This actually was patented...

**AmberLee** · 02-22-2003, 01:23 AM

In honor of engineering week, our company posted a "wall of fame/wall of shame" of items that had been patented in the last 130 years or so. I think my favorite from the wall of shame portion was a vacuum cleaner patented in 1973 that was inside a shape of a dog that was to be used by animal groomers. The "plan" was that the fake body would muffle the sound of the vacuum and that the dog being groomed would be intrigued by this new 'friend' to be calmer during the grooming. The nozzle of the vacuum was in the tail.

Can you imagine the look on the dog being groomed's face when the vacuum was turned on???

P.S. generic protective goggles for chickens were patented shortly after the U.S. civil war, but never became popular.

**Brie** · 02-22-2003, 01:32 AM

::lol:: ROFL ::lol::

**zippy-kat** · 02-22-2003, 02:06 AM

Originally posted by AmberLee
P.S. generic protective goggles for chickens were patented shortly after the U.S. civil war, but never became popular.

I remember reading once that farmers had developed red contacts for chickens...they presumably produce more eggs when they see red. Wonder if the goggles are somewhat related to this? or was it more for cock-fights?

**Ann** · 02-22-2003, 03:12 AM

LOL, that's a funny idea! Must be great to have a job like yours

**neko1** · 02-22-2003, 05:30 AM

lol What a mental image I got!

**AmberLee** · 02-22-2003, 01:55 PM

Originally posted by zippy-kat
I remember reading once that farmers had developed red contacts for chickens...they presumably produce more eggs when they see red. Wonder if the goggles are somewhat related to this? or was it more for cock-fights?

No, no special colored lenses. It was to protect them in the hurly-burly of large coops. Apparently chickens can be agressive (?) and can hurt one another. Supposedly there were a lot of chickens with damage to their eyes from being pecked or scratched by others.