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Sometimes we take things we have around for granted. Basically, we assume that this one useful thing we always have available will be like this whenever we travel around the world. And then we learn how wrong we were.
Just like these inventions named in today's listicle. Apparently, they're only popular among people from certain countries and not elsewhere. So, just imagine getting used to utilizing in your day-to-day life only to learn that doing that outside of your country's borders is nearly impossible, because it simply doesn't exist there.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Automatic pasta machine. Guzzles flour and eggs, craps tagliatelle.
RELATED:
#2
The „Superfest“ Glass. Scientists in the GDR developed it, trying to make standard glass more durable. They used the ion exchange method, replacing sodium ions on the glasses surface with potassium ions, this is the same method Gorilla Glass is fastened with. The glass was 15 times more durable than normal glass. When they tried to sell the glasses to other companies and into other (western) countries, they failed, because no one wanted to sell glasses that don’t break. After the reunion of Germany the production got stopped, but today there are still plenty of glasses (mostly in eastern Germany) in use, just because they are so durable.
Mel in Georgia 53 minutes ago
It's ridiculous that we buy so many products that are made to break quickly. I guess it keeps the world's economic machine running, but it's so wasteful and expensive in the long run.
#3
Sauna sausage pipe. You put the sausage in the stone cylinder, place it on the sauna stones and you get a cooked sausage as a post-sauna snack.
Maybe the reason it didn't become an international success is that it makes the whole sauna smell of sausage grease.
Quite a lot of people dream of being the inventors of something big and meaningful, especially when they’re little. In the young days, such a dream seemed like an inviting career path.
Then, over time, you start realizing that, in reality, becoming a renowned inventor might not be as easy as it looked, and you start looking for other career opportunities. And yet, for many, his dream remains in the back of their minds, even if it is an unrealistic one.
#4
The *harrumph* "Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher", a device for people with OCD who also like a boiled egg in the morning. You place it on the egg, pull the ball up and let it *clack* fall down. Creates a perfectly round defined breaking circle to lift the head of the egg...☝️😀...!
sturmwesen 3 hours ago
I think I saw it once in nearly 40 years in a private home. not really common
#5
I guess this tortilla press. You use it literally to make homemade tortillas. Surely they exist in the southern US or something but I would imagine nobody else has it.
#6
Behold the Brazilian eletric shower.
In fact, some even go out of their way to try to make it a reality. Whether doing that in their free time or in their job, sometimes giving up on a dream might seem more impossible than realizing it. And it’s not like no one is successful in doing that – some people do make it as inventors.
Then, they have to go through with filing a patent, which would grant them exclusive rights for their invention, so no one else could take the credit for it, make, use, or sell the creation. Of course, the process of patent filing depends from country to country, but the general idea of it still stands.
#8
Kimchi fridges.
Honestly not exactly useful outside of Korea I guess.
#9
The Robertson screw/fastener. Henry Ford wanted to use the Robertson screw because it was faster and better for assembly, but the inventor wouldn’t give Ford control over manufacturing. The deal collapsed, Ford adopted Phillips instead, and the Robertson never became a global standard.
Just as the possibility of patent rejection. Just because you think you invented something big, doesn’t mean that the people who are responsible for giving out patents will think the same thing.
The fault in getting the patent might fall to inadequate disclosure while filling out the application, or a lack of utility to be patentable. The creation might be viewed as not enough of an “improvement” of the existing creations or just as not a novel thing at all.
#10
The famous Dutch 'trekmuur' (pull-wall). Deep fried snacks that are kept warm like this. You pay with coins (or card for modern ones) and you pull on the lid to open and get an unhealthy snack. Found in cities, amusement parks etc. Really popular at 02:00 in the night with all the drunk folk looking for some food.
#11
Ham Holder/Stand. Don’t really know how to call it in English. It is very common here in Spain to buy and cut ham legs yourself. For that purpose, we have this ham holder to cut ham confortably. Also we have specific ham knifes that I don’t know if they are useful besides cutting hum.
