Useless Gadgets

Would this be it?

That's the baby

I was expecting to see a key to a Chevy Cavalier.

Chevy Cavalier parts emerge from the shell spontaneously without need for external pressure.

I always thought that they just fall off as you ride.

You mean "fall off as it's towed?" I can't honestly say that I have ever seen a Cavalier moving under its own power. I've always just assumed they came with their own tow truck and cleanup crew.

Did the egg ring out loudly when it went through the hole?

No, just a little grunt. I was the one that shouted the loud exclamation.

I think that's only when he peals them by hand.

Got the pun from the misspelling - let the bells ring out!

The correct spelling (for GG) is peel, peeled, etc.

That's a pretty nifty gadget. Is it the same one Rixter posted a link to? I might get one.

I saw a contraption in the store one day that looked like something from the 1800's, I had to have it....It turned out to be an apple peeler....I've never used it, but it still looks cool....

We have one of these. It works great!

Yeah, that one probably will not do a good job of peeling a hard-boiled egg.

But it might double as an efficient cat carrier.

Though it looks similar to a Porta-Puddy^®™ and in a pinch can be used to anchor a fiesty feline to any smooth surface, it is actually sphincter hone to prep the cat/buttered-toast assembly prior to attachment to the generator shaft. Such forestalls the necessity of using a mallet to seat said assembly onto the shaft and the attendant risk of misalignment and of whacking one's thumb in the process.

We use one all the time. My son uses as many as 5. He has 8 kids, and they peel, core, and can apples by the 10 bushel lot where he lives. The real hoot was when I connected his Makita VSR drill to the shaft, and we started running apples through that one like there was gonna be NO tomorrow to get it done with. Love those things for production work.

That might be a fun project to motorize it....but I'm still acquiring parts for my 100 watt adjustable LED lamp project, coming soon....

You'll put your eye out. I will keep an eye out for ya!

It said free, I hope they don't charge me for that.

Not so much a useless gadget, more an incompetent chef. I bought a mandolin for slicing vegetables. First attempt I sliced the heel of my palm off, second attempt the side of my thumb and nail.

It’s now languishing in the back of a cupboard!

I'd stay away from blenders if I was you...pretty much anything sharp.....

Did you run with scissors as a child? How did that pan out?

Not bought. Built. C applies to this one: in a box in the garage is a steam-powered tea stirring machine built from a Mamod no.2 steam engine and some Meccano. It runs on methylated spirits...

So you stir your tea with a spin-off of this? Oops, I mistakenly posted image of a Mamod No.3. Bad form.

I had one much like this as a child. Fond memories! The boiler was heated with little hexamine bricks.

That's an American version of the Mamod. Very pleasant. Notice no mounting holes though for attaching to "accessories". Perhaps it drives on the right.

Hey - how about a CR4 owner's club?

I recall in our 7th grade shop class ^{(when schools had industrial arts shop class)} , our instructor had one like that.

we heated it with an acetylene torch. That was really cool.

I bet you (or anybody else) you never had one that ran off any nuclear process (except for maybe remote nuclear power, also called solar energy).

nope

That's the sort of thing!

The SE3 as pictured was the two-cylinder version, a step up in value over the 2 - over here, the family was well-off if there was one of those in the cupboard.

Looks like the steam vents into the firebox on that one. ??

Ahem - er, it looks as though the chimney is missing on that particular one, and that flow goes the other way round - from the drum, through the valve, up and over then down the back, one pass through the flame to add superheat, split into the two cylinders, then two exhaust pipes up the [missing] chimney. <Pleads "guilty" to pedantry>.

<edit> The chimney is that brass cylinder lying loosely between the inside cylinder/motion and the boiler support mount. See where the flared part is notched so as to pass over the pair of exhaust steam pipes? Nice bit of kit - <drool, dribble> always wanted a no.3 </drool, dribble> and settled for a no.2. </edit>

Yep! I am a kitchen gadget nut also. I have a whole kitchen closet full of stuff. Even have an old Salton yogurt maker that i still use.

I have done the same thing by hand on the egg gadget, i simply punch a small hole in the small end and blow into the hole.

Is your full name Ronco?

LoL

Naaaaa! I aint that goofy looking.

That is because you know how to blow - really hard.

I was always told to chill the eggs right after decanting the boiling hot water. But no matter how I go about peeling after that, whole chunks of egg white hang onto the shell pieces as I remove them.

