The Ill-Fated Berlin Trip.

Instead of wandering around cool design museums with forty or so hungover classmates in central Berlin, I spent this week cooped up in my over-priced student accommodation eating brownies and watching Friends episodes on repeat with my one remaining housemate. Now in fairness this is a pretty trivial complaint compared to what’s going on in the world at the moment and every time I sulk about it all I think of is:

“Kim there are people who are dying”

(Kourtney Kardashian, 2011)

For real though, who ate the bat I just want to talk....But instead, I’m going to mention a few German designs that changed the world. Aside from their less than reputable history they actually have some pretty innovative designs.

1. The Jerrycan

Now I’ll be the first to say I never look at the petrol can beside the old paint tins in the garage and think

“Jaysus, thank God they invented that, savage stuff, where would we be without it”

But it was actually pretty important when it came to the war. By 1939, Germans (or Jerries as the Allies called them, hence the name) had thousands of the cans stockpiled in anticipation of war. The can has three handles, meaning it can be carried easily by one or two people. Secondly, dented surface on the side strengthens the can and allows its contents to expand. An air pocket under the handles, a cam lever release mechanism and a short spout with an air-pipe to the air pocket allow even and precise pouring. An American fascinated with the design smuggled one to the US. the design entered the Allied forces’ supplies. In Europe alone the US army used more than 19,00,000 during the war. Even President Roosevelt commented:

“without these cans it would have been impossible for our armies to cut their way across France at a lightning pace which exceeded the German Blitzkrieg of 1940”

(Thevintagenews.com, 2014-2020)

2. The Contact Lens.

As someone with poor vision who is probably a few grades away from picking out guide dog names, I find the invention of contact lenses and glasses very essential. As it happens Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to produce sketches that suggested that the optics of the human eye could be altered by placing the cornea directly in contact with water. Da Vinci was correct with his assumptions. He filled a bowl with water, then placed a man’s face into it. It is said that for the first time the individual was able to see clearly. His experiment revealed two important scientific factors. Improved refraction and improved peripheral visual acuity. He also made a lens with a funnel on one side so that the water could be poured into it. Unfortunately, this was immediately discarded due to impracticality and the age in which he lived in.

(Lenstore.co.uk, 2019)

However, in 1887, German artificial glass eye makers F. A. Muller created a transparent contact lens. These early contact lenses were not designed to correct vision, instead proving effective at protecting diseased eyes. Further advances in lens creation meant that by the start of the 20th century contact lenses were starting to prove their value for vision correction. The technology was by no means ready for widespread use though, and the lenses were only occasionally used for specific medical purposes

There’s a hell of a lot more designs than this to discuss but we’re still in quarantine and I have at least seven more cups of coffee to make.