In the world of American 1950s inventions, even regular housewives felt like they were just a step away from a genius patent and great success. But were their ideas any good?
Both of my parents come from the countryside and later moved to Warsaw to study at university. As late as the 60s, my dad would travel to his school across Poland by a steam train. My mum told me that deodorants and sanitary pads only became available in the 70s for her. I still remember when communism ended and suddenly all those new things were available: the first time we bought a coconut and didn't know how to eat it, lol. Or a fresh pineapple. Oranges to this day evoke Christmastime to me, because for so long they were only available in that season and were a treat. And the arrival of cable TV and all those german channels with ads of amazing toys we didn't have. Ah, nostalgia!
Confession I was born in 1952, so I remember at least the later 50s. I remember when my parents bought our first television which had a tiny black & white screen about 8” across, and we had our choice of two channels. One of the main principles our parents instilled in us was gratitude for everything we had. They were products of the Great Depression and the rationing of WW2. By today’s standards we were probably lower middle class; but gratitude made us feel privileged to have what we possessed.
When my grandma got a television for the first time she used to shush her kids while the news reporter talked and apologize for the noise, it took her a couple of weeks to get it didnt work like a telephone
the light inside the purse would be a huge help for women at night, if you're alone or in a dangerous place and need to find your keys/phone/mace quickly- especially being triggered by opening the top, it's genius.
Luckily it's another idea that exists now! My mom has a light like this in a large tote bag she uses for work, it can be hard seeing things at the bottom even in good lighting. It's clipped onto one of the bag's straps.
People definitely had the innovation mind set in America in the 1950's & 1960's. Even when I was growing up in the 1960's & '70's, a common phrase/question was; "If we can send a man to the Moon, why can't we...?".
I was talking to a group of people who were all 80+ years old. They talked about the fruit truck, the milk truck, and the bread truck that used to deliver food to their homes growing up. Sounds like an old-school version of grubhub or instacart.
The tricycle-lawnmower made me laugh, because now we have baby mops, and although I don't recommend, the thought process is still the same : "my child is doing a lot of goings and comings, how do I make this into something useful ?"
As someone who owns kid-sized tools for chores, it’s not to make the kid useful … it’s because the kids want to help me with my chores. If I’m sweeping up, they want to help. If I’m vacuuming, they’re fighting over who can push it next.
@@ElizabethChronis I was talking about onesies specially designed to gather dust when the baby is crawling on the floor, making the baby unintentionally help cleaning. I wasn't talking about tools designed for kids to voluntarily immitate adults
Also, can confirm as an American that we basically pretend combo washer and dryer doesn’t exist here. Like, you have to ship them from other places if you are the rare person to think of it. I’ve been in multiple strong discussions about their existence alone. Drives me crazy. 😅
The first one I ever saw was when my grandparents moved into a senior apartment building. The apartments came with stacked washer dryer units (dryer on top) in a little closet, but they had to swap for a combo because my grandmother was too short to comfortably reach the dryer! Before that no one in my family knew such a thing existed, since we'd all had side by side units before.
I was thinking a similar thing. I saw someone discussing "reusable paper towels" in a non-ironic way on one of the "clean with me" channels on UA-cam that I usually put on when I need that extra motivation to clean. I had to do a double take. "Reusable paper towels? You mean a WASH RAG?"
I was thinking about that too. It must've been godawful to wash the handkerchief you've been using all day for your nose, especially without running water.
My history teacher ran an invention competition every year as our final for the class. We needed to right it up like we were patenting it. He also chose 1 kid to take to our state capital to patent their idea. I don't know if any of the patents were ever invented, but this was in the late 90's and I know part of my idea and other kids ideas are things now that weren't then. I wonder if he got the idea from his mom or grandma's old magazines?
They had/have those. At least remember them being connected to a brand of purses I can no longer remember. I was a child then, so I never owned one. I just remember playing with some in stores.
I had one, but you were stuck with that one purse and the light came on whether you needed it or not. Kinda like a car interior light, and wasn't always helpful as it was on the side of the purse. More useful was a key chain light.
For breaking in shoes - you can ask a shoemaker (or try doing it on your own) to do that for you. The general idea is to take a small hammer or mallet and smack the back of the shoe from the inside until the leather softens up and becomes less stiff. I had that done years ago on my at the time favourite pair of sandals i couldn't wear without putting 2 layers of bandaids on my heels first and just like that in few minutes they were soft and maleable and fit like a glove, moving with my heels instead of stiffly rubbing against them.
My grandpa had so many do dads in his garage that he made especially to solve problems he had around the house. People had more time to be inventive or were used to coming up with things to make their lives easier
Yeah, I have one (I'm Polish like Karolina), we don't really have dryers here because they're unecessary and take up space but if they're already a part of the washing machine it's handy.
Thank you Karolina for sharing these stories with us, I feel like it’s bittersweet for me to hear about things from the past, because I wasn’t there to see them, but I’m so grateful that I’m able to hear them.
Interesting fact. I imagine that space in homes in Europe are getting smaller as the population goes up but that is not entirely the case in the US. Homes have been getting bigger over here over the decades. In the 50s, homes were about 1700 square feet. Today, excluding the tiny-home movement, homes are about 2200 square feet. Add to that that people are having fewer children, the average square foot per person is much higher than it was in the 50s. Of course, that's assuming you can afford to buy a house. Or even afford rent.
In the US it also really depends on where you live. Houses in suburban and rural areas are getting bigger, but space can be very limited for those who live in apartments in large cities. Having laundry facilities in your own apartment or even in the same building is unfortunately an unattainable dream for a lot of people.
@annemcrowell yes, that is true. I myself live in a 274 Sq foot efficiency with a waist high fridge with no freezer. Everything other than the bathroom is all one room.
