You can never guess the purpose of these old inventions

1/7/2018

18,428 views

by Ann Lewis

History Story: You can never guess the purpose of these old inventions

shutterstock

Learn about some unusual man-made things. Take a look at them and try to guess their purpose. It can be difficult!

People have always been inventive and have been creating various devices to make life easier, better and more fun.

#1 Spittoon

History Story: Spittoon — wikimedia CC BY-SA

Spittoons were popular in China since Qing dynasty. In XIX century they were everywhere in USA and Europe, where they didn't smoke tobacco but chewed it. But after the outbreak of Spanish influenza in 1918 they were deemed unsanitary and spittoons started to disappear.

#2 Tobacco jar

History Story: Tobacco jar — shutterstock

A capped jar for keeping dry snuff - is a Chinese analogue to a snuff bottle. They used to be made of porcelain, ivory, amber, glass and decorated with jewels.

#3 Opium pipe

History Story: Opium pipe — wikimedia CC BY

By means of such pipe and a special lamp they used to smoke opium. Pipes were made of ivory, silver, porcelain, greenstone. Mankind knows opium for the last 6 thousand years, but nowadays this potent substance is forbidden.

#4 Sphygmograph

History Story: Sphygmograph — wikimedia Public Domain Mark

They used Dudgeon's sphygmograph to measure pulse and arterial blood pressure. Modern blood pressure monitor is its descendant and looks much different.

#5 Stethoscope

History Story: Stethoscope — wikimedia CC BY

In 1816, René Laennec invented stethoscope which helped doctors to hear breath and heart rhythm with one ear. Modern stethoscope has little in common with its ancestor.

#6 Mask of shame

History Story: Mask of shame — wikimedia CC BY-SA

During Medieval times, Masks of shame were put on women and men who were considered ill-tempered, foul-mouthed or misbehaving in public places, speaking against authorities or lying.

#7 Enema syringe

History Story: Enema syringe — wikimedia CC BY

This beautiful device, shining with gold and made of brass and ivory was designed for extremely down-to-earth purposes. Needless to say, such syringes were reusable.

#8 Jedi helmet

History Story: Jedi helmet — wikimedia CC BY

If you are a Star Wars fan, you'll definitely like the "Jedi helmet". In 1980, this device was used to do MRI, avoiding opening a patient's skull. To help children cope with fear of the procedure, it was called in such a way.

Do you have any of the above mentioned devices at home? Can you imagine the world without these things?

Do not forget to share this article with your friends!

#History #Society

What are your thoughts on this subject?

63 Comments

Bryce Smith

Why is the ‘mask of shame’ not being produced any more?

ChiefRaven

Does the 'mask of shame' come with special locked on gloves to prevent texting or tweeting as well??????

Luis Perez

Would you believe, if I can say that I used one of those stethoscopes as a G.P. back in the early 70s in a small town in the mountains of Colombia., where it was in the hospital's museum.

Ian M Donald

Yeah why isn't the Mask of Shame in use in Hollywood and Washington

stellaclaude

I do enjoy this kind of info.

Jawnsin Chris

will surely go out of stock and too costly these days...well not worth spending on those guys

L Lh Adams

Bryce Smith, There aren't enough factories currently,so maybe China!!!

Tina Marie Haddad Rhodes

bettyschierloh, I agree whole heartily.

Betty Wiendels

ChiefRaven, including sign language. Lol

lls

...the mask of shame uncomfortably resembles Crow from MST3K...who would do such a thing?

Mary Trangas Roberts

Those syringes were also used to “treat” VD. The saying goes, “A night with Venus, means a day with Mercury! They injected mercury into the patient the same way they got it.