I don’t get it. 
I’m just guessing here, but since Benadryl relieves nasal congestion, perhaps they wanted to make the capsules small enough that they wouldn’t get stuck if some idiot stuffed them up his nose?
During World War II, when rubber was rationed, the U.S. government funded research for the development of synthetic rubber replacement compounds. One compound, which is credited as being invented by James Wright of General Electric, did not meet all the properties desired to replace rubber and spent several years as a scientific curiosity before reaching Ruth Falgatter, the owner of a toy store. She contacted Peter Hodgson, a marketing consultant, who persuaded her to put the substance in a plastic case and sell it for $2. The substance outsold everything in the toy catalog except for Crayola Crayons.
Hodgson bought a batch of the substance, packaged it in a plastic egg, reduced the price to $1, and named it Silly Putty. The rest is history.
Probably so you can swallow it even if your throat is swelling up. Just a guess, though, not really GQ quality.
I recall reading somewhere that there was once (thinking mid '90s) a Japanese game console that included a bar code scanner. There were some tradeable cards or something that when scanned gave the characters in the game certain powers and attributes.
It wasn’t long before gamers were scanning their grocery items. Lo and behold there was a brand of noodles that made the game-play awesome and sold in huge numbers.
The first time I met Blu-Tack* it was connected to a plastic handle and sold as Bud Typewriter Type Cleaner.
CMC fnord!
*I swear the first time I met Blu-Tack is was called Fun-Tak.
How about the magnetron, the original use was generating radar waves but also used in microwave ovens. Radar still a very widely used device but there are infinitely more microwave ovens than radar sets.
Aside from the original use of tampons, of which there is no need for discussion, they have a second use.
They are used, believe it or not, as air filters for certain aircraft. Mostly as instrument panel cooling air filters in all sorts of relatively small planes.
Of course, you need to get the FAA certified Tampax for that, but it’s still Tampax noentehless.
Aviation is actually rife with these things. Like Apollo 13, but over several decades.
That should be a good fit for the OP.
Correct. One of the most threatening symptoms of anaphylactic shock is swelling of the throat, which can close off the airway - hence the reference to peanuts and bees; a couple of the allergies most known for those symptoms.
I have also heard references to Special Forces using them as first aid for gunshot wounds on a mission, but don’t know how much credence to put on that.
I am a long-time sufferer of both depression and insomnia. I’ve been taking the antidepressant Elavil (amitriptyline hydrochloride) for over 20 years. Its major side effect is extreme drowsiness. Though it no longer really does much for the depression, it’s nevertheless the best sleeping pill I’ve ever used.
Coke (the soft drink) is also used to clean pennies, toilets and shine metallic surfaces, including taking rust off of chrome with aluminum foil.
Uh, will Benadryl really work fast enough to releive anaphylactic shock? I thought that’s what the epi-pens were for?
If you don’t have a pen, maybe the pill will buy you some time.
Nice article. 
MacLir said:
Since that’s what they were originally designed for (battlefield wounds), I’d put a lot of credence in it.
I can’t answer, but I know that my allergist told me to always have benadryl around because of a tiny, hardly-worth-mentioning, entirely stress-related allergy I have to peanuts.
Turns out that’s the kind of allergy that’s been known, without warning, to turn into what doctors call acute dying.
Maybe having the benadryl on hand is just to make me feel good, but I have to assume he would have told me to get an EpiPen if the benadryl wasn’t at least partially helpful.
No, no, the original purpose of the “tennis” ball was ammo for Polish Cannons. Tennis is the Polish name for them. I should know, I’m half Polish.
Condoms on the end of your rifle muzzle to keep dirt out. Very popular during the Vietnam war. Don’t know if they are still used for that. Any recent vets able to comment?
I suppose that’s better than chronic dying. I hear chronic dying really sucks.