I need me one of these egg peelers.

The secret is fresh eggs and don't boil them too long, they slip right out...I let them boil about 6 min, then put the pot under the faucet cold water....add ice....I boil a half doz at a time and put them peeled into a bowl covered with plastic in the fridge....then about 10 sec in the microwave when needed...

I always thought fresh eggs are harder to peel.

Not if they're eagle eggs.

Well what I mean is not past the expiration date....and from the supermarket the freshness doesn't usually approach just layed status....but what I did fail to mention, and very important, is to take the eggs from the fridge straight to boiling water, not put them in the water and then begin heating, this is a surefire fail...

I use a tablespoon to slowly lower the eggs into the water, this reduces cracking by allowing the air in the egg to escape more slowly...

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html

Thanks, I appreciate it. Happy Scotch Egg day, be sure and have plenty of Glenfiddich, or Monkey Shoulder (not shipped to TX, as they are afraid for the effects on sheep here) on hand. Remember to keep it pure with only single malt Scotch, for authentic Scotch Whiskey.

Tribute egg....

A few years ago, I started chopping vegetables each morning to put in my eggs. It took extra time, so in a lapse in judgement, I bought the Slap-Chop. What a POS that was. It just loaded up with the veggie cubes until it was stuffed with them, and then you had to take it apart to get them out by hand. After one try, I knew that I was going to send it back. Then to make matters worse, while washing it to clean it for return, I bobbled the blade ring. Instead of letting it just fall in the sink, I reacted instantly, shooting my hand out to grab it in mid-air, and sliced a chunk out of my thumb.

Wasn't long after that that Vince got arrested for something or other. Small consolation.

jhammond

Reminds me of a guy who joined our drawing office years back. First day at his drawing board, the scalpel you used to erase lines slipped & fell. His instant reaction was to snap his legs together to catch it. First day at work was spent getting his thigh stitched at the hospital.

When peeling eggs, I usually just roll them on the worktop to break up the shell which then comes off pretty much in one piece.

your first clue no good will come of it.....

I found it in the Dollar Store,

your second clue....

It was only $1.98.

and at $1.98... that was a cheap education compared what most of us went through.

You mean like this useless object??

It grew up.

Yes it did, but the link led me back to the Duke engine, not a uselss gadget whatsoever.

high engine speed axial DUKE engine

Marvin Minsky, co-founder of MIT's Artificial Intelligence lab, invented this (probably as a metaphor for the difficulty of pushing things through MIT's bureaucracy). Information-theory pioneer Claude Shannon is sometimes credited with the idea but it was Minsky who invented the original. Many variations have since appeared such as the multi-switch version in Nigh's post.

I used to have a useful version of the useless machine. The "switch" was a pair of contacts in a shallow slot. I would ask someone to rest a coin in the slot. The hand would jump out and snatch the coin much to everyone's​ delight. Especially mine.

As for the egg popper? If the shell is stuck to the egg it's an egg destruction device. I remember my brother falling prey to this device. He an I had a good laugh (or twelve) testing it out.

Eons ago I had a job making Scotch eggs (best things ever!). A peelable eggs will peel in seconds under a dribble of warm water. A non peelable egg will peel like a Nerf ball no matter how you try.

It's all in the process of prep.

Mmmmm Scotch eggs, now I want one. We have traditional versions here or ones made with black pudding instead of sausage. Can also get ones which you bake for about 15 minutes but still get a runny yolk.. I'm so hungry now.

Scotch eggs do sound mighty tasty!

To make Scotch eggs, do I absolutely have to wear my kilt? Do the chickens also wear the family weave?

Clan Stewart Royal Tartan Scotch fabric.

Clan Stewart Dress Tartan Scotch fabric.

Clan Stewart Hunting Tartan Scotch Fabric.

So many choices....what does the fashion conscious chicken wear?

Please, no Prada. The reason Scots in West Texas do not wear kilts, is that it is very windy indeed here, and one wants to keep his dignity.

Scotch eggs seems much more healthy than a McDonald's Egg McMuffin with cheese combo. I usually just wrap the strips of bacon around two fingers, put them on a plate and nuke them in the microwave. Then, I remove (or not) the bacon and break a couple of "cackleberries" in the bacon drippings. The eggs fry up good, and the bacon results in a crispy spiral of goodness. All hail bacon and sausage! Where would we be without Mr. Pig?