30 Eyebrow-Arching Histories of Everyday Things

There’s a lot we take for granted. Looking for information on the internet, putting a load of clothes in the washing machine and switching the lights on are all commonplace now, but these acts, as well as the inventions that enabled them, aren’t quite so straightforward and looked substantially different when they first originated. In fact, a lot of the things we use daily have fascinating backstories you’d never be able to guess at. And such histories are often far more fascinating than anything you learned in school. For instance, here are 30 illustrations that depict the surprising origins of everyday goods and products when they were first introduced…

30 Entry by Kevin King

The treadmill has its origins as a torture device. In 1818, Sir William Cubitt created the tread-wheel as a means to reform convicts. The prisoners

29 Entry by Andres Diplotti

Viagra was originally intended as a heart medicine In the early nineties, Pfizer scientists in England started looking into sildenafil citrate as a po

28 Entry by Nicolae Horga

Piggy banks have nothing to do with swine. In the Middle Ages metal was expensive and jars used to save cash CRAG were made of an orange clay named py

27 Entry by LilySprite

The microwave oven was invented after a man named Percy Spencer who was working on radar sets for Raytheon noticed that a peanut cluster he had in his

26 Entry by ShortUsername01

Acesulfame-potassium v was discovered by a chemist... ...who hadn't washed chemical residue off his hands before licking his finger to pick up paper,

25 Entry by John E.

Before 1938, ADDIS toothbrushes were made from pig's hair or from the softer horse hair. Today, they are made from nylon. Napoleon Bonaparte's Horseha

24 Entry by PookieJones

CRACKED.COM FRICTION MATCHES WERE DISCOVERED BY ACCIDENTO A 19th century apothecary stirred a mixture of chemicals with a wooden stick. A glob of the

23 Entry by pundemic

THE WEBCAM YOU USE FOR SKYPING? WELL, THANK A COFFEE POT FOR THAT xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee xcoffee Walk

22 Entry by PookieJones

BUBBLE WRAP WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WALLPAPER. Fielding and Chavannes adhered two shower curtains together to create a textured wallpaper, but it never got

21 Entry by Scott Laffey

The Popsicle was invented accidentally BY AN 11-YEAR-OLD. Young Frank Epperson was stirring water and soda mix with a wooden stick and forgot the glas

20 Entry by Maclise

Walter Hunt invented the safety pin to settle a $15 debt. Hunt sold the patent to W.R. Grace and Company for only $400 (~$12,000 in today's money). He

19 Entry by Giovenna Bianca Sipalay

GELLULOiD, THE FiRST iNDusTRiaL PLASTC, was iNVENTED BY JOHN WESLEY HaTt WiTH THE PURPOSE OF REPLaCiNG ivory as a MaTERiaL USED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF

18 Entry by Markos Hasiotis

SPORTS One of the earliest escalators in the world was in Harrods (London) - it was seen as such an overwhelming experience, people who used it were o

17 Entry by iStockphoto

Tom Quinn developed motion control systems for use in aeronautics. His patent was bought and led to the motion controls of the Ninlendo Wii Wil CRACKE

16 Entry by LilySprite

The first potato chips were supposed to be terrible. A customer at a restaurant sent back his fried potatoes saying they were too soggy The insulted

15 Entry by Andrea Meno

GRNO Dixie Cups were initially marketed as a public health measure DISRIE DIEIE 9 54 54 CREE In the 1900s, there was an outcry against the extremely u

14 Entry by drquesadilla

CRACKEDCO In the 1890's, William Wrigley Jr. began throwing in free packs of chewing gum as an incentive for retailers to carry his products (like soa

13 Entry by PookieJones

W. C. Roentgen discovered Xrays in 1895. The X stands for unknown because the German scientist didn't understand what he had stumbled upon. CRACKEDC

12 Entry by Sami Czanova

THE CHINESE DID NOT INVENT GUNPOWDER FOR WARFARE Gunpowder was the result of failed a elixir for eternal life. Before becoming known as an explosive,

11 Entry by Amira Victoria Chan

During the late 1800's, headphones were mostly used by telephone operators and had little to do with music at all. The headphones rested on the operat

10 Entry by Maclise

Early ergonomic CRACKED CON chairs were considered immoral to sit in. The introduction of ergonomic seating was widely rejected in Victorian England f

9 Entry by John E.

30 Eyebrow-Arching Histories of Everyday Things

8 Entry by Chan Teik Onn

CRAGKEDCOM Before popcorn became a favorite snack, it was used by the Aztecs to decorate headdresses and necklaces. Kudos to the first guy to eat his

7 Entry by Amira Victoria Chan

Kleenex tissues were originally invented not for nose blowing, but as filters for gas masks during the First World War. After the war, KimberlyClar Co

6 Entry by Sami Czanova

High heels were obviously not invented for walking They were designed SO that soldiers on horseback could have an improved foothold on the stirrups. T

5 Entry by Maclise

CRACKED 12th century Chinese judges used precursors to modern sunglasses to hide their expressions in court. The lenses were made out of gemstones.

4 Entry by PookieJones

BRAS BECAME POPULAR BECAUSE OF A METAL SHORTAGE DURING WWI CRAG There have been many patents for bras from 1893 onward, but corsets were still the mai

3 Entry by Nicolae Horga

Paper towels were invented by Towels you accident, don't have to as an alternative use WASH! for a shipment of defective toilet paper excessively heav

2 Entry by Carlos Suarez

Ice cream was prescribed as a medicine... back in ancient Greece..g GRACKEDOOM ...by none other than the father of western medicine himself, Hippocrat

1 Entry by LilySprite

The internet evolved from a system created as backup in case of Soviet attacks. CRAGN www. http:1 A scientist came up with the idea to send informatio

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