In the 1950's, many appliances, such as washers & dryers & pre-made food or partially made food, became popular in American homes that saved housewives time & effort, which freed women up to work away from home, leading to extensive social & cultural change.
I am 72, I can not think of one woman I knew that didn't work. The housewife thing was on TV shows. My mom was a nurse, my friends moms worked as a phone operator, receptionist, waitress, teacher
@Bildgesmythe The TV portrayed Bourgeois housewives. Maybe not in all areas, but in much of the US, once women got married, there was too much work in the house to do, washing clothes, preparing food, washing dishes, preserving food, raising children, etc. It was Sun up, to Sundown work. You may too young, since you came of age in the 1960's, but in the 1950's, it was unusual for an upper middle class, married with children woman to work outside of the house in America.
Have you tried leather softener balm for your sandals? I used this stuff for old leather ice skating shoes and it made them fit so well. The leather was completely hard and bent inwards.
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 I've had luck finding leather softeners, conditioners and cleaners at farm supply / feed stores. Anywhere that sells horse tack or cowboy / farm / work boots. Hope this helps get you started ❤
I have just learned today that ambulances have fluorescent paint 😅 Also, I love how some of this ideas have become this tik tok viral, AliExpress classic product like the blanket with sleeves. I wouldn't be surprised if I see a temu ad of a mechanical foot to break in your shoes one day. 😂
@@olgahein4384 Edit: I looked it up (English is not my first language) and no, it's not the same. What the person is asking for is a machine that moves like it's walking, to create the same effect as you wearing your new shoes for a few days but without having to endure the pain.
@@msjkramey Yes, I know, but it's the kind of very extra not particularly practical product that you see advertised on informercials or ads on social media. I mean, robes exist and have been existing for years, the use of a blanket with sleeves is a bit specific
This will not apply to all, not even all Puerto Ricans. Maybe not exactly fluorescent, because they are tiny… so Bioluminescent bays (PR has 3) have tiny dots of light, fluorescent-like, floating in the water at night. Because of an organism, plankton? That emits light. Not exactly the same, but maybe that is my ancestors closest experience with fluorescent yellow. BTW, absolutely love Textory!
Throughout this whole episode I was thinking of a character from my favorite TV show Twin Peaks. The character is Nadine and she's obsessed with creating a Completely Silent Drape Runner.
In some parts of the US at least (I live in California), fire service vehicles and ambulances associated with fire departments (not private ambulance companies) are painted bright yellow for heightened visibility. This is not universal, but it can help, so it is a good idea. Ambulances and tow trucks are often white for similar reasons. They do have reflective stripes, but bright florescent paint is absolutely a thing in the Western US, especially in places where wildfires are prevalent. Yellow vehicles are easier to see in heavy smoke, AND no other type of vehicle is really allowed to be that color yellow.
Supermarkets have the bread slicers. What we need is a domestic model. I bet one could be procured somewhere, though it might take years of looking lol
They exist and I love it! My dad started baking sourdough bread regularly, using a bread knife was tricky, so he bought a bread slicer. It takes up about as much space as a toaster, and you can adjust how thick you want the slices.
Those have been around for a long time. My aunt had one when I was a kid in the 1970s. Basically it's an upright wheel cutter that you turn with a handle and feed the bread into. Like the other commenter said, you can adjust the thickness of the slices too.
@@aprillen Have never seen or heard of a domestic one in Ireland in my life. But good to know they're probably on Amazon if ever I have a kitchen to put it in 😅
Re: the auto light in the purse: I think people with visibility issues would find this extremely handy, like I have night blindness and even if it's the sun is setting,I have issues seeing everything in a purse. Makes me not want to use one at all or use a tiny one when there's really a lot more I could be carrying around
One of my handbags does have a little torch inside it. It's kind of a pain to use because you have to hold a button down for it to be lit, but it's helped me find things in there a few times.
This one was so much more interesting than previous ones! not that the other ones weren't interesting too though, I enjoyed all of them but there's something so entertaining about this and how we can compare what exists now compared to then. And I loved what you said about people imagining things through the lens of the times with the buttons and lights instead of nowadays with tactile/hologram stuff! also gave me a little inside brain game to help me fall asleep lmao I spent a little while wondering what in my day to day life was annoying and what product could be invented to make that better, I haven't thought of a lot that don't already have an existent product to solve the problem, but some I did haha Anyway I hope this podcast never ends cause I've been wanting to listen to more podcasts to help on the days where everything drains me of energy but I still need entertainment, but struggle to find any that are interesting to me, and yours is perfect cause I already know your voice from your videos, love your sense of humor and the topics are super interesting so I stan!!
What's wild is I actually did have a (great) uncle who lived in America and invented some kind of textile machine in the 50s and became a millionaire. Unfortunately I live in England so this did not help me at all 😂
There's also a difference with how to sell inventions now days. Someone who loves inventing can sell a 3d print or whatever on etsy instead of making sure it's a viable business model. My mother in law designed some cloth diapers with snaps when she was a young mom (so 80s or 90s... I'm actually not sure when). It didn't work out but there are so many people who have been able to sell their own cloth diapers they've sewn today with the internet. So you know different dynamics. I live in Arizona, a lot of the way we've used water in the recent past is based on 50s ideas. It really irks me that a bunch of people in Mesa don't want to stop flood irrigation of their grass yards because it's "historical." It's cheaper for the company because they don't clean the water they use for flooding. The issue is the large amount it's wasting on very few people.
