50+ Of The Most Bizarre Inventions From The Past That You May Have Never Heard Of Before

The purpose of The Isolator was simple: the wooden helmet blocked out sound and vision in order to help the wearer focus on whatever task they had in hand. Gernsback claimed that the helmet reduced noise by up to 95 percent, and the tiny glass spy-hole ensured that no amount of nearby movement could rouse the wearer from their work.

The creation by Ben Skora, of Palos Hills, who is now in an assisted-living facility. AROK (Skora’s named spelled backwards without the S), when operational, could perform a variety of tasks such as vacuuming, mixing drinks, talking, taking photos, lifting up to 150 pounds, and walking the dog.

This special bra was made entirely from plastic to protect female factory workers during world war ii. The special women's undergarment, made entirely of plastic, succeeded in the prevention of these certain occupational accidents.

This 1936 wheel-laden monstrosity was an all-terrain car that could descend slopes up to 65 degrees in England.

Piano especially designed for people who are confined to bed. Britain. 1935.

Dr. Young himself praised rectal dilation as a cure for insanity, claiming that at least “three-fourths of all the howling maniacs of the world” were curable “in a few weeks’ time by the application of orificial methods”. Young also admitted that some patients panicked at the sight of the devices.

If you didn’t want your dog riding inside your car, it could ride “safely” on a running board attached to the car.

Designed to be easily transported, these 1953 monopod seats could provide a quick and easy place to sit when on the go.

The beauty micrometer, also known as the beauty calibrator, was a device designed in the early 1930s to help in the identification of the areas of a person’s face which need to have their appearance reduced or enhanced by make-up. The inventors include famed beautician Max Factor, Sr.

Before waterproof mascara was invented, women were offered these special masks as a way to protect their make-up from the elements.

An amphibious four-wheeled vehicle designed to patrol and defend the vast roadless wastes of Alaska and Canada. Weighing in at five tons, the four-wheel-drive machine could hit speeds of 45 miles per hour on the highway.

This is a machine for massaging and/or washing breasts. And also possible proof that SkyMall started as a 1930s catalog of erotic housewares.

A colt 38 carrying a small camera that automatically takes a picture when you pull the trigger. The camera was somehow configured so that each time the trigger was pulled, a photo was snapped simultaneously.

In this 1931 picture, a German engineer prepared his rocket bicycle with 12 rockets mounted on the back wheel. Moments after this photo was made, the bicycle exploded. Fortunately the engineer was not seriously hurt.

In the 1950s, dentists recommended this vibra-finger gum massage for personal use

The four-position bicycle gave a family the opportunity to travel as a unit, , the invention also contained a built-in sewing machine for the mother.

Invented by Max Factor in the late 1940’s, this mask was covered with plastic ice cubes that you would strap on to your margarita-induced face. While you wore it, you could catch up on some Z’s and then wake up feeling refreshed and ready to party again.

These giant trumpet used to detect planes by the sounds of their engines in the days before radar

The first selfie stick was invented by Hiroshi Ueda, at the time he worked for the Minolta camera company, and was a keen photographer. “Whenever I went overseas I took my camera with me and took loads of photos,” he told BBC

This lawnmower had five foot diameter plastic sphere in which the rider sits on an air foam cushioned seat.It has its own electric generating system for operating running lights, a radio telephone, air conditioning and even a cooling system to provide a chilled drink on a hot day.

The Honeywell Kitchen computer was a 16-bit minicomputer; it was preprogrammed with a few recipes. These computers had 4KB of magnetic memory, which was later expanded to 16KB. Its official name was actually the H316 Pedestal. Its system clock was 2.5MHz. It took 475 watts to operate.

Edward Otto invented and patented the Dicycle as a safer alternative to the towering terrors of the ordinary bicycle (later known as the penny-farthing). His bike had two huge 56-in. (142-cm) wheels that were mounted side by side and connected by a sturdy axle.For balance, the rider used a slender trailing arm with a rubber roller on the end to stop himself (or, more unusually for the period, herself) from toppling over backward.

In 1921 René Tampier tackled the problem of designing an aircraft that was self-propelled and steerable on roads by including a second, low-powered engine driving the main landing wheels through a standard car-type transmission. The roadwheels were completed with a retractable pair nearer the tail. These were steerable, so on the road the Tampier Avion-Automobile, with its wings and tailplane folded, travelled tail first. Only two prototypes were built.

Despite how dangerous the idea of an infant precariously perched in a cage outside an apartment window, these devices were actually handed out in London to members of the Chelsea Baby Club.

A phrenology machine to measure the shape of your head from the early 20th century. The machine consisted of 1,954 parts in a metal carrier with a continuous motor-driven belt inside a walnut cabinet containing statements about 32 mental faculties.

It is fixed upon the dashboard of vehicle. According to the designer, the machine held enough water for three cups of coffee and can also be used for preparing soups, boiling eggs, or heating water for washing or shaving.

