Necessity is the mother of all inventions. We’ve heard this maxim multiple times over the years and some of us are slowly coming around to truly understand the essence of it. The pandemic has put a stop to most businesses and small ventures, resulting in what’s turning out to be nothing short of an economic crisis all over the world. People are looking for newer, safer ways to generate revenue in order to survive. Such is the tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Something similar happened during the Great Depression of 1929 when the stock market crashed, resulting in millions of people losing their jobs. Everybody was in despair and people didn’t know when they would be employed again. As history would go on to remember, people did turn their tedious times around and gave way to what could easily be enumerated as some of the greatest inventions during this period.
To build hope and make you believe in the prowess of the human spirit, we’ve listed some of our favourite ones below. To check the entire series of Great Inventions of the Great Depression, click here.
I. Scotch Tape
Scotch tape was invented in 1930 by banjo-playing 3M engineer Richard Drew. Scotch tape was the world’s first transparent adhesive tape. The tape gained popularity during the Great Depression due to its multiple purposes in a household. People started using it to seal and fix items including broken eggshells. While other businesses were going down, tape sales soared high, making it a worthy invention, even in 2020.
II. Monopoly
Monopoly was created by Lizzie Magie in 1903 and was initially called ‘The Landlord’s Game’ as a way to demonstrate that an economy which rewards wealth creation is better than one where monopolists work under few constraints and the domination of a market by a single entity.
The game was popularised during the Great Depression as a means to pass time. Parker Brothers acquired the distribution rights for the game in 1934 as they saw people buying it despite the grim circ*mstances.
III. Chocolate Chip Cookies
The chocolate chip cookie was invented by American chefs Ruth Graves Wakefield and Sue Brides in 1938. She invented the recipe during the period when she owned the Toll House Inn, in Whitman, Massachusetts. Interestingly, the cookies later became the most popular item to send soldiers in care packages during WWII.
Who knew that a little butter, sugar and chocolate chips added to dough could turn into a delicious snack (or a meal)?
Also, is it just me or does the cookie taste exponentially better when dunked in a glass of milk?
IV. Car Stereo
Paul and Joseph Galvin are responsible for the invention of the car radio, which has allowed us to listen to music in our cars for over 80 years now. Legend has it that the young brothers were on a double date and that one of their dates wished to be able to listen to music in their car.
During the Great Depression, music was the perfect fix for the sombre moods all around.
Now imagine a road trip without a stereo, had the brothers not tried to please their dates in 1930!
V. Ballpoint Pen
László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor (later, a naturalized Argentine) frustrated by the amount of time that he wasted filling up fountain pens and cleaning up smudged pages, noticed that the ink used in newspaper-printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. Hence, the ballpoint pen is also called a Biro, after its founder’s name.
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