Re purse light 💡 “What situation would you use that in? When are you in total darkness… like??” Karolina, tell me you’ve never been to the club (or at least those with techno/strobe lights) without telling me you’ve never been to the club 😂 That light would come in extremely handy! Also, in regular theatres, cinemas, at night, for those cavernous f*cking tote bags, etc. Loving this podcast so far; I could listen to you wax historical for ages! 😊
I used one all the time when I had to ride the bus to and from school or work and frequently had to be out before sunrise or after sunset. Some things I could just grab out of my purse blindly, but sometimes I needed something that wasn't as easy to find, and the street lights weren't enough.
@@erinzeb exactly! And who knows what style of bag you’re wearing (based on what’s trending, which one goes with the fit, etc) because some are easier to rummage through than others and some (I’m looking at you, bucket/tote bags) have zero separate pockets inside for organisation and are downright infuriating to search through! I always keep a mini flashlight in my bag… but finding the flashlight itself with my blind fingers, so that I can then turn it on and find whatever I need, is a whole struggle by itself 😑
@@autumn_equinox Yep! Purse organizers can be a help with big, cavernous purses. If you attach the flashlight to a lanyard and attach the lanyard to the purse strap, you can just fish it out without having to search for it.
I don't think I agree wholeheartedly with your point, because those people weren't actually fixing their problems, they were asking for someone to fix their problems in a specific way. That person with the blanket could have sewn it themselves/got someone to sew it for them (and maybe they did, but they did also phrase the request like "why isn't this mass-manufactured so I can just buy it :("). In Germany, there's a saying that goes "poverty/scarcity makes inventive", because with limited options you use the stuff you have in a way that serves the purposes that you need. That's why I'm not so sure that the spirit of fixing stuff would have been especially prominent in the US in the fifties. On the other hand, I have no proof, this is just a gut feeling, and anyway the fixing-spirit was probably more prominent in the 50s than today
I have seen asymmeric umbrellas! But I imagine those become harder to fold and you also have to pay more attention to hold them the right way. It's just cumbersome.
Couple of thoughts: what you described as the social and political climate in Poland reminded me of a book called 'The Gulag Archipelago." It's an interesting read. The blanket with sleeves is an 'as seen on tv' item from (I think) the late 90s or early 2000s called a snuggie. They're made out of a horrible polyester fleece though...I like the idea of cotton or wool much more! I disagree that people don't have innovative ideas anymore, though I do think limitations on our time and money prevent people from implementing their ideas in a way that brings them to other people. I think the most practical way to enter a commercial market with a new product at this point in time is to send the specs for your invention too a company overseas to manufacture it and then start drop shipping it. Then, of course, you'll need to keep your prices low enough to compete with the rest of the middlemen that will also, inevitably, start drop shipping your product too.
hearing Kalamath Falls caught my attention, here in Oregon we have entirely florescent yellow/green firetrucks and ambulances in some small communities. Im so curious if Ms C E Merritt's idea really worked here!???
If the mechanical foot to break in shoes was ever made then every ballerina in the world would be first in line. Imagine a mechanical foot, molded to match your foot, breaking in your new pointe shoes just enough???
I want to know more about English language education in Poland. It's kind of amazing that any ESL student knows how to pronounce place names like "Omaha". (Not English words to begin with, but Native American) Or where the accent goes in "Colorado Springs"(Spanish + English). Some countries teach British English and others American, but would that help? There was a time when border guards would ask people coming from Mexico to the US to pronounce Iowa's capital, Des Moines, as a shibboleth to identify real US citizens. Such innocent times. OSP has a great video on why it's not even wrong to say "Rome" instead of "Roma", because Italians can't agree either. I just learned "axe" is the older English pronunciation of "ask". What is my point? I don't know. I like your pronunciations better than the American ones.
I was impressed that she said "mothers-in-law," when pretty much everyone says it wrong. It's not "mother-in-laws" when you're talking about more than one. I listened to a Polish podcast she did on Amazon. I had no idea what she was talking about, but it was fun. She said popular French phrases and occasionally American slang. That made me laugh because that's how you know we've introduced a word to global culture that didn't exist. I don't remember what it was, but "OK" is an early example of that happening.
18:30 No, people in the 50s (usa or Poland) didn't have mpre space per person. They shared utility space communally. It might have been a family of 4+ people living in your flat but they or a rich enough individual could still hire out laundry or buy time at a communal laundry place to get acess to dry cleaning) The projection of 50s white America was accessible to an unprecedented number of Americans but still a low ratio of the population and in houses and flats significantly smaller than the current average at the same income level with more residents.
the shoe thing, as you said peoples feet are surprisingly unique. You could perhaps make mechanical feet to break in shoes, but the feet mold would have to be made for each person. On the breaking in leather shoes, wear sligthly dampened socks and the new shoes at home. Leather molds easiest with moisture and heat.
I think there are a few reasons why average people don't seem to invent things anymore. For one, there is a heavier cultural influence to buy less and have less clutter, so people aren't necessarily looking for new gadgets to fill their homes with. Two, products tended to be higher quality back then, not made with the cheapest materials and the cheapest labor available, so if you did buy these newer inventions, you could expect them to last. And three, because of the technology the last couple generations (including myself) have become accustomed to, I think we have become much less innovative and creative. Our brains seek instant gratification. We don't sit and think about things for very long or as often. So we are much less motivated to spend the time and energy to solve small problems by inventing new products. (Speaking as an American)
Unfortunately, in the USA there's no mandate to put an "L" sticker on a car. Some people put "Student Driver" stickers on, but that's purely by choice and not by mandate. I wonder if the reason we don't have it is because older drivers sometimes like to haze younger drivers (ugh)
I think there are also adults who label their cars that way so they can drive slowly and stupid. I don't know why people want to drive 20 miles UNDER the speed limit in the left lane.