French inventor Alain Dham invented spaghetti in 1968. It was designed to automatically rotate the noodles for easier pasta consumption.

In 1955 Russel E. Oakes invented "automatic tip requester" which comprises an artificial hand and cashbox to be worn around the waist. A "No Sale" sign is displayed if a tip is not sufficient.

Mechanical soup spoon designed to cool a bowl of scalding hot soup.

Ted Spence, an engineer at the Los Angeles Brush Manufacturing Corp, invented a hairline brush. This brush is constructed to fit a bald head's contour, with bristles for brushing hair and a felt pad to gently massage the scalp.

A bell was sent to the bottom, and then weighted, the assistant surviving on the air trapped in the bell, and the diver, wearing another smaller "diving bell" on his head,could make his way around a bit to the extent of the tube which would draw on the air in the bell. The two would be resupplied with air in weight barrels sent down from topside, to be retrieved by the diver and lugged over to the bell.

If your skin lacked that youthful glow sometime in the 1940s, the best available solution was to sit a spell under the Glamour Bonnet. The vacuum helmet reduced “atmospheric pressure around the beauty seeker’s head,” which inventor Mrs. D. M. Ackerman believed would help stimulate circulation and improve the complexion.

A noise-excluding telephone which only transmits vibrations from the vocal chords when the microphone is placed against the throat or cheek. For the man who wants to annoy both his wife and his mistress.

You can carry it anywhere and everywhere. Like, office, public washrooms, even in public transport.

The Slenderizing Salon claimed to help women lose weight without exercise by stimulating muscle contractions.

At the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, consumer electronics maker Sanyo demonstrated their vision for the future by showcasing a series of appliances they thought would populate the home of tomorrow. Included was the Ultrasonic Bath or Human In Roll-lo Bathing (HIRB), a pod-like human washing machine that cleans, massages and dries the user in a fully automated 15-minute process.

This 19th-century machine could shave a dozen men at once. One reason for its commercial failure was that it could not alter its movements according to face shape.

This 1963 mechanical cat meowing device from Japan can meow ten times a minute, with the eyes lighting up each time. The idea was to use the machine for scaring rats and mice.

For fathers who can't bear to hurt the young one when he needs a spanking, this brush with rubber bands replacing the bristles is offered by the Los Angeles Brush Corp. in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 12, 1950. The idea was suggested by a Montana father who balked at the conventional type hairbrush.

A 1920s advert from a Central London store, the Wash Away Fat soap means that users can "wash away fat and years of age"

Although it looks like this lady the subject of intense scientific experiments, instead she is just getting her hair curled. This was the weird 1930s invention that promised permanent waves that would never again be ruined in the rain. This photo from 1935 shows a woman at a hairdressing exhibition sitting with long wires attached to curlers on her head as she demonstrates the odd craze.

Mister Walter Nilsson developed this peculiar construction in the 1930s where you can walk along the street while you sit.

It is a device that pressed holes into your face if you wore it for an extended period of time. Here, a young woman demonstrates a dimple machine at the Inventor's Congress in Chicago.

The helmet’s inventor, G.M. Ackerman, claimed that wearing this outrageous device resulted in a more natural beauty for those willing to give the “glamour bonnet” a try. Ackerman initially invented the helmet with the stars of Hollywood in mind. It was supposed to mimic the same technology of the scuba diving helmet and was said to lower the atmospheric pressure around your head, in a similar way to what mountain climbers feel at higher elevations.

Invented in 1931 and then popularized during the late forties, this helmet was a big hit in the US. It had builtin radio that you can take everywhere.

An electrically-driven wheel, capable of speeds of 30mph, invented by Mr J. A. Purves of Taunton and his son.

A Swiss engineer created this motorwheel, a motorcycle with a wheel which runs on a rail placed inside a solid rubber tire.

A shovel on a car meant to reduce the number of casualties among pedestrians. Paris. 1924

Teenager Malcolm Pickard built a contraption to measure the voltage of snogs aptly calling it a “snogometer”. The loved up duo hold electrodes in their hands and their passionate snogging is measured with sound effects and a lighted scale.

This metal device is one of a number of similar devices which were invented in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to prevent masturbation. A leather strap which would have kept it in place is now missing.

The bra claimed to develop and strengthen the bust and was designed to vibrate while the person wearing it was at work.

What better cure for the common head cold than a healthy dose of radiation? This scary-looking apparatus enclosed the head in a metal drum and doused it with ultra-violet rays. The Solar Bath Apparatus was meant to clear up catarrh of the ears, nose and throat, along with other head-related illnesses.

In 1940, smokers who were sick of loaning out cigarettes could keep track of how many smokes they were using themselves and how many were being “bummed” by friends. Two separate buttons opened the case: one for when the owner was grabbing a smoke, and another for when a friend asked for one. It was presumably up to the owner to decide what to do with that information once he determined how many of his cigarettes were being given away.

You’ve got two lungs, gotta have two cigarettes.