Edit: hahaha I’m sorry friends.I definitely failed in my “Spanish-only device”. Looks like this device is all around the world.🤣.
Mel in Georgia 56 minutes ago
A friend brought us a big Iberian ham from Spain and my husband bought a holder like this for it (not as fancy, though.) Only used it the one time!
#12
The dish drying cabinet was developed in Finland in the 40s. It was build in practically every kitchen but has declined a bit in popularity since dish washing machines have become popular. Still very useful for non-machine-washable stuff.
Yet, this shouldn’t be taken as a discouragement – after all, we live during the times where a few innovation booms have passed. Here, solely from 1900 to 1949, many groundbreaking inventions, such as airplanes, radios, and safety razors, were made. Not to mention the boom of technology innovations in the second half of the 20th century and the first part of the 21st century.
And that’s just taking into account the most well-known innovations. Besides them, there are plenty of others that are known only in certain contexts. Just take a look at the list we’re serving you today.
#13
A bicycle made out of plastic. Go figure why it failed.
#14
The Minitel, used before internet became mainstream. Minitel made it possible to use services (like book train tickets, buy stuff, chat, check opening hours etc., all this just through the telephone lines. As far as I know it never took off outside of France...
#15
Turkey deep-fry pots
Why wait hours for your turkey to roast in the oven when you can turn it into a piece of charcoal in 30 minutes?
It’s of the most disaster-prone cooking vessels ever invented. Every Thanksgiving there are reports of people setting fire to their yards, decks, and homes.
Pandaodboredem22 1 hour ago
Honestly you'd have to be pretty stupid to start a fire with a turkey deep fryer. Add the cold turkey to the fryer after patting off water, add oil to measure, pull the turkey out, heat oil, and very slowly drop in. It says it right in the manual!!!
It’s full of people listing things that are a grand creation in the countries they’re from, but not really anywhere else. Sometimes, some innovations shouldn’t be groundbreaking on a global scale; just a nationwide scale is more than enough.
Does your country have anything that you have never seen anywhere else? What is it?
#16
In Australia (predominantly in South Australia), we have the 'Stobie Pole' - it is a utility/power line pole that is made of two steel beams with a slab of concrete in between them. It was invented out of necessity due to a lack of suitable timber. You can ask permission from the power company to paint artwork onto the pole.
#17
Cuscuzeira. It's a specific type of kitchen utensil used to make Brazilian-style couscous (known as "cuscuz"), most prevalent in the Northeast region of the country.
#18
I was very surprised to not see this so often outside of post-Soviet countries
Not particularly an invention but still
edit with explanation: it's a champagne/ vine cork putten into a metal lid handle. It doesn't take heat so you can take a lid off without using pot holder
edit2: I was told that champagne ones work much better so here is some more knowledge for you
#19
Half Boiled Egg maker from Malaysia.
We eat our eggs here on the runnier side, with soy sauce and black pepper. This invention makes the perfect version of Malaysian Half Boiled eggs. Theres no guessing or timing. Just follow the water.
#20
Girolle.
While a lot have some kind of Fondue pot or Raclette device, I never saw this in a private household outside of Switzerland.
Ace 1 hour ago
Famously from the Jura area, which I often pass. There's a restaurant up there whose name I can't remember, in an old monastery, which I think lays claim to being the original source of this cheese and the spiral device to scrape it off into fan-shaped circles. Ah, here we go maisondelatetedemoine dot ch
#22
The lunch dabba! There’s a whole network of workers called [dabbawalas]
detective miller's hat 33 minutes ago
There's a fancy kitchen/householdy stuff shop near me in NY state that sells these.
#23
In Poland when we go to the beach we take that thing called "parawan" and make our own small private spaces. Not only that but it also stops wind which is common on beaches at the Baltic sea. I don't think I ever saw something like this anywhere else.