Can't believe you endorse the wild idea of thermostatic device installed on a phone that warns emergency services (like how is that supposed to work) but you dismiss a small lamp in a bag. I was SO convinced you would love the idea bc man, my bags and purses are just annoying to go trough esp when I am walking outside when it's dark, but I guess I should just learn to organize better, haha
I suppose the previous era's people saw the fluorescent colours when they hit their heads unexpectedly hard 😀 I see almost epileptic stars in such cases 🤣
Klamath Falls! that's, well, not close to where I live, but it IS in the same state! it's not often one hears Klamath Falls outside of Oregon or Northern California.
my mom "invented" (i.e., came up with the genius idea of) flushable toilet seat liners in a kleenex-style pop-up pack that fits in your purse so that you could lay one down on the seat of a public toilet without all the fuss of pre-wiping it and then laying down a "nest" of tp. she dubbed her "invention" "neatie seaties." decades later, we saw such things in a store, albeit minus my mom's clever name. i "invented" "bidet spray" (the idea but not the product or the name) and saw such a product exactly once a few years ago in my local hippie store never to be seen again. (yes, we're sicilian and thus obsessed with toilet cleanliness...don't ask.)
I have an idea for women. POCKETS. I read a while ago that 19th-century men are the reason for the removal of women's pockets so women would have to rely more on men for money. I haven't researched it. Karolina, do you have anything to say about this?
Prawdopodobnie poruszany już kiedyś temat, lecz zbyt rzadko przeglądam ten kanał... What are your takes on slow vs fast fashion in the context of the future?
It´s a kangaroo blanket.😀 I love mine😀 Why don´t you make sewing one a project maybe with a historical flair (like embroidery, material or historical sewing)?
hi i have a dumb question cos i cannot find answer for it anywhere: when women were wearing these corset dresses back in like for example marie antoinette times, like the ones that have these deep cleavages. are there any information about stuff falling out of it? was it a common thing? cos when i look at the old painitngs of these dresses they look like that could happen. was it sth so common that it was socially acceptable?
What made the US a vibrant economy was cheap energy . The easier and cheaper it becomes to generate energy the better life becomes. Today the US (and most of the West) has become just the opposite. Remember Obama words "Under my plan electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket".
People also shopped at local stores. Now everything is owned by huge corporations that underpay employees. The super rich have most of the wealth of the country. Factories left the country to take advantage of super cheap labor.
@@Bildgesmythe Every company tries to produce as cheaply as possible to make the product the consumer wants. And it used to be the USA to mass produce what the world needed. That's why it won world war 2 because it could outproduce everyone else.
In the west there is an underbelly of disenfranchised people living in poverty , who have little justice and no voice. In communism everybody is disenfranchised, lives in poverty has no justice and is expected to use their voice on whatever way the regime orders.
And what do you think the new ''green'' utopian state will be ? Why do you think farmers all over Europe are protesting when they still can ? If your grandparents were alive how many resembles would they see between Utopia Red and Utopia Green. Every time a very small group of 'elite' knows what is best for the rest of humanity it should make you cautious of what the real deal is.
I found a critical issue with your new content - You released this video two days ago and I thought YT recommends the one from a month ago. Changing the thumbnail might be necessary, otherwise people may think the same and just ignore it.
Both of my parents come from the countryside and later moved to Warsaw to study at university. As late as the 60s, my dad would travel to his school across Poland by a steam train. My mum told me that deodorants and sanitary pads only became available in the 70s for her. I still remember when communism ended and suddenly all those new things were available: the first time we bought a coconut and didn't know how to eat it, lol. Or a fresh pineapple. Oranges to this day evoke Christmastime to me, because for so long they were only available in that season and were a treat. And the arrival of cable TV and all those german channels with ads of amazing toys we didn't have. Ah, nostalgia!
Confession
I was born in 1952, so I remember at least the later 50s. I remember when my parents bought our first television which had a tiny black & white screen about 8” across, and we had our choice of two channels.
One of the main principles our parents instilled in us was gratitude for everything we had. They were products of the Great Depression and the rationing of WW2. By today’s standards we were probably lower middle class; but gratitude made us feel privileged to have what we possessed.
When my grandma got a television for the first time she used to shush her kids while the news reporter talked and apologize for the noise, it took her a couple of weeks to get it didnt work like a telephone
@@tomnyskullthat is quite adorable ❤
the light inside the purse would be a huge help for women at night, if you're alone or in a dangerous place and need to find your keys/phone/mace quickly- especially being triggered by opening the top, it's genius.
Luckily it's another idea that exists now! My mom has a light like this in a large tote bag she uses for work, it can be hard seeing things at the bottom even in good lighting. It's clipped onto one of the bag's straps.
Textory is history with a side of pastry.
People definitely had the innovation mind set in America in the 1950's & 1960's. Even when I was growing up in the 1960's & '70's, a common phrase/question was; "If we can send a man to the Moon, why can't we...?".
Then we went into a decline and that mindset slowly dwindled 😅
I was talking to a group of people who were all 80+ years old. They talked about the fruit truck, the milk truck, and the bread truck that used to deliver food to their homes growing up. Sounds like an old-school version of grubhub or instacart.
The tricycle-lawnmower made me laugh, because now we have baby mops, and although I don't recommend, the thought process is still the same : "my child is doing a lot of goings and comings, how do I make this into something useful ?"
As someone who owns kid-sized tools for chores, it’s not to make the kid useful … it’s because the kids want to help me with my chores. If I’m sweeping up, they want to help. If I’m vacuuming, they’re fighting over who can push it next.
