# What individual designed the most ubiquitous object
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 8, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418 "2020-05-08T16:54:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/1 "2020-05-08T16:54:22Z")
I looked out my front window and saw a neighbor kid in one of those red and yellow Little Tikes cars. I realized I had seen the exact same car yesterday at my daughter’s house, and I wondered if one individual was the lead designer for that product.
I’m interested in the sort of object that is instantly identifiable - rather than a “technology” such as the phone. Today’s cellphones bear little resemblance to Bell’s invention. Many more daily products were gradual adaptations through time, rather than the product of one or a few people at a specific point in time.
Any ideas? Maybe Post-it notes?
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/2 "2020-05-08T17:17:52Z")
My first thought was Gideon Sundback’s invention of the zipper.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/3 "2020-05-08T17:54:37Z")
That’s a good one! The wiki thread cites Henry Petroski - a very interesting writer.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/4 "2020-05-08T17:56:29Z")
Is this thread to discuss which object is the most ubiquitous, or who designed it?
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/5 "2020-05-08T18:11:25Z")
Possibly John Kemp Starley and his "[safety bicycle"](https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co25833/rover-safety-bicycle-1885-bicycle)?
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/6 "2020-05-08T18:17:11Z")
Who invented buttons on clothes? They predate the zipper.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/7 "2020-05-08T19:03:32Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> Who invented buttons on clothes? They predate the zipper.
If we go that far back, I’d say the sewing needle.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/8 "2020-05-08T19:18:25Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> If we go that far back, I’d say the sewing needle.
I’m going with “string”.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/9 "2020-05-08T19:20:11Z")
Antonio Pasin designed and built the Radio Flyer wagon.
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/10 "2020-05-08T19:27:40Z")
Are we looking for the most ubiquitous item with a single known inventor? Not something that’s just so old that we don’t really know, like a spoon.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/11 "2020-05-08T19:29:12Z")
So - w/ button, string, and needle, you guys got identities for the designers/inventors?
The safety bike seems to have a pretty direct relation to modern bikes - tho I suspect there are more zippers. I certainly own several times as many zippers as bikes…
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### Author:  [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/12 "2020-05-08T19:51:07Z")
Most ubiquitous consumer item, say experts: plastic bags, invented by Gustaf Thulin Sten.
Ubiquitous item I thought of: screw-on caps, invented by George Mason (of Mason jars).
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/13 "2020-05-08T20:50:06Z")
> [@Keeve](#):
>
> Is this thread to discuss which object is the most ubiquitous, or who designed it?
I read the OP’s intent as: “What is the most ubiquitous object for which a single named inventor is known?”
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/14 "2020-05-08T20:52:26Z")
How about Johan Vaaler - inventor of the paper clip
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### Author:  [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/15 "2020-05-08T20:56:52Z")
László Bíró and his ballpoint pen.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/16 "2020-05-08T20:57:43Z")
Osbourn Dorsey. He’s the guy that invented the modern door knob. He was awarded a patent in 1878.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/17 "2020-05-08T21:01:06Z")
Who invented the wheel or fire? 🙂 These people were first to portray the wheel [Elam - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elam)
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### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/18 "2020-05-08T21:02:10Z")
Henry Phillips - Phillips Head screw and screwdriver. Yes, his head was exactly shaped like that. Wikipedia says it it "the world’s most popular screw’ and since a lot of things have screws it must be pretty ubiquitous.
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### Author:  [@Kedikat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kedikat)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/19 "2020-05-08T23:34:33Z")
What about a pointed stick?
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-individual-designed-the-most-ubiquitous-object/853418/20 "2020-05-08T23:36:32Z")
Froog the Caveman and the wheel.
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