Inventors have been registering bright ideas with the UK Patent Office for 150 years. While the flush toilet, computer and aspirin have proved invaluable, the same cannot be said of every innovation. It must have seemed like a great idea at the time: an alarm to be fitted inside a coffin, just the thing to guard against premature burials. Or how about a moustache protector and trainer, or a ladder for spiders to climb out of the bath?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2327327.stm