@@ElizabethChronis I was talking about onesies specially designed to gather dust when the baby is crawling on the floor, making the baby unintentionally help cleaning. I wasn't talking about tools designed for kids to voluntarily immitate adults
I remember several years ago seeing kids' cleaning toys labeled as "for girls." 🙄
I have a husky who could probably drag some stuff around for me. 😁
Also, can confirm as an American that we basically pretend combo washer and dryer doesn’t exist here. Like, you have to ship them from other places if you are the rare person to think of it. I’ve been in multiple strong discussions about their existence alone. Drives me crazy. 😅
Lol, i've seen Americans getting very heated when Europeans (and even people from some parts of Asia) tell them they don't need dryers at all.
The first one I ever saw was when my grandparents moved into a senior apartment building. The apartments came with stacked washer dryer units (dryer on top) in a little closet, but they had to swap for a combo because my grandmother was too short to comfortably reach the dryer! Before that no one in my family knew such a thing existed, since we'd all had side by side units before.
@@annemcrowell I feel this so hard. I basically climb a latter to get to my stacker dryer. Lol
I had one in an apartment in Michigan 25 years ago. They’re out there.
I had one in Tampa. A very old apartment complex finally installed a washer/dryer combo in each unit bc their laundry room plumbing was unrepairable
Reusable tissues? I think they mean a handkerchief 🤣
I was thinking a similar thing. I saw someone discussing "reusable paper towels" in a non-ironic way on one of the "clean with me" channels on UA-cam that I usually put on when I need that extra motivation to clean. I had to do a double take. "Reusable paper towels? You mean a WASH RAG?"
@thoughtsofelizabeth Reusable paper towel? You mean a... towel? 😅😂 (My family would cut up old towels to use as cleaning rags)
I was thinking about that too. It must've been godawful to wash the handkerchief you've been using all day for your nose, especially without running water.
@faireduchemin I actually use old clothes that I cut up as wash rags. I've got hand towels, too.
@@thoughtsofelizabeth That makes sense. It's the reusable *tissue* I don't like to think about.
My history teacher ran an invention competition every year as our final for the class. We needed to right it up like we were patenting it. He also chose 1 kid to take to our state capital to patent their idea. I don't know if any of the patents were ever invented, but this was in the late 90's and I know part of my idea and other kids ideas are things now that weren't then. I wonder if he got the idea from his mom or grandma's old magazines?
About the purse light, I'd totally use that. I constantly have to use my phone flashlight to see the contents of my bag and find stuff
Yeeees, I agree!! 😃
They had/have those. At least remember them being connected to a brand of purses I can no longer remember. I was a child then, so I never owned one. I just remember playing with some in stores.
I had one, but you were stuck with that one purse and the light came on whether you needed it or not. Kinda like a car interior light, and wasn't always helpful as it was on the side of the purse. More useful was a key chain light.
For breaking in shoes - you can ask a shoemaker (or try doing it on your own) to do that for you. The general idea is to take a small hammer or mallet and smack the back of the shoe from the inside until the leather softens up and becomes less stiff. I had that done years ago on my at the time favourite pair of sandals i couldn't wear without putting 2 layers of bandaids on my heels first and just like that in few minutes they were soft and maleable and fit like a glove, moving with my heels instead of stiffly rubbing against them.
My grandpa had so many do dads in his garage that he made especially to solve problems he had around the house. People had more time to be inventive or were used to coming up with things to make their lives easier
Today I learned there are washer/dryer machines.
Also I was reminded of the Snuggie.
Yeah, I have one (I'm Polish like Karolina), we don't really have dryers here because they're unecessary and take up space but if they're already a part of the washing machine it's handy.
Thank you Karolina for sharing these stories with us, I feel like it’s bittersweet for me to hear about things from the past, because I wasn’t there to see them, but I’m so grateful that I’m able to hear them.
You are such a valuable person to have on earth I’m so happy you exist lol
Honestly favorite episode yet. I love listening to the real invention ideas. Gave me those Disney shorts with all the ridiculous inventions but smart.
Interesting fact. I imagine that space in homes in Europe are getting smaller as the population goes up but that is not entirely the case in the US. Homes have been getting bigger over here over the decades. In the 50s, homes were about 1700 square feet. Today, excluding the tiny-home movement, homes are about 2200 square feet. Add to that that people are having fewer children, the average square foot per person is much higher than it was in the 50s.
Of course, that's assuming you can afford to buy a house. Or even afford rent.
In the US it also really depends on where you live. Houses in suburban and rural areas are getting bigger, but space can be very limited for those who live in apartments in large cities. Having laundry facilities in your own apartment or even in the same building is unfortunately an unattainable dream for a lot of people.
@annemcrowell yes, that is true. I myself live in a 274 Sq foot efficiency with a waist high fridge with no freezer. Everything other than the bathroom is all one room.
This is the perfect background podcast, funny and educationnal ?
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as an entrepreneurship major I loooved this episode. thank you!
I love this take on podcasts. It feels like an under appreciated topic. Thank you and look forward to the next one! 🎉
Washing machines that also have a dryer in them are a wonderful modern luxury!
In the 1950's, many appliances, such as washers & dryers & pre-made food or partially made food, became popular in American homes that saved housewives time & effort, which freed women up to work away from home, leading to extensive social & cultural change.
I am 72, I can not think of one woman I knew that didn't work. The housewife thing was on TV shows. My mom was a nurse, my friends moms worked as a phone operator, receptionist, waitress, teacher
@Bildgesmythe The TV portrayed Bourgeois housewives.
Maybe not in all areas, but in much of the US, once women got married, there was too much work in the house to do, washing clothes, preparing food, washing dishes, preserving food, raising children, etc. It was Sun up, to Sundown work. You may too young, since you came of age in the 1960's, but in the 1950's, it was unusual for an upper middle class, married with children woman to work outside of the house in America.
