1. Hair ties
Before the invention of elastic in the 1800s, everyone used to tie their hair up with ribbon and bits of cloth. As anyone who’s ever tried to actually do that can attest, it was difficult, both to not pull out your hair when tying the knot and in keeping the ribbon from slipping from your hair. The first hair tie was patented in 1958 by the Hooke and Brown Company, and is still making people’s lives easier everyday.
2. Glass
The first true glass objects made in a human settlement appear to be beads, found around ancient Egypt from the mid third millennium BC. These are considered likely to be happy accidents, by-products of then-current metalworking technology. It wasn’t until the late Bronze Age in Egypt that the first vessels were formed with glass, paving the way to glass cups, plates, and bowls. Western Asia, Crete, and Greece were making these same accomplishments at the same time, but disasters at the end of the Bronze Age wiped out most glass making technology. Fast forward to 1st century BC, and with the invention of blown glass, glasswares became Rome’s plastic, losing their former status as a luxury item. Even then, it wasn’t until 100 AD that glass took the shape we know today with the discovery of clear glass, allowing for use in architecture, and in the future transportation and vision correction.
3. Synthetic rubber
On "Ms. Fisher’s Murder Mysteries," a whole episode was dedicated to a man who was murdered over the creation of synthetic rubber in 1920s Australia. The story has a bit of a wrinkle, as chemist Fritz Hofmann had already succeeded in creating methyl-isoprene, the foundation for synthetic rubber development. Only a year later, the first cars were fitted with rubber tires, and the rest is history.
4. Cans
Most anything today can be bought in a tin can: soup, bread, meat, oil, polish, tea, paint, etc. Phillipe de Gerard invented tin canning in 1810 and sold the rights to a British trader, Peter Durand, who then sold it to Bryan Donkin and John Hall, who by 1813 started up a factory and were selling directly to the Royal Navy. It’s all thanks to them that we can now buy Campbell’s Chicken and Stars any time we want.
5. Nail clippers
Although the true creator of the nail clippers we know today is not documented, one Valentine Fogerty patented an improved design in 1875. A slew of patented by other people, both for improvements and original designs, followed shortly, but it wasn’t until 1947 that the W. E. Bassett company brought nail clippers into the 20th century by adding modern riveting methods and factory-style manufacturing.
6. Hinges
Without these we would have no doors, and surprisingly few modern conveniences at all. Doors, jewelry, certain ship parts, trebuchets, flip phones, laptops, etc. Luckily for us they were invented early, about 5500 years ago, but remained luxury items reserved for kings until the Middle Ages, when they began improving the lives of the common people alongside the invention of wrought iron. They continued improving with improving metalworking and finishing technology right up until right now, where they exist in more places than you think.
7. Doorknob
The biggest hurdle to the invention of the doorknob was actually the expense of locks, and not the creation of the object itself. Before the first documented invention of the doorknob in 1878, only kings could afford large locks that secured whole rooms, and the common people kept their valuables in lockable boxes inside their homes. Since the late 1800s, doorknobs have been common to all classes and houses.
8. Machine-spun cloth
Everything from the clothes to cushions to blankets now relies on the ability for a completely automated machine to take raw natural or synthetic fibers and spin it, weave it, and sew it together. The first part of this puzzle came in the form of the flying shuttle, patented by John Kay in 1733, which spun fibers quickly and with little management required. Following this, James Hargreaves in 1764 invented the spinning jenny, which brought weaving speed up to spinning speed finally after 30 years. The next improvement wouldn’t occur until 1963 with open-end spinning and artificial fibers creating what we think of when we refer to textiles today.
9. Flashlight
The first app anyone downloaded on their iPod Touch in the early 2000s was the flashlight app, before the technology got integrated into the system as a basic feature. The prerequisites for the creation of the flashlight were the incandescent lightbulb and the dry cell battery, which could work in any position and not break easily, perfect for portability. 1899 came around and David Misell created the first flashlight, the design of which hasn’t deviated much except for improvements in individual technologies. They were originally called flashlights because they could only throw light for a short time before needing to rest, creating a flash. Tungsten batteries finally allowed for them to last longer and finally replace things like candles and oil lamps.
10. Paper
The oldest piece of paper ever recovered dates from 179-41 BC, from the Gansu province in China. Despite this, what is considered true papermaking didn’t come about until Han dynasty official Cai Lun invented papermaking in 105. The same basic process of soaking and pounding wood and/or rags has persisted into modernity, although upgrading in scale. Uses for paper have also upgraded, from use as packing material, to writing, to levies, to toilet paper, tea bags, cups, napkins, money and envelopes.
