/TV)
Bottles/crockery
Lenses (eyeglasses, microscopes, telescopes, handy ignition source)
Electronic valves/vacuum tubes
Art (crystal glass, stained glass)
Probably heaps of other obvious things I can't think of right now.

[Nandragon]

Plastic

Look how it started and where it will go

http://www.americanplasticscouncil.org/benefits/about_plastics/history.html?src=over

[rickbitch]

Most of the things that people are saying are discoveries. Take fire for example. It was around before man discovered how to make it...... then, during a tool building session someone struck a couple of bits of rock together and burnt their pubic hairs.

Glass would also be discovery. Someone accidently heated a chunk of sand, and bingo!

Most of these things, like penicilan were an accident, and things have been improved upon since then.

The best inventions would have to be the wheel, the steam engine (and later the internal combustion engine) the battery, and the generator. Without any of these, civilisation would not exists as we know it. The wheel improved farming and hunting, as people could carry more food. It also increased trading amongst not only local settlements, but others as well. As for the battery and generator, the generator, along with the engine made the electricity, and the battery stored it.

[KrisEz]

im just posting again

[Nandragon]

Rick,

Natural glass has existed since the beginnings of time, formed when certain types of rocks melt as a result of high-temperature phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, lightning strikes or the impact of meteorites, and then cool and solidify rapidly. Stone-age man is believed to have used cutting tools made of obsidian (a natural glass of volcanic origin also known as hyalopsite, Iceland agate, or mountain mahogany) and tektites (naturally-formed glasses of extraterrestrial or other origin, also referred to as obsidianites).

According to the ancient-Roman historian Pliny (AD 23-79), Phoenician merchants transporting stone actually discovered glass (or rather became aware of its existence accidentally) in the region of Syria around 5000 BC. Pliny tells how the merchants, after landing, rested cooking pots on blocks of nitrate placed by their fire. With the intense heat of the fire, the blocks eventually melted and mixed with the sand of the beach to form an opaque liquid.

The earliest man-made glass objects, mainly non-transparent glass beads, are thought to date back to around 3500 BC, with finds in Egypt and Eastern Mesopotamia. In the third millennium, in central Mesopotamia, the basic raw materials of glass were being used principally to produce glazes on pots and vases. The discovery may have been coincidental, with calciferous sand finding its way into an overheated kiln and combining with soda to form a coloured glaze on the ceramics. It was then, above all, Phoenician merchants and sailors who spread this new art along the coasts of the Mediterranean.

The first glassmaking "manual" dates back to around 650 BC. Instructions on how to make glass are contained in tablets from the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669-626 BC).

A major breakthrough in glassmaking was the discovery of glassblowing some time between 27 BC and AD 14, attributed to Syrian craftsmen from the Sidon-Babylon area. The long thin metal tube used in the blowing process has changed very little since then. In the last century BC, the ancient Romans then began blowing glass inside moulds, greatly increasing the variety of shapes possible for hollow glass items.

http://www.glassonline.com/history.html

[mrwest]

Originally posted by rickbishop
The best inventions would have to be the wheel...
The wheel could be seen as a discovery. Some caveman (sorry, caveperson ;) ) sees a round rock rolling down a hill and catches on to the idea. Logs were also used as makeshift wheels to move large objects.

Would it be fair to say that an invention is a device that harnesses a discovery?

[kré]

teh intarweb!~~

[Deimos]

Originally posted by CMYK

Two inventions that had a great impact on humanity are penicillin (more a discovery than an invention) and the oral contraceptive pill. We'd be in a right mess without them.


When you think about it: penicillin stops people from dying and the pill stops them from being born so without them we'd probaby be just as well off...

Note: I am not actually being totally serious here, it's just an abstract thought designed to provoke further thought so please don't hound me with retorts.

[scathing]

Originally posted by Deimos
Note: I am not actually being totally serious here, it's just an abstract thought designed to provoke further thought so please don't hound me with retorts.