Damn, made myself some tea at just the right time.
Have you tried leather softener balm for your sandals? I used this stuff for old leather ice skating shoes and it made them fit so well. The leather was completely hard and bent inwards.
Where do I get something like that? At a shoe repair office?
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 I've had luck finding leather softeners, conditioners and cleaners at farm supply / feed stores. Anywhere that sells horse tack or cowboy / farm / work boots. Hope this helps get you started ❤
Worked fine with my napoleonic military leather reenactment shoes.
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 I got it at a normal shoe store.
I have just learned today that ambulances have fluorescent paint 😅
Also, I love how some of this ideas have become this tik tok viral, AliExpress classic product like the blanket with sleeves. I wouldn't be surprised if I see a temu ad of a mechanical foot to break in your shoes one day. 😂
You mean shoe trees?
@@olgahein4384 Edit: I looked it up (English is not my first language) and no, it's not the same. What the person is asking for is a machine that moves like it's walking, to create the same effect as you wearing your new shoes for a few days but without having to endure the pain.
The blanket with sleeves has been around for a while now. The original brand was called a Snuggy
@@msjkramey Yes, I know, but it's the kind of very extra not particularly practical product that you see advertised on informercials or ads on social media. I mean, robes exist and have been existing for years, the use of a blanket with sleeves is a bit specific
All these inventions sound very interesting, I’m curious to see the illustrations of them ahah
17:55 when you're in that dark back alley trying to find your ɾαρɐ whistle and shadowy figures are luring in
16:27 Ice cream forks are actually rather cool. They’re kind of halfway between a spoon and a fork: basically a spork.
50's TV shows were not the true story.
We were not suffering but were not smug.
YES! My life was fine but it was nothing like the TV families! There was horrible social issues and all the women I knew worked outside the home.
I love this podcast, it’s what I choose when I go for walks. It’s like using a friend along for the walk. 🥳❤️
18:03 Here in Sweden we have a sign that says ”Övningskör ” witch means student driver.
This will not apply to all, not even all Puerto Ricans. Maybe not exactly fluorescent, because they are tiny… so Bioluminescent bays (PR has 3) have tiny dots of light, fluorescent-like, floating in the water at night. Because of an organism, plankton? That emits light. Not exactly the same, but maybe that is my ancestors closest experience with fluorescent yellow.
BTW, absolutely love Textory!
Throughout this whole episode I was thinking of a character from my favorite TV show Twin Peaks. The character is Nadine and she's obsessed with creating a Completely Silent Drape Runner.
In some parts of the US at least (I live in California), fire service vehicles and ambulances associated with fire departments (not private ambulance companies) are painted bright yellow for heightened visibility. This is not universal, but it can help, so it is a good idea. Ambulances and tow trucks are often white for similar reasons. They do have reflective stripes, but bright florescent paint is absolutely a thing in the Western US, especially in places where wildfires are prevalent. Yellow vehicles are easier to see in heavy smoke, AND no other type of vehicle is really allowed to be that color yellow.
$5 in 1950 was a lot of money.
First time listening to the podcast, and omg where have I been?! I love it!
Just want to say how much I look forward to your podcast! A proper highlight to me in my life right now; thank you for your effort 😊❤️
Supermarkets have the bread slicers. What we need is a domestic model. I bet one could be procured somewhere, though it might take years of looking lol
They exist and I love it! My dad started baking sourdough bread regularly, using a bread knife was tricky, so he bought a bread slicer. It takes up about as much space as a toaster, and you can adjust how thick you want the slices.
Those have been around for a long time. My aunt had one when I was a kid in the 1970s. Basically it's an upright wheel cutter that you turn with a handle and feed the bread into. Like the other commenter said, you can adjust the thickness of the slices too.
@@aprillen Have never seen or heard of a domestic one in Ireland in my life. But good to know they're probably on Amazon if ever I have a kitchen to put it in 😅
Re: the auto light in the purse: I think people with visibility issues would find this extremely handy, like I have night blindness and even if it's the sun is setting,I have issues seeing everything in a purse. Makes me not want to use one at all or use a tiny one when there's really a lot more I could be carrying around
One of my handbags does have a little torch inside it. It's kind of a pain to use because you have to hold a button down for it to be lit, but it's helped me find things in there a few times.
You said Fresno and I spat out my figurative tea
This one was so much more interesting than previous ones! not that the other ones weren't interesting too though, I enjoyed all of them but there's something so entertaining about this and how we can compare what exists now compared to then. And I loved what you said about people imagining things through the lens of the times with the buttons and lights instead of nowadays with tactile/hologram stuff! also gave me a little inside brain game to help me fall asleep lmao I spent a little while wondering what in my day to day life was annoying and what product could be invented to make that better, I haven't thought of a lot that don't already have an existent product to solve the problem, but some I did haha
Anyway I hope this podcast never ends cause I've been wanting to listen to more podcasts to help on the days where everything drains me of energy but I still need entertainment, but struggle to find any that are interesting to me, and yours is perfect cause I already know your voice from your videos, love your sense of humor and the topics are super interesting so I stan!!
What's wild is I actually did have a (great) uncle who lived in America and invented some kind of textile machine in the 50s and became a millionaire. Unfortunately I live in England so this did not help me at all 😂
Great topics. Was this a pod cast or just done without video?
This was my favourite episode by far! 👌
I NEED the purse light! Bad vision + cavernous depths of my bag = frustration
There's also a difference with how to sell inventions now days. Someone who loves inventing can sell a 3d print or whatever on etsy instead of making sure it's a viable business model. My mother in law designed some cloth diapers with snaps when she was a young mom (so 80s or 90s... I'm actually not sure when). It didn't work out but there are so many people who have been able to sell their own cloth diapers they've sewn today with the internet. So you know different dynamics.
