Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1964 interior walls in a great many American houses were papered rather than painted, and redecorating a room meant new paper rather than a new colour out…
The Thing Everybody Has Experienced
Everybody who has ever assembled flat-pack furniture or taken the back off an appliance knows the sensation. You lean on the screwdriver, the screw is…
The Snap-Off Knife Blade Was Invented by Someone Watching How People Broke Glass to Get a Sharp Edge
A Knife Designed to Be Broken
The snap-off blade is one of the few tools designed on the assumption that you will deliberately destroy part of it, repeatedly, as the…
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…
Pull the hook on the end of a tape measure and it moves. Push it and it moves back. The rivets that hold it on sit in slots rather than…
Source: Wikipedia
In 1970, a do-it-yourself spirit ran through American households. When an appliance broke, a hem came undone, or the car wouldn't start, the first instinct wasn't to call a…