26 Inventions With Absolutely Wild Origin Stories
![26 Inventions With Absolutely Wild Origin Stories](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/8/9/812889_320x180.jpg)
Inventions are a part of everyday life. From the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed, we use inventions. Sometimes, it's hard to imagine living without them. Some inventions are so simple that you wonder why they weren't thought of before. Take the wheel, for example. It's such a basic concept, and yet it completely changed the way we transport goods and people. Then there are inventions that are so complex that you can't even imagine how they were created in the first place. The airplane is a perfect example of this. In both cases, these inventions have made our lives easier and more comfortable. We use them every day without even thinking about it.
A lot of inventions have some pretty wild stories behind their creation. Sometimes inventions end up having a completely different use than what was originally planned, and sometimes, two people invent basically the same thing in the same time frame. Today we'll take a look at 26 inventions and the crazy stories behind their origin:
![GRACKED COM THE MUUMUU WAS INVENTED TO SHAME HAWAIIAN WOMEN. When Christian missionaries arrived in Hawaii in the 1820s, the first thing they did was convince women to cover up their impiously exposed bodies. The loose-fitting mu' 'umu' и was originally worn under a dress called a holokü, but it eventually took over as a casual garment.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/6/812916.jpg)
Everyday Objects That Started Out As Something Else Entirely
![Horseless death-machines were so scary back in the 1800s, that England had a law requiring someone to carry a red flag in front of them at all times CRACKED.COM when they were driven. The law was revoked shortly after people realized it totally defeated the purpose of driving.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/5/812915.jpg)
![NIGHTTIME air? It's poisonous! CRACKED.COM Up until nearly the 1900s, many were scared to go outside at night, and some didn't even want to leave the windows open after dark because they were afraid of getting sick.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/4/812914.jpg)
![In 1953, the strong plastic material called polycarbonate was discovered by Dr. Daniel Fox of General Electric Co. just a week after Dr. Hermann Schnell of Bayer did. They both applied for patents; Bayer won, but they let General Electric use it too. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/3/812913.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM SimCity comes from a science fiction story. Creator Will Wright was inspired in part by Stanistaw Lem's The Seventh Sally, where a deposed tyrant is given a miniaturized kingdom for him to rule and oppress via control knobs.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/2/812912.jpg)
The New York Times (via archive.org), “The Seventh Sally” by Stanislaw Lem (via University of San Diego)
![In a remote corner of Greenland, a sensor array monitors the planet for nuclear explosions. The infrasound array, IS18, detects nuclear blasts anywhere on the globe. The ultra-low frequency sound waves from an atomic blast don't die out even after reverberating through the Earth's surface. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/0/812910.jpg)
14 Mesmerizing Machines That Run The World Behind The Scenes
![CRACKED.COM THE INVENTOR OF THE AK-47 SAID I WISH I'D MADE A LAWNMOWER. Although Mikhail Kalashnikov died saying he was proud of his invention, he said he wished he had made something that could have helped farmers instead.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/1/1/812911.jpg)
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![Zuflykonal The first iPhone come ST D CLASS three natural ... - DOBBA call Apple has been experimenting with FOR touchscreen phones since 1983. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/8/812908.jpg)
![The dot pattern around the edges of a car window keeps the window in place. This pattern, called frit, is a layer of ceramic paint that protects the urethane sealant of the glass from UV rays. Without it, sunlight would eventually cook the sealant and the glass would pop off easily. Plus, the frit masks the ugly appearance of the glue and gives it a rougher surface to stick to. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/7/812907.jpg)
Invisible, Super-Smart Gadgets That Are Hidden All Around Us
![Spies used records to hide maps and cash. In a tactic British Intelligence called FIG. Z Operation Smash Hit, maps and foreign money would be hidden inside vinyl records. They were then smuggled into POW camps, where prisoners could break adidas them open and use the resources to make their escape. FIG. 1 The records would also play music, presumably if a prisoner was just bored. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/2/812902.jpg)