Don't apologise for a comment where the tone (and hence meaning) should be pretty obvious to anyone with at least two working braincells......it shouldn't be necessary, and it takes away from its ability to provoke further thought and discussion. :)


Then again, given some people here, being so explicit about what you actually mean might be necessary........... :(

[mysterious-dr-x]

cling film, i always wanted to know who invented that.

fire, more of a discovery rather than an invention i spose tho

[mrwest]

Originally posted by mysterious-dr-x
cling film, i always wanted to know who invented that.

fire, more of a discovery rather than an invention i spose tho
It's was an accidental discovery.

"In 1933, Ralph Wiley, a Dow Chemical lab worker, accidentally discovered polyvinylidene chloride or Saran. Saran films are best known in the form of Saran Wrap®. Introduced by the Dow Chemical Company, it was the first cling wrap designed for household (1953) and commercial use (1949)."

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsaranwrap.htm

[sortius]

Myself I would say language was the greatest invention ever... it's a useful tool and a powerful weapon.

respect to the languages...

[pleed]

I would say that hipsters, mini skirts, wonder bras and g-strings are the best inventions ever.

[utopian]

Originally posted by pleed
I would say that hipsters, mini skirts, wonder bras and g-strings are the best inventions ever.
Can't say I've ever tried them, are they comfortable?

[Nandragon]

Who in their right mind would ever think that a string up their arse was a good idea!?

[mysterious-dr-x]

Originally posted by mrwest
It's was an accidental discovery.

"In 1933, Ralph Wiley, a Dow Chemical lab worker, accidentally discovered polyvinylidene chloride or Saran. Saran films are best known in the form of Saran Wrap®. Introduced by the Dow Chemical Company, it was the first cling wrap designed for household (1953) and commercial use (1949)."

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsaranwrap.htm


wow! ur the fount of all knowledge!

[RaZ]

Originally posted by big al
Do you use a combustion engine????
Best invention is the motorbike / car / plane. Transport basically, without which our world would not function.


For a best invention I would have to disagree, they have caused a lot of damage to our enviroment, don't get me wrong I love bikes & cars, but I don't think they are the best invention.

I vote for the Home stove :)

[Ado]

How about the wise cavedude who got sick of his old fellow getting in the way when hunting. And of course he wouldn't want the cold getting to it, or he would have to influence the lady's mind with something else... a mind altering substance maybe...his club..:D

You wouldn't be the person you are today without clothes. Would the human race have survived the ice age without them???

Imagine a world without clothes.... Both a very pleasant and scary thought..:D :eek:

[Bostonmess]

Glow in the dark toilet seat:

http://www.extremeglow.com/toilet_seat.htm

[shawnbgood]

in my eyes the best invention ever was good food
not good food like chips and soda or even hotdogs and hamburgers
i mean the super good food you might find in a nice restaurant for $30 a plate
mmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
im hungry

[Drakin]

How about Ug?

Ug was the first man to strap a sharp stone to a stick to be used for stabbing prey with.

Thats right SPEAR! Ability to hunt larger more dangerous food, with more ease. Thus we have the need for a refrigerator and wheel (drive thru mammoth).

(Drakin picks up a spear and goes to westfield parramatta for lunch)

(Drakin wishes he had a spear to go to westfields for lunch with)

[frednurk]

NYLON!

Fishing line and ---

Nylon stockings!

[alcor]

The Camera.
The Bicycle.

and (fingers crossed)

The Giant Fighting Robot

[jmello]

bricks are always nice to have..

structures, and a weapon of last resort

if it weren't for brick, we'd still have wooden structures, and every time some dumb guy tipped over his lantern, the whole city would go up in flames.. not a good thing

and don't say that we'd have metal, or glass, or anything that requres heat, because the kilns would not exist, or at least not be very efficient

s'mores would be a good invention, for when your town's burning down..

[utopian]

Instant Photography. Big step forward, it meant that we didn't have to go to developers and leave the film there for a few days. Also 1 Hour developing for those who didn't own a Polaroid SX-70.

[flounder]

As someone who spends a lot of time at sea,I would say the Global Positioning System (GPS). It's saved my arse a few times on cold nights.

[BlueBoy]

Originally posted by alcor

and (fingers crossed)

The Giant Fighting Robot

Just waiting for the pre-order announcement :p

Best invention: Post-Its

[berserk]

Since the wheel or fire aren't inventions, what about God (deity, divinity, etc)?

