Inventors and/or manufacturers I want to Kill

There are quite a few irritating products on the market for home repair and use. But there are seven inventors/ producers I want to kill.

  1. The idiot that started producing plastic snow shovels
  2. The idiot that decided that America needs metric nuts and bolts
  3. The idiot that invented the keyless drill chuck
  4. The idiot that started putting backstab terminals on outlets and switches
  5. The idiot that made the sealed auto battery
  6. The idiot that made oilless electric motor bearings.
  7. The idiot that replaced the auto window crank with a motor

If you know any of these idiots, please post their name and address !

Reply to
opinionated
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Most of them aren't actually sealed, even though they look like they are.

What's wrong with them? Do you include the ones that have oil impregnated in the bearings (since you don't have to oil them)?

I've had power windows for 28 years. Never had a problem with any of them. Much easier to get the door panels off since I don't have to remove the cranks. Wouldn't have anything else. Rather have a breeze through my car than use air conditioning.

Don't know, sorry.

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Reply to
mm

Original ones were junk, but I have tow very good ones for a number of years now.

Can't wait until we make a complete change. I work with metric on a daily basis and once you do, it is easier.

One a cheap drill I agree. The one hand chuck on my Panasonic is the best chuck I've ever used.

Yep

Nope. I've not had reason to open one. My batteries have lasted quite a long time. I do recall spilling acid from the old ones years ago.

In a few cases I agree

Won't buy a car without them. I've only ever had a problem with one on a back door so I just fixed it closed. OTOH, I've had problems with crank windows more often over 44 years of car ownership.

Pass them on to me so I can send a "thank you" card.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

It's not the people who invent and manufacture these things who are the idiots. They are actually quite clever in a capitalistic way, aren't they? It is the people who buy them who are the idiots (fools, sheep, victims, your name here). You vote with your wallet.

Reply to
BP
1 It comes under "use the right tool" they are for light snow and are easier to use because of their weight

2 So you think we should demand the world changes for our benefit

3 You obviously by cheap junk, a cheap key chuck is no different

5 My batteries fail not from low electrolyte, but plate failure, again, dont buy cheap junk. Electrolyte only boils down with alternators that overcharge. So you have been missing your problem for years, and im sure always will.

6 Oilless are superior, no maintenance is necessary to allow early failure from lack of maintenance. 7 you like the inconvience of cranking windows, or you drive junk that constantly breaks.

I would guess you hate the guy that invented the lightbulb socket since you family cant turn you fast enough on the chair to replace bulbs, and you get a shock when you try to clean the inside of the sockets. Next time buy what you like, mr home moaner

Reply to
m Ransley

I would add plastic gears on just about anything to the list of crappy products.

Reply to
scott21230

When you are a little sweet old lady or a man who no longer has the strength a lightweight plastic snow shovel is heaven sent. The cost of replacing one frequently is cheap compared to a shovelling job not done or getting a heart attack.

To each his own. I prefer metric.

Don't have one. I still have exscellent tools that predate keyless chucks.

I am with you here. Electrical contractors love them though as they are very easy to install, neat and fast. No need to strip an extra length of wire and leave exposed wire tails in the box. No time wasted with wrapping a wire around a screw and tightening the screw.

The average motorist does not want to look under the hood. Old style batteries need topping up regularly. Loss of electrolyte from evaporation reduces battery power and life. The sealed battery is a big step forward in low maintenance.

Same thing. Low maintenance. Idiotproof. A properly sized motor (to its load) should last just about forever.

Don't own a car anymore. I still like manual gear shift and the precomputer cars one can fix with bailing wire and duct tape.

There are a lot more people who pay good money for the things you dislike. The majority wins.

Reply to
PaPaPeng

I agree 100%. I should have added that to my original list. I have replaced quite a few of them on timing chains in cars, and I know what happened to the one on my lawn tractor starter. Look ma, no teeth !!!!

Yup, that is a permanent one added to the list !!!!

Reply to
opinionated

My older car had cranks. I bought a newer car, basically the same car. Same engine, same body, same trans, etc. But it has power windows. Once the weather gets cold, they dont work, and if you make the mistake of lowering one of them, you either drive around freezing, tape plastic over the window, or rip the door apart. With a crank, they WILL go up, might make my arm sore, but they go up....

This car also has power locks. More garbage.... This stuff is made for lazy people, and for people with large wallets when it comes to repair.

Reply to
opinionated

Don't buy 'em.

More fool, you. It's a far superior system, and, by law, the US was to have converted a long time ago. As of 2005 only three countries, the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar (Burma) had not completed the changeover. Yeah, that's the industrial company I'd want to keep.

