Some things don't need improvement. There's lots of talk about making a better mouse trap. It's about the same as John Moses Browning's 1911. People alter them and change them, but are they better? I'll start the list of things that have worked right from the start. They work today, they'll work 100 years from now. Mouse trap - Patented by William C. Hooker in 1874. Schrader valve - Patented 1893. Chances are you have one holding the air in every tire on your car. So does everybody else. Berdan primer - Invented by an American in 1866 and used by the British. Boxer primer - Invented by a Brit in 1869 and used in Americans. Rimfire primer - Invented in 1845 by Louis-Nicholas Flobert. Still works just fine. Spark plug - Slight changes since 1860. Only Ford really messed it up. Incandescent mantle - Welsbach patents go back to 1887. Bits, blinders and saddles - 1000 BC? I haven't seen anything "new" in my lifetime. I know there are many many more. There have to be medical innovations, homestead tools, aviation supplies and a myriad of other inventions that were just simply right from the start. Let's see what you've got. Post your items with a brief description of when it was invented.
Funny thing Aviation, it NEVER seems to change, at least in the light civilian field. Your basic Lycoming pattern engine ( Lycoming, Continental, Franklin, ect), is STATE OF THE ART 1934, and little has changed since then, wasn't until the mid 2000's we finally got electronic ignition and even fuel injection, and now, we even have turbocharging! Airplanes haven't really changed much ether, still ether riveted/bonded aluminum, or "Rag and Bone" Tube steal covered in fabric! My New Super Cub is state of the art, circa 1986, she is Tube and Fabric, but has a "Modern" Lycoming pattern engine, a Big 4 Cylinder TAIO 428 Monster with the trifecta: Electronic Fuel Injection, Electronic Ignition, and Turbocharging. Runs on LL100, NL98, and better yet, MOGAS so I can land out in the middle of nowhere, pull up to any gas station and filler up, doesn't even mind E-85 blends, runs just fine, and in some situations, it's actually better! No flying wires holding the tail feathers, and a whole bunch of Carbon Fiber, basically replacing ALL aluminum components of the plane with Carbon/Kevlar, shaves around 300 pounds of what would have been a bit of a pig, now she is a frickin Ferrari of the sky, damn near cost about as much too, but, it's a bush plane, hard to put a price on that kind of fun and utility! My Dodge Power Wagons, built so tough, there is NOTHING today that can match them, their reliable, rebuildable, and bomb proof, you can hand crank one with a dead battery and she will start, even after sitting for years and the gas going sour, she will still run! They may not be the best looking ( I think they are damn sexy) and they may not ride the best, or make the most power, or get the best millage, but I defy anyone with anything newer to come and test out their truck and see how badly they do against one of these ol girls, Nothing even comes close, Americas ( Hell, the worlds ) First 4X4 Pickup is a Legend, never equaled! Willys Overland CJ series and Trucks/Wagons, Americas second 4X4 as standard, and the worlds Second SUV long before it was cool! Caterpillar, Nuff Said! Husquvarna anything pre 2000's! Swede power for the world! Sthil, nothing else to say! Kubota, a modern John Deere with better value and support!
The Claw Hammer..... "Patented by George F. Voight of San Francisco in 1902, the double claw hammer was designed to pull out nails of different lengths without bending the nail." Hasn't changed much in 120 years.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! What a fun and informative thread. Both my thumbs up for Husqvarna. Raced Huskys for three years in motocross and ten years in the desert. Had three of them. 1970 250cc, 1972 360cc and a 1973 250cc. Bullet proof. Only improvement they made was the reed valve. Kept idiots like me from grabbing too much throttle in the wrong gear and loading up the engine. Like someone said, so many things that don't need to be changed. Only thing I can add is my wife's muffins. She uses the same recipe that my grandmother used and her mother before that. Like my father was fond of saying... "If it ain't broke don't fix it!"
