Ice stick freezer trays. Depressions the size of a carpenter’s pencil would turn out ice shaped to slide through the neck of a small pop bottle.
By Phil Liston, Wooster, Ohio.
June 1959
You can purchase these from Amazon…
Creative Ideas From The Past
Car top garment bags fitted with long straps that could be passed through the windows and buckled. Clothes hung inside a car cut visibility.
By F.M.Matthews, Millington, Tenn.
June 1959
Obviously, this was a great idea as your car rooftop storage bags are commonplace nowadays and are used for storing all kinds of things, not just clothes.
Here’s one you can purchase from Amazon…
Hinged aluminum tents you could fold up for easy transporting. They’d be waterproof and rustproof and would reflect the sun to make a cool shelter.
By R.Eschleman, Reading, Pa.
June 1959
Alternatively, you can purchase a modern-day ten from Amazon…
Two-ended nails for invisible joinings without drilling. Set a tube on the head to drive in one end, then drive the work onto the other end.
By J.L.Barrett, Beckley, W.Va.
June 1958
Cement bags like shopping bags, with handles and tough pasteboard bottoms to keep the unused contents of an opened bag dry and off the ground.
By Bobby Burns, Whiteville, N.C.
June 1958
My guess is you’d need some strong arms!!
A rear air duct in cars to permit air entering front ventilators to escape. This would make it unnecessary to open windows in rainy weather.
By J.C.Culler, Newberry, S.C.
June 1958
Stamp-dispensing cash registers. They’d hold rolls of premium or gift stamps and release the correct number as the bill total is rung up.
By Bob Lee, Redondo Beach, California.
June 1958
Inflatable furniture of heavy plastic for use outdoors – or indoors when extra seating is required. Deflated it could be easily stored away and take little space.
By R.C.Dunne, La Grange, Ill.
June 1958
You can purchase an inflatable lounger from Amazon…
Precast building blocks with molded-in recesses to take electric outlet boxes. This would save a lot of hammering and chipping out of concrete.
By H.P.Fischer, Rochester, Pa.
July 1962
Self-sealing pockets on swimsuits. A waterproof flapless pocket of heavy polyplastic, grooved at the top so the sides stick together similar to Zip-Lock bags would do it.
By R-J.West, Chicago.
July 1962
You can purchase some men’s swimming shorts with a sealed pocket from Amazon…