Worst Everyday Inventions

[beso]

Some things very common in everyday life are unbelievably badly designed.

Top of my list is the "jewel case " used to hold CDs. How could someone design something so pathetically flimsy yet go into production by the multi-millions?

Got any others?

[Tilly2]

What's a treehorn? Is it like a shoehorn only bigger?

[Mosaic]

Men's ties.
What on earth?

[Hymie]

I don’t think that you can consider CD jewel cases as an ‘invention’ – although I would agree that it is a poor design, as are standard DVD cases.

Standard CD cases suffer from easily being damaged due to the type of plastic employed in their construction and the total package volume, given the disc volume.
Much better would be to have used plastic envelopes (printed with a cover design/track listings etc), significantly reducing the storage space required, making them like LP’s.

[bibblebub]

remote controls - for making me an even lazier git that I would have been, and these days they all include controls that you don't get on the set itself

[VHG]

Regarding CD cases.

I find it rather ironic that when we had LPs we could drop the cover and it was no problem, but drop the LP and it may get scratced and damaged.

Now with CDs we can drop the CD and it will probably be OK, but if we drop the case it will probably break.

Progress?

[Hymie]

My vote goes to the ‘Tetra Pak’ cartons, having a removable foil seal beneath a plastic (poor) seal, commonly employed on ‘brick’ cartons.
Used to package milk, juice etc - when decanting, most of the carton’s contents ends up on the kitchen floor. Much better to use the type with a small screw cap, which seem to be gaining in popularity with the suppliers – also made by ‘Tetra Pak’.

[HowardKennitby]

paper clip

[boxtops]

^^ paper clips that don't
rubber bands that don't stretch

[jomifl]

The tap that you turn on with dirty hands to wash them and then have to touch the now dirty tap with clean hands to turn it off. As did the person before you.

[beso]

Hymie //My vote goes to the ‘Tetra Pak’ cartons//

I was trying to remember my second place and now you have said it. Try as I might I am sure that it is impossible to actually get the contents out without spilling it.

[Hopkirk]

Staplers.

They always jam when I use them.

[beso]

The problem with the CD case is not just the material. The tabs that form the hinge are unbelievable vulnerable to breaking for engineering design errors.

Firstly they have a very small cross section but more importantly the abrupt change in cross section. This is ridicuous especially in a brittle material. One does not make abrut changes like that because it focusses all the stress at the change.

It woud be quite possible to design a more robust case in the same material.

[beso]

Ball point pens with cardboard outer tubes.

The idea is that they are using a renewable, recyclable material. However the tube inevitably softens and kinks long before the contents are consumed.