Anybody over a certain age remembers the ring pull coming away in their hand - a small aluminium ring with a sharp tongue attached, which had to be put somewhere,…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1958 a tobacco farm ran on hand labour supplied largely by the family. Every leaf was pulled by hand, five or six times through the season as…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 soft drinks came in glass bottles that came back. The empties returned filthy, were washed in hot caustic, were inspected by one person watching them pass…
Everybody who has ever assembled furniture has had a cross-head screwdriver ride up and out of the screw, chewing the head on the way. It is one of the most…
The Shiny and Dull Sides of Kitchen Foil Are an Accident of Manufacturing and It Makes No Difference
There is a confident person in every kitchen who knows which way round the foil goes. Shiny side in to reflect the heat back, or shiny side out to keep…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1965 every manufactured object in the world began as lines drawn by hand on a board the size of a door. A draughtsman worked with a tee…