I live in Arizona, a lot of the way we've used water in the recent past is based on 50s ideas. It really irks me that a bunch of people in Mesa don't want to stop flood irrigation of their grass yards because it's "historical." It's cheaper for the company because they don't clean the water they use for flooding. The issue is the large amount it's wasting on very few people.
Re purse light 💡 “What situation would you use that in? When are you in total darkness… like??”
Karolina, tell me you’ve never been to the club (or at least those with techno/strobe lights) without telling me you’ve never been to the club 😂
That light would come in extremely handy! Also, in regular theatres, cinemas, at night, for those cavernous f*cking tote bags, etc.
Loving this podcast so far; I could listen to you wax historical for ages! 😊
I used one all the time when I had to ride the bus to and from school or work and frequently had to be out before sunrise or after sunset. Some things I could just grab out of my purse blindly, but sometimes I needed something that wasn't as easy to find, and the street lights weren't enough.
@@erinzeb exactly! And who knows what style of bag you’re wearing (based on what’s trending, which one goes with the fit, etc) because some are easier to rummage through than others and some (I’m looking at you, bucket/tote bags) have zero separate pockets inside for organisation and are downright infuriating to search through!
I always keep a mini flashlight in my bag… but finding the flashlight itself with my blind fingers, so that I can then turn it on and find whatever I need, is a whole struggle by itself 😑
@@autumn_equinox Yep! Purse organizers can be a help with big, cavernous purses. If you attach the flashlight to a lanyard and attach the lanyard to the purse strap, you can just fish it out without having to search for it.
@@erinzeb for some inexplicable reason I’ve just never gotten one of these. Really must do, thanks for reminding me :)
Woah Saginaw Michigan is so close to me
I've been to Saginaw, TX. 🙂
They used to have fridges with lazy susan shelves so you could easily see what was in the back of the fridge and I think they should bring that back.
Is this podcast played on another app? UA-cam does not play in the background so doing a sneaky listen while at work is difficult.
Yes! It’s out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other platforms, you can also download UA-cam Music
I don't think I agree wholeheartedly with your point, because those people weren't actually fixing their problems, they were asking for someone to fix their problems in a specific way. That person with the blanket could have sewn it themselves/got someone to sew it for them (and maybe they did, but they did also phrase the request like "why isn't this mass-manufactured so I can just buy it :("). In Germany, there's a saying that goes "poverty/scarcity makes inventive", because with limited options you use the stuff you have in a way that serves the purposes that you need. That's why I'm not so sure that the spirit of fixing stuff would have been especially prominent in the US in the fifties. On the other hand, I have no proof, this is just a gut feeling, and anyway the fixing-spirit was probably more prominent in the 50s than today
I have seen asymmeric umbrellas! But I imagine those become harder to fold and you also have to pay more attention to hold them the right way. It's just cumbersome.
I have too. I think the main benefit is to walk with someone.
Couple of thoughts: what you described as the social and political climate in Poland reminded me of a book called 'The Gulag Archipelago." It's an interesting read.
The blanket with sleeves is an 'as seen on tv' item from (I think) the late 90s or early 2000s called a snuggie. They're made out of a horrible polyester fleece though...I like the idea of cotton or wool much more!
I disagree that people don't have innovative ideas anymore, though I do think limitations on our time and money prevent people from implementing their ideas in a way that brings them to other people.
I think the most practical way to enter a commercial market with a new product at this point in time is to send the specs for your invention too a company overseas to manufacture it and then start drop shipping it. Then, of course, you'll need to keep your prices low enough to compete with the rest of the middlemen that will also, inevitably, start drop shipping your product too.
hearing Kalamath Falls caught my attention, here in Oregon we have entirely florescent yellow/green firetrucks and ambulances in some small communities. Im so curious if Ms C E Merritt's idea really worked here!???
I just wanted to say that I love your podcast so much 🫶🏻
They have purses with lights in now. I remember seeing them
If the mechanical foot to break in shoes was ever made then every ballerina in the world would be first in line. Imagine a mechanical foot, molded to match your foot, breaking in your new pointe shoes just enough???
I want to know more about English language education in Poland. It's kind of amazing that any ESL student knows how to pronounce place names like "Omaha". (Not English words to begin with, but Native American) Or where the accent goes in "Colorado Springs"(Spanish + English). Some countries teach British English and others American, but would that help? There was a time when border guards would ask people coming from Mexico to the US to pronounce Iowa's capital, Des Moines, as a shibboleth to identify real US citizens. Such innocent times.
OSP has a great video on why it's not even wrong to say "Rome" instead of "Roma", because Italians can't agree either. I just learned "axe" is the older English pronunciation of "ask". What is my point? I don't know. I like your pronunciations better than the American ones.
I was impressed that she said "mothers-in-law," when pretty much everyone says it wrong. It's not "mother-in-laws" when you're talking about more than one. I listened to a Polish podcast she did on Amazon. I had no idea what she was talking about, but it was fun. She said popular French phrases and occasionally American slang. That made me laugh because that's how you know we've introduced a word to global culture that didn't exist. I don't remember what it was, but "OK" is an early example of that happening.
18:30
No, people in the 50s (usa or Poland) didn't have mpre space per person.
They shared utility space communally. It might have been a family of 4+ people living in your flat but they or a rich enough individual could still hire out laundry or buy time at a communal laundry place to get acess to dry cleaning)
The projection of 50s white America was accessible to an unprecedented number of Americans but still a low ratio of the population and in houses and flats significantly smaller than the current average at the same income level with more residents.
