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Favourite Rubbish Inventions [join in our office ‘Friday-Favourite’ poll]
Every week we have a Friday Favourite poll. This week we are being asked to vote for our favourite rubbish invention from the following shortlist:
1. Chocolate record phonograph (1903)
Have you ever imagined eating your unwanted records? Well, perhaps you would have if they were made of chocolate. The Stollwerck Chocolate Company in Germany turned this strange dream into a short-lived reality. They designed phonographs that were powered by a small clock motor and could play records made of chocolate. In a big disappointment for chocolate lovers, the invention failed because the phonographs were too fragile, had noisy motors and mediocre sound quality.
2. Harold's Pogo-Copter (1967)
Jumping up and down on a pogo stick not exciting enough for you? How about one connected to a propeller that whizzes around just over your head? The Pogo-Copter combines the right amount of danger, excitement and stupidity for adrenalin-junkies. Take a standard pogo stick and add a propeller, throttle and helicopter engine. The copter's blades spin around dangerously close to your head, sending you high into the air where you "float like you're on a cloud" before crashing back down to earth — hopefully, with your head still attached.
3. High five simulator (1993)
Ever been at home alone watching sports and felt the sudden urge to give someone a high-five? Well, with this invention you can. One of the most depressing devices in history, this "apparatus for simulating a high-five" is a mechanical arm that pivots when struck by a user. It even includes a sound-generating system so that the high-five sounds real. The question remains — will anyone that lonely really find this machine comforting, or will it drive them to more despair?
4. Battery-powered battery charger (1993)
Consumers were left scratching their heads after an inventor patented a simple way of recharging mobile phone batteries with more batteries. Presumably one could extend this to have a battery charger for the batteries for their battery charger.
Get voting (or nominating additional candidates)!