I used to collect Vintage Huskys, at one point had every size from 125 up to 500, the two I have kept are the 76 WR 360, and the 72 WR 450, completely different bikes and experience, but Damn, they are amazing. The 450 is a frickin tractor in the low gears, and will hole shot most new bikes and has an insane top end, the 360 was a revolution, with it's six speed cassette transmission and reed port intake and long travel suspension with Ohlins shocks and fork tubes, an amazing bike that is insanely fast. Had an 82 Maiko CR 490 that was an amazing bike, but the king will always be the 85 Yamaha IT 465, that bike is wicked fast, faster then any new bike you can buy, and she still runs, and her suspension is flat dialed! My fav is my 92 ATK 604 Enduro, for it's size, it's the lightest thing on wheels, and it's seriously powerful and the suspension is with out equal! A very rare machine, and uniquely American!
The screwdriver has been around awhile. Wiki says..... "The earliest documented screwdrivers were used in the late Middle Ages. They were probably invented in the late 15th century, either in Germany or France. The tool's original names in German and French were Schraubenzieher[2][3][4][circular reference] (screwpuller) and tournevis (turnscrew), respectively. The first documentation of the tool is in the medieval Housebook of Wolfegg Castle, a manuscript written sometime between 1475 and 1490.[5] These earliest screwdrivers had pear-shaped handles and were made for slotted screws."
Thanks for the memories! Another reminder that you just never know who'll meet here at Survival Monkey--even guys who love Huskys! All of mine were beautiful in every way--form, fit and function. And although this thread is about things that still work fine in their original form, Husqvarna made improvements to their products as time went by. My wife did the same with my grandmother's recipe for muffins by using agave instead of honey... Your post reminded me of the close ratio (CR) and wide ratio (WR) options. My '70 250 was CR, which was perfect for motocross. My '72 250 was WR, which was perfect for desert. And you've reminded me that my 360 couldn't have been a '73 model because I don't think that engine was available until '76. It was a difficult to leave Husky and move to Yamaha but I did because of the YZ's mono-shock, longer wheelbase and significantly lower price. My favorite was the '80 YZ model G, the last year of the mono-shock. I rode that bike in my last race, the '81 Check Chase in southern California.
Morse Code. Worked then, works now. Cheap to use (low cost/simple radios if going with RF to communicate)
I dabbled in the Scrambles and Enduro series, on the wet coast, almost exclusively aboard a Husky WR400 or the quicker WR450, right up until the WR-360 came along, then I was balls out flying! The earlier Maico was a handful, but fun as hell to ride, until it broke and you couldn't find parts for it. Then came the Works Yamaha IT 465 and everything changed! That bike is insanity bottled up to a pair of Metzlers, and still faster then anything I have ever gone up against! My newest love is a Gas-Gas AWD wich is so rare you don't find pictures or any reference to it anywhere, I bought it used in 2008 for $3500 which was kinda expensive at the time ( A Brand New YZF 426 was the same price out the door,) but man, does this thing go! It's obviously a little on the heavy side and it's a different kind of riding experience that takes some getting used to, but holy crap does it go places, perfect for those Hair Scrambles and highly technical Enduros! Edit: I finally found why you don't see any reference to the GAS GAS AWD, because it was a Christini Conversion, which he did on small numbers of bikes, using ether GAS GAS engines, or ROTAX powered bikes like KTM, Hoosaberg, and BMW! What's interesting is my bike IS a full zoot Factory GAS GAS 4 stroke 450, , which according to his web page, was only one of 4 he ever built using the full GAS GAS bike as built! At the 4 min mark, is one of the GAS GAS bikes that is identical to mine, so you can see I'm not full of it!
Jacobs has been making chucks since 1903. I have newer keyless chucks, but they're all light duty and made of plastic junk. I like my Husqvarna small engines, but I never was into motorcycles. Maybe it was falling off the back of a 175 Penton twice in the same day. Once on a bumpy gravel road, and once when I got gently brushed off by a big Spruce limb that I didn't know to duck under.
My late wife rode Enduros but I stayed with Hare and European scrambles and Hare & Hounds. You might enjoy my memoir of My Last Race in the desert. Long time ago but "Wow, what a ride!" [RIBBON & LIME -- DESERT RACING STORIES FROM THE BANNER IS UP]
Seems legit until you realize that Hakkin warmers celebrated their centennial in 2023, and those drawings look suspiciously like their long-proven hand warmer design. Niichi Matoba had it right in 1923.