#24
For the UK
Sinclair C5 Perfect exhaust pipe inhalation height
Ace 1 hour ago
It never made it in the UK either. Was viewed as a joke by most people. Sir Clive Sinclair, pictured, did have a lot of notable successes, such as some of the earliest pocket calculators, back in the early-mid 1970s. And the first digital watches too, now I come to think about it.
#25
Although there are similar items in certain zones of Portugal, the "botijo" or "búcaro" is one of the most Spaniard things you can have. It keeps water cold even in the worst of Summer.
#26
The traditional South Indian coffee maker. Makes creamy, mellow coffee that would probably send black coffee drinkers into conniptions but is very tasty and easy on the stomach.
sturmwesen 2 hours ago
I looked it up and it works like a vietnamese filter basically. a tin with tiny holes, filled with coffee followed by a metall plate with holes as a weight. you pour the water over the metall plate into the tin, so it seeps through the coffee and the bottom of the tin into a container
#27
"Spätzlepresse" Noodle maker common in southern Germany.
Ace 1 hour ago
Yeah, most people don't make their own Spaetzle, its available fresh chilled for little cost. One of my favourites. A proper chef will make it with a knife on a wooden board, scraping pieces off into a pot of boiling water (I did it myself, successfully, one time only) then cool until needed. Fry up in butter until it gets lovely eggy crispy brown bits on the surface, absolutely delicious. See also Knepfle, a slightly larger version. both very popular in Alsace and across the whole region including Switzerland and Austria.
#28
This is a water filter made of clay.
Very popular in Brazilian homes.
It keeps the water fresh, but with a questionable taste. They say the older the better.
#29
Biltong maker. Make dried meats, like Biltong and Droëwors at home. Just a box with a fan and light. I feel like dried meat is popular kinda everywhere, but not a lot of countries have this in thier homes.
#30
The electric cargo bicycle. Commonly used to pick up kids from school, or transporting larger cargo. It's cheap to use, easier to navigate in a busy city than a car, and parking is always available and free.
#31
Bottle scraper. You use it to scrape the contents out of a bottle or jar that you normally would throw away along with the bottle. Purest example of Dutch thrift.
#32
Electric solo BBQ grill
#33
Swans that made from tires, I guess. Used for decoration
Update: today I learned that this thing is much more common across the world than I thought. Cool
#34
Probably this thing: the Poffertjespan. The best ones are made of cast iron. It's sole purpose is to be able to bake one of our national sweet dishes: poffertjes.
Edit: this is NOT the same as an æbleskiver pan. Poffertjes are shallow diskshaped, not ballshaped like æbleskiver, so the pan's shape is different.
You can't make ballshaped dishes in a poffertjespan, and you can't make decent æbleskiver using a poffertjespan. Trust me, I know 😅
#35
Technically it wasn't legal anywhere but "The Cornballer" was successfully marketed in Mexico.
#36
Rumour has it, is this is quite unique in Germany: The „egg piercer“. You pinch an tiny hole into the bottom part of the shell an it reduces the risk of cracking open while cooking the eggs in a pot of boiling water. Easy physics 😉
There is also the egg-slicer and ofc the „Sollbruchstellen“-tool that earned some popularity in internet puns. But both are more gimmicky, while the piercer is very common in most households.
#37
Freaking "Videoke" machines. Basically a karaoke machine with a tv built in. There's one in every tio's house.
What do you think ?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 hours ago
I want the Bulgarian pepper roasting cylinder XD I was raised in a Mexican/Hispanic family and that would come in handy roasting poblanos and Anaheim peppers for a single person's meal (me!) XD
LakotaWolf (she/her) 2 hours ago
I want the Bulgarian pepper roasting cylinder XD I was raised in a Mexican/Hispanic family and that would come in handy roasting poblanos and Anaheim peppers for a single person's meal (me!) XD
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