Even though this invention wasn’t technically a complete fail, since you can still buy bonnet hair dryers on Amazon for $25, it still wasn’t a glorious success story. The 1950s was a decade ripe with inventions and crazy ideas, and in 1951, the bonnet hair dryer was one of them. As dolled-up housewives were a huge percent of the consumerist market back then, it only made sense that hair dryers would sell like hot cakes.
The bonnet dryer that was introduced in 1951 consisted of a dryer, that was placed in a small portable box, which was connected to a tube that went into the shape of a bonnet, with holes, that was then placed on a person’s head. The trick was that the invention distributed an even amount of heat to the whole head. Hair dryers have evolved a lot through the years, and it’s probably safe to say that this 50s tube bonnet model was probably the most impractical of them all.
Radioactive Health Products
Back in 1898, when radium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie, it only took a couple of years for it to be considered a magical substance with curative powers. What is now known to be one of the most toxic and dangerous chemical elements on earth, was once considered healthy, and doctors and companies added radium to a number of health products.
From water, cosmetics and toothpaste, to suppositories, heating pads and even medicine to treat impotence, radium could be found everywhere. Sadly, it took a very unfortunate incident for health professionals to finally understand the dangerous of radioactive products. During the 1930s, a man was taking a high dose of Thor-radium powder, which was supposed to help increase libido. The man took 1,400 small bottles of the medicine and his entire lower jaw rotted and fell off. From this point on, people started to seriously suspect radioactive health products. Thank God!
The Flying Tanks
At first, the idea of a flying tank sounds pretty cool. Your mind immediately goes to some kind of sci-fi war movie that becomes a blockbuster hit. But, in reality, this failed experiment ended up being far less glamorous. It was in the early 1930s when J. Walter Christie, an American engineer, started experimenting with the idea, which was originally intended as a way to help infantry troops on the ground by providing them with tanks.
The Soviets and the Japanese experimented with different patents, but it proved useless in the end. The grand plan was to tow the tanks behind the aircraft that carried new troops into battle, so the tanks could be readily accessible to soldiers. However, the problem was that there wasn't any aircraft in existence that was powerful enough to carry the weight of a full-sized tank. Also, it was extremely difficult and laborious to land a tank on the ground without damaging it. Oh well, it was a nice idea in theory.
The Dymaxion Round House
The famous architect and inventor, Buckminster Fuller, created this weird-looking chrome house back in the 1930s. Fuller had the idea to create a house that could be quickly put together by your average person. Named the Dymaxion Round House, this shiny dome prototype could be shipped in a truck and assembled in less than 48 hours. The dome shape made it possible for the house to be assembled quickly while still providing great structure strength.
Unfortunately, as cool as all this sounds, the project eventually failed. Firstly because, it is incredibly hard to customize or expand a dome-shaped house. Secondly, because it is extremely hard to find furniture and appliances that would properly fit a round-walled space. It could've been a nice idea for a futuristic restaurant, though.
Boat Cars or Car-Boats
The mere name of this invention doesn't exactly sound brilliant. But back in the early 1950s, the car-boat was all the rage, and many major car manufacturers saw it as the future of engineering. Technically, a car-boat is simply a boat powered by an automobile chassis or engine, and an earlier version of them were used by Cubans that were trying to emigrate to the U.S. by water.
However, the invention didn't exactly take, and nowadays, the only boat cars you see belong to collectors and people who simply don't know what to do with their money. The largest car-boat manufacturer to date is Tim Dutton-Woolley, the English founder of Dutton Amphibious Cars that has been producing them since 1989. Only a little over 250 models have ever been made.