Invention Fails

Fresh off the Press

The Car That Wanted A Mini Nuclear Heart (and Nope)

In 1958 Ford sketched a tiny car with a nuclear reactor in its butt and the 1950s were charmingly delusional about that sort of thing.Read More

They Tried To Smash Cities With Bats, Properly Daft

In WWII the US actually trained bats to carry tiny incendiaries so they'd roost in wooden houses and start fires - and it worked well enough to be terrifying.Read More

Edison's Creepy Talking Doll That Couldn't Keep a Job

In the 1890s Edison shoved a tiny phonograph into a child's doll and the world collectively decided some things should stay silent.Read More

The Great Panjandrum: When Britain Invented a Rampaging Rocket Wheel

During WWII Britain briefly decided the best way to break a concrete seawall was to tow a pair of rocket-driven wooden wheels full of explosives, and then had a very awkward afternoon on the beach.Read More

They Hung Babies Outside Windows And Called It Fresh Air

Back when folk thought dangling your nipper outside the flat was common sense, so they bolted a wire cage to the sill and called it childcare.Read More
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