# Invention that needed no specialist knowledge yet was used by the masses. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858 "2016-04-01T18:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/21 "2016-04-02T09:42:54Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Outside of the 10 year window but wheeled luggage was definitely one of those “wait, nobody ever thought of this before?” kind of inventions. It was invented in 1987. [The Trunki rideable suitcase](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunki) for kids just scrapes in to the 10 year window. The inventor appeared on Dragon’s Den in 2006 with it. I don’t know what qualifications he had though. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/22 "2016-04-02T10:03:53Z")
Bullet Ball ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/23 "2016-04-02T10:57:57Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Outside of the 10 year window but wheeled luggage was definitely one of those “wait, nobody ever thought of this before?” kind of inventions. It was invented in 1987. It was invented before that, I should think. Terry Pratchett’s books often feature The Luggage, a sentient trunk that moves on dozens of little legs. The author says that it was inspired by the sight of a trunk on lots of little wheels. The first appearance of The Luggage was 1983, so presumably wheeled trunks were invented at least a year or two before that. Why do you think 1987? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/24 "2016-04-02T12:10:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The first appearance of The Luggage was 1983, so presumably wheeled trunks were invented at least a year or two before that. I’m pretty sure I first saw them in 1984, so that fits. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/25 "2016-04-02T12:13:08Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I doubt that the Selfie Stick is particularly high-tech… I know that’s a joke, but it has to hold not just your $500 cell phone without dropping it, but all the other shape and sized cell phones as well. Also, it has to connect to them via bluetooth with nothing more than a button. If you’ve ever hooked a paired to a device to a phone, you know it’s a bit different for each phone and kind of a PITA if the device doesn’t have a screen. I’m not saying it’s an engineering marvel and I’ll grant you that the inventor (and the all the knock offs) probably buy the blue tooth module from another vendor) but it also wasn’t invented in an afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/26 "2016-04-02T14:50:52Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I concur with the statement that if there was a product whose concept was derivable by an “everyman”, that it probably would not qualify for patent protection, even if it was a billion-dollar industry. I suspect that it would be found to be “obvious”, and that its success was merely due to marketing; other people presumably would have thought of the idea before, but no one thought it was actually worth anything and so didn’t pursue it. > > For instance, my grandmother claims she thought of the idea of selling fake Christmas trees with lights pre-strung decades before anyone actually started doing so. I would find it hard to believe that she’s the only one who came up with such an idea after being frustrated with putting the lights back on the tree every year when that’s the only place they’d ever be. Now, there might be some technical details about how you do such a thing and have it survive transportation, storage, etc, that my grandmother never would have realized or solved, and if such things were non-trivial to figure out, then the product as a whole might be patentable. But just the idea to sell fake Christmas trees with lights pre-strung doesn’t seem “non-obvious”. You have to be careful when discussing the notion of “obvious” when discussing patents, as that term has specific legal meanings that aren’t the same as the generally used definition. As well, thinking that something is obvious, and proving it to the standard needed to deny a patent are two different things. In general, you’d need to find a publicly accessible disclosure of the idea that is clearly dated to before the filing date of the patent application. That’s surprisingly difficult for a lot of these simple “Everyone has thought of that!” type notions. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/27 "2016-04-02T15:10:20Z")
Speaking of luggage, here’s a fairly recent innovation: > **[Amazon.com: Micro Case, Black, ca. 52cm : Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry](https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Kickboard-ML0005-Luggage/dp/B00LELSM1I)** > > Buy Micro Case, Black, ca. 52cm: Suitcases - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases I saw one a few days ago for the first time. One of our male flight attendants had it. Kinda small for our typical number of days on the road, but doable. He was a fun guy with a youthful attitude. Laughing all the way as he sped off through the slowly plodding crowd in the concourse. Obviously it takes no great engineering skill to come up with the idea. The specifics of making it strong, durable, light, and cheaply manufacturable, plus the effort to market it effectively, all take real expertise. And I think that’s really the bottom line for the OP’s question. Ideas can come from anywhere including the apocryphal bored housewife. While any genuinely competitive mass market product is going to need expertise all along the design, manufacture, and sales chain. Which is also why ideas are pennies the ton whereas actual execution commands a high value. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/28 "2016-04-02T20:10:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I know that’s a joke, but it has to hold not just your $500 cell phone without dropping it, but all the other shape and sized cell phones as well. Also, it has to connect to them via bluetooth with nothing more than a button. If you’ve ever hooked a paired to a device to a phone, you know it’s a bit different for each phone and kind of a PITA if the device doesn’t have a screen. > > I’m not saying it’s an engineering marvel and I’ll grant you that the inventor (and the all the knock offs) probably buy the blue tooth module from another vendor) but it also wasn’t invented in an afternoon. Sorry, didn’t know they used bluetooth. I figured it was a mechanical toggle. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![joema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@joema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joema)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/29 "2016-04-02T23:12:40Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > Which is a recent invention…Needed no specialist knowledge by the inventor ie: did not need an engineering degree for eg or extensive knowledge of science…Invention has appealed to the masses and made a lot of money for the inventor as a result…Resulted in a successful patent… It wasn’t invented within the last 10 years but actress Hedy Lamarr invented the basis for frequency-hopping spread spectrum communications, which today is how WiFi works. She had no formal engineering background but pursued it as a personal hobby. She was awarded a patent which can be seen here with her real name, Hedy Kiesler Markey: [![](http://www.satin.co.uk/BS-patent.JPG) ](http://www.satin.co.uk/BS-patent.JPG) She donated it without compensation to the U.S. government. It was immediately classified as top secret, so her role was not revealed for many years. > **[Hedy Lamarr: Movie star, inventor of WiFi](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hedy-lamarr-movie-star-inventor-of-wifi/)** > > The Hollywood beauty was also a keen intellect, whose patented technology for torpedoes made digital wireless systems possible ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/30 "2016-04-02T23:48:02Z")
Re: the history of wheeled luggage, [this New York Times article](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/business/05road.html) indicates both 1970 and 1987 as key dates. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/31 "2016-04-04T18:18:26Z")
I think of the [WaterWheel.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2013/12/9/1386595435343/WaterWheel-user-in-India-008.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&) Might not be a billion dollars, but it is a very simple idea that is in mass production. (Not the energy generating water wheel, the easy way to transport water in poor communities… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/32 "2016-04-04T18:32:17Z")
Broken link. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/33 "2016-04-04T18:33:06Z")
> **[Wello](http://wellowater.org)** > > Wello is a social venture with a bold mission - to deliver clean water to a thirsty world. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/34 "2016-04-04T19:12:22Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > He predicted the Internet in 1938, and the addictive qualities of web-surfing in 1983, ten years before the invention of the World Wide Web. Also, mobile phones, but Dick Tracy had those, too. Video phones, even. All of which are out of scope for this thread, but there you go. From context of the preceeding post, this refers to Heinlein. In which story did he predict the internet in 1938? His first published story was “Life-line” in 1939, although it may have been written earlier. But there’s nothing in it remotely like the internet. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/35 "2016-04-04T19:45:00Z")
Lots of people can argue they invented the internet (or their supporters can). William Gibson and Pete Townshend come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/36 "2016-04-05T11:25:18Z")
I have a set of those foam/rubber pads that you put between car seats so nothing slips through. They’re in Walmart so I’ll bet they’ve sold a few. They may have been ASOTV. I also bet they were invented by someone who just did prototypes cutting up some foam from the fabric store. ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/37 "2016-04-05T12:19:56Z")
Ah, child rearing… Not sure how much engineering went into the Diaper Genie. Just about every parent has one. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/38 "2016-04-05T12:24:50Z")
Watch shark tank. They’ve got loads of amateur inventors. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/39 "2016-04-05T12:40:52Z")
I was trying to develop a nail trimming system for dogs where they would have to dig in a special mix of clay and abrasive sand mix for a treat. I was trying to figure out a way to adjust the hardness of the clay mixture by blending different things in with the soil and clay as the dry clay was a bit too hard for small dogs. The best way was to monitor the moisture level but it required too much customer education and I abandon the project. Very low tech and potentially a very large repeat customer base. ``` I made another meager attempt at developing a line of pet products all based on natural animal behaviors, This was going to be an interactive web sight where the customers helped to develop and invent the products. My lack of communication skills killed this one on the vine. ``` ---
**Author:** ![HipGnosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/76d3ee/32.png) [@HipGnosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HipGnosis)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858/40 "2016-04-05T19:12:26Z")
Here’s a few contenders [http://www.tvguide.com/galleries/brilliant-shark-tank-inventions-1089778/photo/421c2aaf-d1d0-44d4-b49b-5ebb8b42dd85/](http://www.tvguide.com/galleries/brilliant-shark-tank-inventions-1089778/photo/421c2aaf-d1d0-44d4-b49b-5ebb8b42dd85/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/invention-that-needed-no-specialist-knowledge-yet-was-used-by-the-masses/750858.md?page=3)