The old adage of “if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again” may apply to pretty much everything from the Palace trying to convince us that Kate Middleton is alive and well to Boeing attempting to keep their aircraft from falling out of the sky, sometimes things are really just that successful the first time around.
Dice. Hair combs. Songs written about the commonwealth delicacy that is hot cross buns, as Redditor u/DerNogger noted. Sometimes success is just simple, a sentiment that applies to a whole lot of things we’ve come to know and love over the centuries.
From coffee pots to every engineer’s favorite lube (WD-40) here are 20 world-changing inventions that were great from the get-go.
1
Crabs
“Crabs have remained unchanged for millions of years. And several different species evolved into crabs. They have one of the most superior evolutionary designs on the planet. Crab is best invention.” —IllIllllIIIIlIlIlIlI
2
Shipping Container
“Shipping containers. Made of weathering steel so they resist corrosion. Stackable. Usable on trains, trucks, ships. Variants for liquids (isotanks). good design.” —Late-External3249
3
WD-40
“The guy who invented WD-40 sold the patent for a ridiculously small sum. Apparently he was certain he'd invent something better. He never did.” —2donuts4elephants
4
Vegetable Peeler
“I'd say vegetable peeler. You got two options. The "I" shape and "T" shape, both completely function and shape is down to preference. They do exactly what they're designed to do, are durable, and cheap. The only "upgrades" you can do are to handle shape, which are user specific preferences and perhaps the metal in the blade to increase durability.” —Renovatio_
5
Piano
“One of the reasons why I quit the piano technician's business is because the acoustic piano hasn't really changed much in the past 100 years. Every once in a while someone tries to innovate with stuff like different material parts or add-ons like the silent system, but until someone manages to find a way to prevent the instrument from going out of tune I'd say the acoustic piano is going to stay the way it is.” — youcandoeverything
6
Rice Cookers
“I’m gonna say the basic Rice Cooker. Very simple but clever mechanism that cooks rice to perfection, every time. Costs maybe like $20 on amazon, and will last forever. There is absolutely 0 need to buy anything more expensive unless you simply need a higher volume cooking at once.” —Eubank31
7
Toy Soldiers
“Remember those little toy soldiers. I might be wrong, but I got some last year, and I'm pretty sure they're exactly the same as when I was a child.” — CeaserTC
8
Peanut Butter
“Peanut better. It ain't getting any better than that.” — guijcm
9
Violins
“The Violin. The reason Strad is so famous is cause he perfected the violin in his 'golden era' (the 1710's) and that's it! People have been trying to do better ever since and every curve, every thickness, everything was designed to absolute perfection.” —King_Swass
10
Tables
“The table. Other answers here are like “pizza” and “the wheel” which has undergone huge changes that made the OG obsolete (pneumatic tires > rim with spokes > solid stone). Tables are mostly still just Legs + Flat Surface all these years later.” —Chewie83
11
Ice Cream Chocolate
“I thought we decided it was the little chocolate plug on the bottom of ice cream cones?” —gingy4life
12
Zero
“The number 0. I’m not sure if this was more invented or discovered, but without it, lots of modern math, architecture, physics, code, etc would have a lot of trouble with calculations.” —SoobinKai
13
Egg Cartons
“Egg carton. It is just about perfect for the job. Sure it had a couple improvements since 1911, but the form factor we still recognize today all over the World is from 1931 (I think, I may be mistaken on the year or related patent).” —buraconaestrada
14
Mouse Traps
“Mouse trap, they have tried. Glue trap are inhumane. The disposable ones? They are like $9. The old wood ones that work really well are 4 for $1.25. Just throw it away if you want.” — ligmasweatyballs74
15
Toaster
“Toaster. You don't need Bluetooth on a toaster. Press button. Exposed, inefficient, metal wires resonate heat. Bread toasts. Want more toasting? Turn dial to make heat go longer. Done.” — ShaChoMouf
16
Mortar and Pestle
“The best ones today are basically the same as thousands of years ago.” — ProbablyOffTask
17
Hallways
“The Hall way. this is actually an invention. Before it was invented rooms connected directly to each other.” —Forward-Essay-7248
18
Dice
”Dice, I'm pretty sure we've found recognizable d6 dice that are thousands of years old.” — Gemmabeta
19
Coffee Pots
“The standard drip coffee pot is an engineering marvel. A pump and heating core with no moving parts that is extremely reliable and can be made at an incredibly low cost. The fundamental design hasn’t changed since it’s invention.” — Sometimes_Stutter
20
Spoons
“The spoon, can change the size or a few aspects but it's a freaking spoon.” — belovedfoe