[dredz]

the best invention: Ritalin.
good day.

[lb_james]

zgeek.

[Bostonmess]

Charles Bolta has a bright idea -- a light bulb that keeps on glowing even after the power goes out. Just the thing for a blackout, a coal mine or a submarine.

Bolta says the figurative light bulb went on in his head after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Coincidentally, he was ready to start his marketing campaign just as the lights went out across much of the Northeast a couple weeks ago. Bolta says his "Glow-Lux (http://glolux.com/)" fluorescent tubes are coated with the same stuff that causes the stick-on stars to glow on a kid's bedroom ceiling.

The light they give off is not enough to read by, but it's bright enough to show the way to an emergency exit. They bulbs are fully charged after 15 minutes of use.

Even if the tube is shattered, the pieces would continue to glow.

The inventor said his "Glow Lux" fluorescent tubes will sell for about $10 more than the regular variety.

[utopian]

That's just stupid. I'd much rather just put a capacitor in parallel with the bulb, so that it charges slowly and stores the charge so you can use it when the battery dies. Sure, this is essentially having the battery "die" "prematurely", but I think it'd be worth it. Although you'd need resistors in there in order to make it discharge over a longer time, it couldn't hurt to try that instead of fluorescent paint.

[Bostonmess]

You could just have an area where the wall/ceiling is, coated in flourecent stuff? I bet that would be a lot cheaper and easier than capacitors etc? Ok, probably wouldn't be as effective, but they could look into it. Personally I thought it was a good idea.

[rosamund]

Originally posted by thingy
Unless it was said with a typo, nobody has said this yet.

SLICED BREAD

Dunno if any of you have seen Armstrong and Miller, but here goes..:

"Your invention is ingenious, Lord Sliced Bread, what shall you name it?"

"I say, it's the greatest thing since... it's the greatest thing!" :p

[utopian]

Originally posted by Bostonmess
You could just have an area where the wall/ceiling is, coated in flourecent stuff?
I thought we were talking about light bulbs.

Sure, you could do that, but that hardly seems like a workable idea. You'd have to have a lot of paint to hold a lot of energy to be released as light. I thought the idea that the guy came up with was to have a temporary source of light after the battery on the torch runs out (or to have a short term torch that requires no batteries), not a permanent paint to light a room.

[Bostonmess]

I confess I haven't really read the article. I was under the impression he was on about ordinary lightbulbs, like in the home. The site that the name links to mentions something about him coming up with the idea after 9/11. I suppose with all the dust in the air it wouldn't have been much good.

I just thought about taking it a bit further and instead of just having bulbs, the walls/ceilings/lamp shade could be flourescent. Obviously I'm not on about painting the whole room in flourescent paint, just enough to get the job done. If in fact it will.

See, maybe we could make loads of money by ripping his idea off. Not actually using the bulbs as the flourescent source but the shade/or another object? :D

[Nandragon]

In room number 1 we have capacitor bulbs
In room number 2 we have flourescent painted blulbs

power goes out after ppl are killed off by biochemical agenst.
months even years later....

room number 1 no light at all
room number 2....well flourescent paint also picks up "light" from natural sun light...this will keep it working for up to 2 hours after dark.
(my daughter has the damn glow in the dark stars, smilies and hogwartz things all over her bedroom)

the article even stated the light bulbs would glow in the dark after they were broken.

[mysterious-dr-x]

Originally posted by utopian
I thought we were talking about light bulbs.

Sure, you could do that, but that hardly seems like a workable idea. You'd have to have a lot of paint to hold a lot of energy to be released as light. I thought the idea that the guy came up with was to have a temporary source of light after the battery on the torch runs out (or to have a short term torch that requires no batteries), not a permanent paint to light a room.

i thought the point wasnt to actually light the place, just to cause a bit of a glow so that you dont walk into things in the dark.

& nans right, they glow for hours! i have nail varnish that glows in the dark, quite cool.

[Bostonmess]

Originally posted by mysterious-dr-x
& nans right, they glow for hours! i have nail varnish that glows in the dark, quite cool.


