The term “way ahead of its time” comes to mind today. We tend to think that a new product or a technological breakthrough like, say, the dishwasher, gets the ball rolling with immediate upgrades and copycats until one is in every home across the country.
As you’ll see here, that’s not always the case. Using that same example, what if we told you that the dishwasher was actually patented in 1886?! They wouldn’t become a common household appliance (for people who could actually afford them) until the mid 1950s.
If the poor sap who invented it was looking to get rich, they were about 70 years too early. Here’s that and 12 other early versions of modern things that were sadly way ahead of their time.
1
The Microphone (1876)
Early microphones were developed shortly after the telephone, with Emile Berliner recognizing the need for a stronger transmitter, which amplified the noise that came from Bell's existing model.
2
The Car Radio (1919)
A. H. Grebe, a radio manufacturer from New York, had a setup that included the vacuum tube in the backseat, a small motor to power the vacuum tube, and a separate battery to power the radio itself.
3
The Artificial Heart (1961)
With help from Dr. Henry Heimlich, comedian and ventriloquist Paul Winchell patented the world's first artificial heart in 1961. It wouldn't be until 1982 that Dr. Robert Jarvik's upgrade would become the first successful implantation in a human.
4
The Smartphone (1994)
Thirteen years before the first iPhone, The IBM Simon combined cellular phone capabilities with PDA features like a touchscreen, email, fax, and a calendar. Way ahead of its time, it featured a monochrome LCD screen and a stylus for navigation.
5
The Laptop (1981)
The first widely recognized laptop computer was the Osborne 1, by Osborne Computer Corp. It weighed 24 pounds and featuring a 5-inch screen.
6
Contact Lenses (1887)
Early contact lenses, initially called "scleral lenses," were made of glass and covered the entire eye.
7
The Dishwasher (1886)
Josephine Garis Cochran’s patent had many dish and cup-sized compartments inside a wire cage, with a rotating wheel that squirted hot, soapy water onto the dirty dinnerware. It wouldn't become mass-produced until the 1950s.
8
The E-reader (1922)
While the modern e-reader was released in 2004, inventor Bradley Allen Fiske had entire books printed on pocket-sized strips, and made them readable with a magnifying glass. Readers could carry multiple books with them in their pockets.
9
Streaming Movies & TV (2003)
The first TV station to stream content exclusively over the internet was TVonline by Angelos Diamantoulakis from Greece. Netflix began its streaming service in January 2007.
10
The Battery (1800)
Designed by Italian inventor Alessandro Volta (where we get the term “volt”), he used stacked metal disks and brine-soaked rags to conduct electricity.
11
The Internet (1969)
Shortly before midnight on October 29, 1969, engineers from UCLA sent Stanford Research Institute the word "LOG" one letter at a time over a newly formed network called ARPANET. The setup held the core ingredients that would eventually create the internet as we know it.
12
The MP3 Player (1979)
Two decades before Apple unveiled the iPod, British inventor Kane Kramer filed a patent for his digital audio music player, the IXI. It was roughly the size of a pack of cigarettes, and could hold about three and a half minutes of music.
13
The Cell Phone (1973)
The very first model was invented by Motorola researcher Martin Cooper. It offered just 30 seconds of call time, required 10 hours to charge, and weighed almost 2.5 pounds.
