The Strange Evolution of Everyday Objects

Although humanity hasn’t been around for too long in the grand scheme of things, we certainly have made leaps and bounds when it comes to our ideations and inventions. Throughout time, each idea has been the steppingstone for another expansion of an idea, and it goes on and on.

The first calculator was called the abacus and was a hand operated mechanical calculator that utilized rods and beads. It was created by the Ancient Egyptians around 2000 BC and was used for the next 3600 years.

If you think exercising is torture, this bit of history will make complete sense to you. The “treadwheel” was an “everlasting staircase” created by British engineer Sir William Cubitt in 1818. The idea was to usefully employ convicts by using the treadwheel to generate power for pumping water or grinding, although some served no purpose at all except as torture.

Marriage has been around a long time, with many historians agreeing the first marriage was in 2350 BC.  However, wedding dresses did not become popular until 1804, when Queen Victoria of England married Prince Albert. Wedding dresses in the 1920’s were dropped waisted, and the headdresses extended over the brow. By the 1950’s the dresses were usually white, or cream and the trains were also very long.

References to mouthwash date back to ancient Chinese, Greek, Egyptian, and Roman literature. The most well recorded instanced were in ancient Rome in 1 A.D. The documents show that Roman would buy bottles of Portuguese urine and use is as a rinse.

The first mechanical television was created in 1928 by General Electric and was powered by rapidly spinning wheels. The Octagon Television was produced as an experiment to air the first TV drama, The Queen’s Messenger and had a 3-inch screen.

Sea bathing was fashionable in the 18^th century, though it was proper to keep the skin untouched by the sun by wearing face-shading bonnets, gloves, and shawls. Women would also sew weights into their bathing gowns to keep it from being picked up by the wind and revealing their legs.

In the early 16^th century, Catherine de Medici introduced the iron corset to the French. It was thought that the corset served as a form of protection from assassination, as most attempts were done by knife. During that time, corsets evolved into linen, and for the upper class, they were made from silk, taffeta, and velvet.

Zoos have been a staple of humanity since ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamia. Zoos were created as reserved collections kept by wealthy people to illustrate their power. They were called menageries.

Until the Victorian Era, high heels were historically worn by mostly men, with wealthy women also participating. Heels were worn by ancient Egyptians, medieval Persia, and by 16^th century royalty to appear taller and tower over subordinates.

In Europe, early versions of plates were made from whole wheat bread that was aged for a few days beforehand and then sliced into two three-inch rounds. Afterwards, the plates would be given to the poor or fed to animals. This lasted well into the 16^th century.

While it is difficult to think of a before and after with something so structurally ingrained into our daily lives, there was a time when your average t-shirt wasn’t the norm. Before 1904, men wore buttoned shirts and button shirts often lost their buttons.

Modern day corkscrews are typically leading to something good, but at its conception, corkscrews were modeled after a tool of war. The tool was called a “gun worm” and was a metal claw that was used to clear misfired ammunition from musket barrels.

If you are squeamish skip this tidbit of history. The first chainsaw was pioneered by two Scottish doctors in the 18^th century and was created to assist in difficult childbirth and removal of dead bone. This was prior to the caesarean section existed.

Before Kleenex ended up as the go-to tear wiper and nose-blower, these facial tissues were originally developed to work as disposable gas mask filters during World War One.

Before we were using fertilizer to grow our yards into luscious plots of life, the chemical solution was used as an act of evil and destruction. During World War One, a German physicist named Fritz Haber became known as the “father of chemical warfare.”

In 1816 a French doctor inadvertently invented the stethoscope due to his embarrassment at touching women. At the time, doctors would press their ears to patient’s chest to gauge their heart. However, René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec felt ashamed to put his face so near to women’s chest, so he rolled a large tube of paper to allow him to listen from a distance.

Before the invention of anesthesia, the faster a doctor could perform a surgery, the more highly regarded they were. This was due to patient’s being awake during their surgeries. Oftentimes, patients would be hit unconscious or given copious amounts of opium or alcohol to help them through.

Evidence of razors can be found on the walls of prehistoric people (such as shark teeth and flint knives) and in the 4^th millennium BC in some Egyptian tombs (such as gold or copper razors).