It's a great invention. Maybe you don't have the hand strength to tighten it properly, or maybe you just buy junk tools, but that's not the chuck's fault.

Another great idea - unfortunately it hasn't been perfected.

I can see the direction this is going. You enjoy mundane tasks.

See above.

Okay, Sparky, how do you open and close the rear windows while you're driving along in your 1966 Rambler? Opening the rear driver's side window a bit keeps the wind from being too turbulent as it is when only the driver's window is open.

snipped-for-privacy@myshop.com

R
Reply to
RicodJour

No. Let's find out who the idiot was who decided that America (unlike the rest of the world) does *not* need metric nuts and bolts.

My foreign-born mother-in-law says that if she could get used to feet and inches and pounds and pints at age 40+ Americans could easily get used to the Metric System if they learned it from the word go.

BTW, speaking of "pints," The US ones aren't real pints. A real pint contains 20 fl. oz., not 16.

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy

No need. Just start using it and in day you know exactly what the measurments are. Very simple really.

Like many Americans, years ago I though going metric was silly but now that I have to use it at times, I wish we'd make the change and be done with it. All of out machines at work are metric and it is as normal as can be in use and no 29/32 to worry about.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The mistake this country made when they first tried to "go metric" was trying to teach everyone the conversion formulas. You don't need to know how many metric whatsits go into an imperial doo-dad (the rest of the world doesn't know this either). All you need to know is that a metric whatits is "about this big/much/far".

Most people could only give a very crude guess on how much a gallon, pint, or pound was if they had to measure out that much sand or water on their own. If they can get about that good at guessing a kilo or litre, then they're good to go.

Reply to
Rick Brandt

I like mine, its light and cheap... Its orange too!

Hmm - Conspiracy with the wrench suppliers?

Never had a problem with mine, Actually I have both kinds depending on use. I hate it when I cant find my chuck key.

Yea - Have you seen the 'backstab' type wirenuts now?

So - They last plenty long enough anyway

As long as they work

I guess you have small cars. Reaching over the seat of my full size pickup would be a pain. The power windows make that easier.

There are plenty worse things you could rant about. Designers at craftsman who can make a 'stud finder' with 97 other functons that fails at finding the stud that a $3 zircon can find. Well - I thought I waould have a bunch other worse things off the top of my head but i don't anyway, relax, it could be worse.

Reply to
No

Agreed. It was a big mistake.

That's a very astute observation. If the system were changed to metric overnight, people would, by force of habituation, become as good with metric as with imperial in fairly short order. Especially if there's significant training in the workplace for those who need it.

Reply to
Abe

Right. It makes equal spacing of marks, conversions, all sorts of things, trivial. You could have fourth graders doing layout with the metric system.

It's like language. English, being a hodgepodge (is that one word?), is ridiculously complex. It's like they purposefully took the worst aspects of several languages. Compare that with Italian. After about the age of seven, there's no Italian word that an Italian kid can't spell - it's essentially a phonetic language. How many people on this newsgroup are asked, "How do you spell that?", about their own _name_? It's inefficient and stupid to make things needlessly complex.

Look at the metric thing this way. Being one of the three third world countries that is hung up on the _Imperial_ system, how do you think that affects our exports to other countries? We're cutting our own throats so we can keep on using an arcane system that is apparently designed to create confusion and mistakes.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Once, I heard a story about what it would be like to use metric for everything. Something like drinking 5961 milliliters of milk and eating 2492 milligrams of egg. Then watching a football game where a player is on the 93.674 meter line.

BTW, the "calories" in food are actually Calories (kilocalories, also called large calories).

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

In 1967 I found a commercial=grade "mix-master" in the alley, the kind that had a base, and this one took 3 beaters, and inside, the gears were made of some sort of brown resin like stuff.

one of the gears,, an inch and a half in diameter was stripped, about

7 teeth missing. I put a blob of PC-70 on the area and part of the sides, and when dry, carved teeth into it.

It worked, but I made the mistake of using it with a plastic/vinyl mixing bowl, and when the beater hit the burr in the very middle, the patch broke.

I wonder how long it would have lasted with glass bowls and only food to oppose its travel.

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Reply to
mm

I don't like metric either, mostly because I'm a conservative.

For that matter, Myanmar is still using Burma-Shave,

I'm happy with my B&D keyless chucks. They hold the smallest drill bit in my set, while the previous chucks couldn't squeeze that small, But I still keep one drill with a key chuck.

That's the big thing. I always buy a convertible, and it's declasse to drive with the top down and the windows closed. (although I do it that way on the highway. Much quieter.)

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Reply to
mm

home

want to

bolts

and

address !

yep and how about the gy that invented my track lighting. I still can't change a lightbulb!

Reply to
Kathy

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