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Not the children of necessity

One of my translator colleagues found a list of wacky inventions. These range from the frivolous (a patent for a "stick" that you can "throw" for your dog to "fetch") to the really unthinkable (the fart-propelled rocket toy). I was looking through the list and I found the butt-kicker! Oz and I actually saw footage of the butt-kicker on a French invention show.

The French invention show featured various inventions, from the significant to the silly, from different countries. The American inventions shown were all of the silly: the butt-kicker, the inflatable airplane (a real thing, from Goodyear), odd things that you work with your nose, and there was some digression into flagpole sitting. We noticed a distinct lack of coverage of the works of the Wrights, Edison, Farnsworth, Bell, etc. On the other hand, the French invention that they made the most of was a condom opener.

But about the butt-kicker. The footage that they showed was from the 1950's at the latest and was probably older. That apparatus had the user-controlled crank and so on that is claimed in the patent I linked above, which was awarded in 2000. I guess the patent examiner didn't have access to French television.