Contraceptives date back to at least 1500 B.C in Egypt, where records indicate women would create a solid paste called pessary that they would insert into themselves before intercourse. The first known form of a condom also came from Egypt and was a goat bladder, dating back to 3000 B.C.

Today, Oneida Limited is a behemoth tableware and cutlery manufacturer and seller and is one of the world’s largest designers and sellers of stainless steel and silver plated cutlery and tableware to boot. However, at its conception, Oneida was a religious commune in New York, founded by a radical utopian philosopher named John Humphrey Noye.

The history of tanks begins in World War One when steel-clad all-terrain vehicles were introduced as a response to the issues brought on by trench warfare. This ushered in mechanized warfare and became a mainstay in ground armies.

A pen, one of humanity’s most important developments. They began in ancient Egypt as hollow tubular marsh grass was filled with writing liquid and evolved to the quill by the 6^th century in Seville, Spain. The quill was made from the feathers of birds and then dipped into ink.

The evolution (and ever-evolving) shower has taken leaps and bounds with its adjustments. Around the 1900’s, the rich invested in washstands and hip baths in the bedroom, but it wasn’t until the 1920’s that showers began to infiltrate middle-class homes within the U.S, particularly in new homes.

The evolution of the typewriter to the modern-day computer is quite amazing. Typewriters are a means to typing characters onto a single piece of paper via an inked ribbon that responds to each key hit.

Though the first gasoline car was invented in May of 1886 by Karl Benz, the concept dates to the 15^th century when Leonardo da Vinci was creating designs and models for transport vehicles.

Video games have had a stellar evolution since their conception in 1952, when a British professor created OXO, a tic-tac-toe game that was a part of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Cambridge.

Humanity has been documenting themselves since ancient times, telling stories and archiving history. One of the first “books” can be found in ancient scrolls which date back to the 4^th millennium BCE and are pictured below.

The original football helmets were called “Circa” helmets and were soft with very thin padding and leather. These late 1800 of course provided very low protection for players. The first plastic helmets did not appear until 1939 and was created by John T. Riddell.

In 1860, a man from Iowa invented a carpet sweeper that would become the predecessor of the vacuum cleaner. It had a rotating brush and bellows which generated suction; however, it was never mass produced.

The origins of teeth cleanliness date back to prehistoric times when humans would use horsehair and twigs to remove particles from in between their teeth. Dental floss wasn’t widely used as a product until the 19^th century when in 1815 a dentist from New Orleans came up with a thin, waxen silk thread to help patients keep their mouth clean.

The invention of plastic was viewed as a miracle in 1907 when Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning that is contained no molecules found in nature. Initially, plastic was to be used for items that were for long term use. However, with the low price point, strength, and durability, it quickly became a widely used product for one time use items.

Ancient Roman scribes used something called a “stylus” (sound familiar?) which was a thin metal rod that left readable marks on papyrus. Other early styluses were made of lead.

Sundials were the first device created and used by mankind to track time. It was first created by the Egyptians and was invented around 100 AD. In 520 AD, the Chinese invented the candle clock, which had a wax candle start at a certain height and melt to a lower height. The idea was that the increments that were melted tracked the time.

The root of personal female pleasure has its origins as a legitimate medical device used by doctors to treat female “hysteria.” The vibrator was invented by male doctors who would use vibrators on women who were deemed “hysterical” (later loosely deemed sexually frustrated).

The first empirically correct map was created Diogo Ribeiro, a Portuguese cartographer who created the first scientific world map in 1527. Ribeiro used empiric latitude observations to trace the world’s coastlines.

Arguably one of the most important inventions in recent history, the internet was not invented by one person alone, it was a collection of ideas built upon each other. Initially, in 1959. it started as a communication network with no central command point meant to control the U/S Air Force fleet if a nuclear attack ever happened.

The first commercially advertised photographic camera was built by Alphonse Giroux in 1839 and allowed people to take pictures in black and white.

The history of balloons has a less…chipper of beginnings than your modern-day birthday balloon. The first balloons were created by the Aztecs using bladders as a way to offer sacrifices to their gods.

Before we had access to essentially every song we desired, civilization had to put forethought into their music experience. Vinyl required the purchase of a record which was stored in a sleeve, putting it on the turntable, adjusting the needle and flipping it on.