I have some balls that do :eek:

[utopian]

The fluorescent paint absorbs energy for 15 minutes and then it's fully charged. If you want to look at it in a more accurate way, the paint will emit light as soon as it starts absorbing the energy. It will only be emitting a small amount of light in the early stages (partially charged immediately when turned on) and you won't really see the emitted light when the light is turned on, as it is significantly dimmer than the bulb's powered light. So it's not "fully charged" after 15 minutes, it's just absorbing energy at the same rate that it's emitting it.

So when the bulb is on, it is emitting light that is generated by power, as well as light that is emitted by the energy storing paint. When the power is turned off, it continues to emit the light but is not absorbing any energy.

At this point, I feel it's relevant to explain part of what light is. Firstly, an atom can be thought of as a ball (filled with smaller balls) that has tiny little balls flying around it in set orbitals. As you add energy to the atom, electrons (tiny balls) get bumped further away from the nucleus (the main ball) and hold the energy. As time goes on, the electrons come down from their elevated states into their regular states. As this happens, they emit a "photon" (the basic particle of light (yes, I'm aware that light is both particular and wave-like in form for all of you science geeks out there)) which we see as visible light.

So the material in the bulb is constantly emitting and absorbing energy when the light is connected to a power source. This is pretty inefficient as far as storage devices go. Would you use a bucket that you constantly had to keep topping up because of a few holes in the bottom and sides?

[mysterious-dr-x]

Originally posted by Bostonmess
I have some balls that do :eek:

o yeah;)

[Nandragon]

He keeps teasing us doesn't he.

Thanks for the molecular whathefarkever.

The Flourescent bulb would work years after, irregardless of "how" it worked, longer than the darn capacitor you suggested.


On the lines of inventions....Who invented the first dildo? And why? You know it wasn't a woman..at least I suspect it wasn't.

[utopian]

Originally posted by Nandragon
The Flourescent bulb would work years after, irregardless of "how" it worked, longer than the darn capacitor you suggested.
Why? Can you prove that?

[Nandragon]

Originally posted by Nandragon
In room number 1 we have capacitor bulbs
In room number 2 we have flourescent painted blulbs

power goes out after ppl are killed off by biochemical agenst.
months even years later....

room number 1 no light at all
room number 2....well flourescent paint also picks up "light" from natural sun light...this will keep it working for up to 2 hours after dark.
(my daughter has the damn glow in the dark stars, smilies and hogwartz things all over her bedroom)

the article even stated the light bulbs would glow in the dark after they were broken.

How many times can u charge a capacitor without electricity?

[utopian]

Oh, silly me. I thought we were talking about an emergency light for a second, not a permanent fixture designed to operate without using electricity. It's a good thing that "Glow-Lux" thing works without electricity, though, isn't it? Oh wait, it does use electricity. I'd like to see the sun energising it when it's in the shadow of another building, or in a room with no windows.

[Spotgun]

http://www.sextoys.net.cn/history.phtml <-- seems like the greeks invented the dildo.

How about combining emergency lighting and pleasure and make a flourescent dildo? Oh well, it might seem a bit odd to have it hangin' from the ceiling, but what the heck...

[utopian]

In year 10, my best friend and I were sitting on his sister's bed using the computer in her room. I accidentally dropped a pen down the side of her bed and decided to search for it. I was very surprised when I discovered her dildo wedged between the bed and the wall.

[mysterious-dr-x]

Originally posted by utopian
In year 10, my best friend and I found his sister's dildo. We'd dropped a pen down the back of her bed while sitting on it to use the computer (it was in her bedroom) and I decided to try and find it.

for a minute there i thought you meant you sat on the dildo using the computer, i was very confused.

[Bostonmess]

Ohh. Good job you explained that Doc :)

[Asmodeus]

I read it as he was sitting on teh pen someow :)

[Nandragon]

I have *cough* seen a glow in the dark dildo!


I want to know how Utop got his self caught inbetween the bed and the wall in the first place!:p

[utopian]

Originally posted by Nandragon
I want to know how Utop got his self caught inbetween the bed and the wall in the first place!:p
I put my arm down the side to retrieve a pen.

READ -> COMPREHEND -> POST

Edit: yes, I'm aware of what you're saying, but I think verbally abusing you is more rewarding than anything else I could be saying.