The Welte-Mignon reproducing piano was introduced in 1904, and was quite an interesting twist on the already existing player pianos of the decade. Player pianos were pianos that played pre-recorded music with the use of automated cylinders, but what made the Welte-Mignon special was that it focused on the performance, as well as the music. A famous pianist could play songs on the Welte-Mignon and the instrument would record their performance on special rolls.
These rolls could then be taken home by anybody that owned another Welte-Mignon, and listeners could relive the exact same performance over and over. Many thought it was a musical revolution, and while it was indeed a marvelous instrument used by several composers of the time, this reproducing piano was even replaced by the more modern record player. By 1930, Welte rolls were no longer recorded.
Daylight Motion Pictures
The fact that this idea's slogan was "Witness the shows sitting in a fully lighted auditorium", already made it very questionable. And yes, this was actually a thing back in the 1910s. Apparently, some people thought it would be a fantastic idea to play movies in an auditorium that was completely lit. As movie theaters started opening in the 1900s, many attendees didn't like the fact that the auditorium was completely dark.
One theater owner even said that he preferred the space to be completely lit so people could watch over their loved ones and avoid 'eye fatigue'. And so, 'daylight motion pictures' became a thing all over the U.S. The whole thing was a combination of darker screens, stronger projectors and a lot of hope. But as you probably guessed, this ingenious idea was short-lived because, obviously, lit theaters damaged the quality of the picture. So, moviegoers slowly started to feel safe in dark theaters, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Fiske Reading Machine
In 1922, celebrity inventor Bradley Fiske created the Fiske Reading Machine, a contraption that everyone thought would revolutionize literature. Marketed as the machine that "would render printing presses obsolete", the invention was born from the idea that books would be printed on very small pages, in very tiny letters, and people would hold customized magnifying glasses up to their eyes in order to read them. It already sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
Surprisingly, many publications claimed that the Fiske Reading Machine was great for a number of reasons: cheap manufacturing, less paper needed, longer durability of books, no need for eye glasses anymore, poor people could afford it, easy and cheap to send by mail, more free space at home, etc. Now, while all of this may be true, the Fiske reading machine was very short-lived, since, realistically, people didn't actually enjoy holding a magnifying glass up to their eyes for countless hours.
The Gas-Shooting Riot Car
The Gas-Shooting Riot Car sounds like something out of a 'Mad Max' film, and in reality, this wasn't so far from the truth. If you think that we're living in a terrible, politically incorrect world, the 1930s were far worse. Back then, if a group of protesters were making too much noise, the police could run over them with a huge vehicle that also shot water, bullets or poison gas streams.
Patented in 1938, the Gas-Shooting Riot Car was meant to disperse protesters and dissolve riots, but obviously, it was a clear and savage violation of basic human rights. Thankfully, this car stayed in the 'idea' phase, and was never built. Politicians probably had a second thought and decided the consequences and future lawsuits just weren't worth it.
The Slendo Massager
Weight has been an obsession for people for a very long time, especially since society decided that a thin and slender body equals beauty. So, when the novel Slendo Massager appeared in 1940, people went crazy, especially women. The machine consisted of a series of metal rollers that massaged women's hips and thighs, which supposedly blasted their fat through electricity.
Basically a glorified massage chair, women used to stand or sit while "losing weight", and obviously, the Slendo Massager became wildly popular across the country. Similar to countless machines that have been produced since (the Ab Energizer, etc.), the idea was that the electrical currents helped melt away the excess weight by causing muscles to contract. However, by the end of a number of sessions, the only thing Slendo Massager users were left with, was marks from the metal.