# Yeah, you think you invented that, don’t you? Inventons made before their time. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678 "2005-07-08T23:24:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/1 "2005-07-08T23:24:53Z")
I listened to **Switched-On Bach** , a 1980s album of the best of Bach, done on synthesizers. It was produced by Don Dorsey. In the liner notes, he talks about how Bach took bits and pieces from Vivaldi. ( I think it was Vivaldi. I can’t really recall.) In the booklet, he referred to this as “sampling.” However, ask a person off the street, and they would think that “sampling was invented recently. So, tell me, who invented the car. No, not that one, the one before him. No, not that one either. No, wait, at second thought, who, of the ∞ number of people who invented the motion picture at the same time actually was the inventor? But really, what concepts and ideas existed far before people think they did? Also, which ideas/things were invented by someone else then is commonly thought? [The Standard OP Disclaimers Apply (TSOPDA)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=318691) ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/2 "2005-07-08T23:29:26Z")
\*\* Inventions \*\* made before their time. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/3 "2005-07-08T23:29:58Z")
My dad claims to have thought of ‘rotating’ advertising boards, showing multiple adverts, long before they became a reality. He never can quite tell me when he thought of them, though. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/4 "2005-07-08T23:31:51Z")
Personally, I thought about making cookies with candy-covered chocolate chips on them, long before I saw such a product on the market. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/5 "2005-07-08T23:36:44Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > I listened to **Switched-On Bach** , a 1980s album of the best of Bach, done on synthesizers. Is that the Wendy Carlos disc? That was released in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/6 "2005-07-08T23:39:56Z")
What? Do you mean Walter Carlos? 😉 But no, you are right about the name, but I am wrong about the album. It was actually [Bachbusters](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000003CTU/qid=1120866978/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/002-2647436-3301641?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846) ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/7 "2005-07-09T00:02:28Z")
In 1979 I worked for a guy who was going to get rich broadcasting rock music videos 24 hours a day. All he needed was a lease (or whatever it took) on an unused satellite transponder (or whatever he thought it was he needed). He talked it up to anyone who might give him financial backing and a professional reputation. I remember getting thrown out of Dick Clark’s office when he tried to get Clark’s name for an endorsement. Most people had the attitude – where the hell are you going to get all those videos? :rolleyes: He really though that all he had to do was cut a deal on the satellite, and everything else would fall into place without him putting up a dime of his own. After all, that is how Hollywood works. 24 Hour rock videos. Who would want something like that? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/8 "2005-07-09T00:43:12Z")
My wife often tells the story about how she told her ex that they should try and develop health insurance for pets. You pay a little every month and if your pet needed surgery, the insurance would cover it. Her ex laughed at her and told her it was stupid. Now they have it. ---
**Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/9 "2005-07-09T00:44:41Z")
Back in high school ('90, I think) I invented [Liquid Pope](http://www.squidgeblossom.com/LP/), but due to the threat of lawsuits, never took it very far. Still, there are a couple hundred bottles of it floating around out there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/10 "2005-07-09T01:50:15Z")
[hijack] Wendy Carlos released **Switched On Bach** in 1968, followed by a series of similar albums, including **The Well Tempered Synthesizer** (1969). Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s (sorru I can’t remember exactly when), she underwent a sex-change operation and has since released albums as Walter Carlos. Just, ya know, FYI. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/11 "2005-07-09T01:54:53Z")
**Snowboarder Bo** , you have that backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/12 "2005-07-09T01:56:35Z")
When reading a technical history of television, I learned the [facsimile machines](http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story051.htm) were invented as early as the 1840s. One system invented by [Giovanni Caselli](http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/caselli.html) was used to send thousands of faxes between Paris and Lyon, France in the period 1865-1870. ---
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/13 "2005-07-09T02:05:19Z")
I thought I invented the Jewish pub/club ‘Bar Mitzvah’ till I saw family Guy. Just wait for my jewish party games though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/14 "2005-07-09T02:11:35Z")
Like pin-the-foreskin-on-the-Jew? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/15 "2005-07-09T02:13:54Z")
Re: fax machines - In the early 80’s while working as a gofer in the meteorology department at the University of Wisconsin, a part of my job was to tear off the recent maps generated by the National Weather Service from the “facsimile machine”. When they appeared in offices years later, everyone was shocked to know they weren’t brand new technology. I was kicking myself for not thinking of the commercial applications at the time and making myself rich. ---
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/16 "2005-07-09T02:18:01Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Like pin-the-foreskin-on-the-Jew? Tasteless as it is, I was actually thinking 'Pin the nail on the saviour :o ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/17 "2005-07-09T04:04:59Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > I was kicking myself for not thinking of the commercial applications at the time and making myself rich. Sounds like Xerox was years ahead of you: > [@](#): > > \*n 1966 Xerox introduced the Magnafax Telecopier, a smaller, 46-pound facsimile machine that was easier to use and could be connected to any telephone line. Using this machine, a letter-sized document took about six minutes to transmit. The process was slow, but it represented a major technological step. It was the first non-xerographic desktop fax machine capable of sending and receiving documents using a regular telephone. Xerox introduced the model 495 in 1981, which converted information on a page to digital form and compressed it for faster transmission. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/18 "2005-07-09T04:18:22Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > Wendy Carlos released \ Sometime in the late 70s or early 80s (sorru I can’t remember exactly when), she underwent a sex-change operation and has since released albums as Walter Carlos. and > [@ErinPuff](#): > > **Snowboarder Bo** , you have that backwards. I thought they were always female, and just used a “Nom de Plume” because computers and synthisizers were considered a guy thing, and her manager felt her records wouldn’t sell otherwise? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/19 "2005-07-09T04:51:00Z")
[Wendy Carlos, born Walter Carlos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos), had sex reassignment surgery in 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678/20 "2005-07-09T04:57:13Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > [Wendy Carlos, born Walter Carlos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos), had sex reassignment surgery in 1972. Cool! Thanks. I love the person’s music. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-you-think-you-invented-that-don-t-you-inventons-made-before-their-time/311678.md?page=2)