![It takes a total of two weeks to make a single silicon-based microprocessor. R INTEL®© ' 85 Q6680 INTEL® CORE™2 QUAD SLACR MALAY 2. 48GHZ/8M 11 866/85A L738B526 CRISS 09AZ And the plant in which they're made costs 3574126 $2 billion to build, so making a microchip 248162 is equally ridiculously time-consuming and expensive. CRACKED.COM NOW YOU KNOW](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/9/812899.jpg)
![Pepto-Bismol was originally created to cure cholera S Pepto SEENEW DOSING DIRECTIONS DIRECTIONS Bismol YOUR المملكة Pepto Pepto - pepto smol ULTRA SYMPTON Bismol ULTRA CHESSY Bismol ULTRA 5 RELIEF Sex the Risouth Subsalicylate Subsalitylate a Roset Stomach Relieved HEARTHUR Network Refund SPEET INDIGESTION STORAD 73mL ml 5 SYMPTOM RELIEF 2X 2X - NAUSEA 5 SYMPTOM RELIEF STREW SYMPTOM HEARTBURN The original formula worked to soothe some symptons of the disease NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/3/812903.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM MICROWAVE OVENS COME FROM RADAR. Russell Hobbs In the years following World War II, engineer Percy Lebaron Spencer was working with radar technology when he noticed a chocolate bar he had in his pocket had melted due to the radiation. Intrigued, he kept experimenting with the device and eventually turned it into a new way to cook.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/1/812891.jpg)
Everyday Objects That Started Out As Something Else Entirely
![100 Many real musicians (whatever that means) thought that the rise of autotune was going to kill music, somehow. When the tool's popularity was hitting new heights in the '00s, there was a contingent of artists concerned that the technology was going to make music creation too accessible, putting their livelihoods at risk. The industry somehow survived. CRACKED.COM Death Cab For Cutie even wore ribbons to raise awareness of the technology when they attended the Grammy Awards in 2009.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/7/812897.jpg)
![Shopping carts are unmanly! 9 CRACKED.COM So men didn't like them when they were first invented in 1937. And to women, shopping carts resembled baby strollers, and they didn't care for the similarity.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/8/812898.jpg)
![GRACKED.COM Lothar Meyer and Dmitri Mendeleev discovered and published a Periodic Table of Elements a year apart. Neither man knew of the other's work or legendary beard.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/6/812896.jpg)
![The awards in All About Eve became a reality. In 1952, two years after Joseph Mankiewicz' film came out, a real Sarah Siddons Society was created to present a theater award just like the one in the movie (to the dismay of Mankiewicz, who intended to put down pompous award ceremonies). CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/2/812892.jpg)
![26 Inventions With Absolutely Wild Origin Stories](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/5/812895.gif)
14 Mesmerizing Machines That Run The World Behind The Scenes
![CRACKED.COM THE DEVELOPER OF FLAPPY BIRD DELETED IT FROM THE APP STORE BECAUSE IT RUINED HIS SIMPLE LIFE. Dong Nguyen didn't like the attention, criticism, and the addiction the game caused.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/1/812901.jpg)
![SHARK SHIELD IS A PERSONAL ELECTRONIC DEVICE USED BY SURFERS, SCUBA DIVERS AND SPEARFISHERMEN THAT CREATES AN ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD TO DETER SHARK ATTACKS. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/3/812893.jpg)
![The original Atari 1 D DAAOm 7477 The first Atari was slapped together ESC in 3 months, and cost less than $500 in parts. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/4/812904.jpg)
![The weights on a wire or lamppost help keep it from failing. - KOREA LAN The weights, called Stockbridge dampers, keep fragile structures from vibrating in the wind. Otherwise, the wind-induced vibrations could wear those structures down and cause them to fail. The weights dampen the structure's vibration simply through shaking when wind hits them. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/0/812900.jpg)
Invisible, Super-Smart Gadgets That Are Hidden All Around Us
![This cigarette will kill you. OK, yes, all cigarettes FIG. 1 will kill you, but this one was more direct. British Intelligence FIG. Z developed a single-shot pistol hidden inside a cigarette. It's a .22-caliber device triggered by a piece of string pulled by the user's teeth. Its only limitation was its three-meter range. Got a light? CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/8/9/4/812894.jpg)
![A metal commonly used in microchips can easily melt in your hands. The melting point of gallium is 85.6 degrees F, so it's just solid at room temperature - but if you hold it against your skin, it melts in a few minutes. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/6/812906.jpg)
![Kleenex was originally created to use as gas mask filters during WWI Before they landed on facial tissues, Kleenex made period hygiene products. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/0/5/812905.jpg)