Cutting my ice cream in triangle from now on. It would grate if supermarkets sold bread by the slice, for people who live alone.
I think the umbrella might be too off-balance to work, especially in wind
Yes it is. I have one and tried to use it yesterday and it was impossible to use! I had to close it and just deal with the rain.
It was super weird that my hometown got mentioned not once but twice in a single Karolina video lol
the shoe thing, as you said peoples feet are surprisingly unique. You could perhaps make mechanical feet to break in shoes, but the feet mold would have to be made for each person.
On the breaking in leather shoes, wear sligthly dampened socks and the new shoes at home. Leather molds easiest with moisture and heat.
I think there are a few reasons why average people don't seem to invent things anymore. For one, there is a heavier cultural influence to buy less and have less clutter, so people aren't necessarily looking for new gadgets to fill their homes with. Two, products tended to be higher quality back then, not made with the cheapest materials and the cheapest labor available, so if you did buy these newer inventions, you could expect them to last. And three, because of the technology the last couple generations (including myself) have become accustomed to, I think we have become much less innovative and creative. Our brains seek instant gratification. We don't sit and think about things for very long or as often. So we are much less motivated to spend the time and energy to solve small problems by inventing new products. (Speaking as an American)
I loved this episode so much
Unfortunately, in the USA there's no mandate to put an "L" sticker on a car. Some people put "Student Driver" stickers on, but that's purely by choice and not by mandate. I wonder if the reason we don't have it is because older drivers sometimes like to haze younger drivers (ugh)
I think there are also adults who label their cars that way so they can drive slowly and stupid. I don't know why people want to drive 20 miles UNDER the speed limit in the left lane.
Can't believe you endorse the wild idea of thermostatic device installed on a phone that warns emergency services (like how is that supposed to work) but you dismiss a small lamp in a bag. I was SO convinced you would love the idea bc man, my bags and purses are just annoying to go trough esp when I am walking outside when it's dark, but I guess I should just learn to organize better, haha
The wearable blanket - the snuggie
I suppose the previous era's people saw the fluorescent colours when they hit their heads unexpectedly hard 😀 I see almost epileptic stars in such cases 🤣
Klamath Falls! that's, well, not close to where I live, but it IS in the same state! it's not often one hears Klamath Falls outside of Oregon or Northern California.
Same!
You need a Spotify podcast. So we will be able to listen to you while cooking and without having the UA-cam window open
Lol, my new purse came with a tiny flashlight attached inside 😊 I thought it was awesome, but haven't used it in over a year...
In the modern world this would be a subreddit not a mag article
my mom "invented" (i.e., came up with the genius idea of) flushable toilet seat liners in a kleenex-style pop-up pack that fits in your purse so that you could lay one down on the seat of a public toilet without all the fuss of pre-wiping it and then laying down a "nest" of tp. she dubbed her "invention" "neatie seaties." decades later, we saw such things in a store, albeit minus my mom's clever name. i "invented" "bidet spray" (the idea but not the product or the name) and saw such a product exactly once a few years ago in my local hippie store never to be seen again. (yes, we're sicilian and thus obsessed with toilet cleanliness...don't ask.)
Cool
I have an idea for women. POCKETS. I read a while ago that 19th-century men are the reason for the removal of women's pockets so women would have to rely more on men for money. I haven't researched it. Karolina, do you have anything to say about this?
Prawdopodobnie poruszany już kiedyś temat, lecz zbyt rzadko przeglądam ten kanał... What are your takes on slow vs fast fashion in the context of the future?
illustrations, please!
Reusable tissues is like sailships moving by wind power! Ecological and needs to be back 😮
Maybe it's just an American thing because I think the inventing spirit is highly ingrained in most people I know.
Different is probably accurate.
It´s a kangaroo blanket.😀 I love mine😀 Why don´t you make sewing one a project maybe with a historical flair (like embroidery, material or historical sewing)?
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hi i have a dumb question cos i cannot find answer for it anywhere:
when women were wearing these corset dresses back in like for example marie antoinette times, like the ones that have these deep cleavages. are there any information about stuff falling out of it? was it a common thing? cos when i look at the old painitngs of these dresses they look like that could happen. was it sth so common that it was socially acceptable?
What made the US a vibrant economy was cheap energy . The easier and cheaper it becomes to generate energy the better life becomes. Today the US (and most of the West) has become just the opposite. Remember Obama words "Under my plan electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket".
People also shopped at local stores. Now everything is owned by huge corporations that underpay employees. The super rich have most of the wealth of the country. Factories left the country to take advantage of super cheap labor.
@@Bildgesmythe
Every company tries to produce as cheaply as possible to make the product the consumer wants.
And it used to be the USA to mass produce what the world needed.
That's why it won world war 2 because it could outproduce everyone else.
♥️❤️🫀
MEME MOM?
🤘🏼FRESNO 🤘🏼
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In the west there is an underbelly of disenfranchised people living in poverty , who have little justice and no voice. In communism everybody is disenfranchised, lives in poverty has no justice and is expected to use their voice on whatever way the regime orders.
First
'Promosm'
And what do you think the new ''green'' utopian state will be ? Why do you think farmers all over Europe are protesting when they still can ? If your grandparents were alive how many resembles would they see between Utopia Red and Utopia Green. Every time a very small group of 'elite' knows what is best for the rest of humanity it should make you cautious of what the real deal is.
Based.
Please! Saying you suffer as much as someone that had family killed is insulting. No one is sending you to a gulag unless you're 8n Russia.
Many of these ideas reveal a very poor understanding of basic mechanics.
I found a critical issue with your new content - You released this video two days ago and I thought YT recommends the one from a month ago. Changing the thumbnail might be necessary, otherwise people may think the same and just ignore it.