© Shutterstock

Forks -

Amy Azzarito, a design historian, explains: “This thing that we interact with every single day of our lives was once deemed immoral and unhygienic.” The fork was thought too similar to a devil’s pitchfork.

©

Shutterstock

Forks -

However, that all changed during the Italian Renaissance when people started eating syrupy soaked fruit for dessert, which was too sticky for fingers and was just sinfully sweet enough to bring back the fork.

©

Shutterstock

Treadmills -

If this exercise machine feels like torture to you, you’re onto something! During the Victorian period, the "treadwheel" was used as an energy-producing form of punishment for those sentenced to perform penal labor.

©

Shutterstock

High heels -

In the 15th century, heels were the shoe of choice for Persian soldiers as the sole helped them clip into their stirrups. The Persians then brought heels to Europe, where men there reportedly started wearing them because of how tall and intimidating it made them seem.

©

Shutterstock

Stainless steel - We all have tons of stainless steel in our kitchens, but not many know that it was first developed in World War I, when Harry Brearly was trying to improve rifle barrels by combining iron with chromium. He quickly realized the addition of chromium made the metal rust-proof, and it soon became a domestic mainstay.

©

Shutterstock

Fireplace -

While contemporary fireplaces are mostly for design, for millennia the fireplace was an essential everyday source of both heat and light that was rarely allowed to die out, and some reportedly remained lit for generations.

©

Shutterstock

Baths -

It took a long time for people to warm up to the idea of baths. The ancient Greeks enjoyed rinses post-exercise, but from the 16th to 18th centuries medical experts advised against baths, believing that the soak would open the pores and allow infections in.

©

Shutterstock

Baths - Later, the Victorians, with their admiration of the ancient Greeks, brought baths back, and soon enough indoor plumbing was developed.

©

Shutterstock

Plates -

In Europe, early versions of plates were cut from large round loaves of whole wheat bread that were aged for a few days, then sliced into two three-inch rounds. It would not be eaten as part of the meal, but rather given to the poor, or the dogs.

©

Shutterstock

Female pleasure toys -

In its early days, it was a medical device invented by male doctors who would administer it to women diagnosed with "hysteria." The treatment for the now-debunked ailment was for doctors to manually bring them to orgasm using their hands, which was evidently too exhausting.

©

Shutterstock

Silly Putty - A staple in homes with children, this fun, stretchy material was developed in World War II when James Wright was trying to develop synthetic rubber and failed. His failure, however, paved the way for marketing genius Peter Hodgson to label it a kid’s toy.

©

Shutterstock

Magnetic tape -

You may have some cherished old cassettes lying around, but the magnetic tape inside was a hot commodity when the Nazis developed it to record and rebroadcast their radio addresses. When the war ended, Allies brought the technology out of Germany and sold it commercially.

©

Shutterstock

Sofas - Sofas are taken for granted in many living rooms, but after they first sprung up in Egypt, and after the Roman Empire enjoyed it and then faced collapse in the 5th century, the sofa ceased to exist for the next 1,000 years.

©

Shutterstock

Sofas -

It wasn’t until the late 16th century that European craftsmen revived the sofa,  though it was at the time markedly a bit salacious because it was advertised with women splayed across them. King Louis XIV was a notable fan, and filled his properties, including the Palace of Versailles, with them.

©

Shutterstock

Clocks -

We now tend to have more than one clock in our homes, but in the period of time after its invention and before its widespread availability as an alarm, clock-less factory workers paid “knocker-uppers” a small fee to knock on their windows in the morning.

©

Shutterstock

Nike shoes -

Bill Bowerman coached runners in the ‘70s on a slippery but hard track. One morning, when he saw his wife's waffle iron, he had an epiphany: he’d create a new kind of running shoe with a waffle-patterned sole to help runners improve speed. That waffle-inspired design kicked off the global sneaker powerhouse.

©

Shutterstock

Corkscrews -

Corkscrews often signal joy now, but they’re modeled on a tool of war called a “gun worm,” which was a metal claw used to clear misfired ammunition from barrels of muskets. The corkscrew used to be called a "steel worm."

©

Shutterstock

Keys -

Wooden locks of the massive Greek and Egyptian doors equally required massive keys, which could be three feet in length, and were so heavy that they were commonly carried slung over the shoulder—a fact mentioned in the Bible.

©

Shutterstock

Rocking chairs -

Created by colonial settlers in North America in the 18th century, the rocking chair was a mashup of the chair and the cradle, meant for nursing mothers. It quickly caught on with others, however, and was soon a staple of the American home.

©

Shutterstock

Silly String -

The fun sprayable string actually started out as an attempt by Robert P. Cox and Leonard A. Fish in 1972 to build a device that could create an instant cast around broken bones, which medical professionals could spray over fractures. One of the 500 nozzles they tested happened to send the foam very far, and they turned it into a toy.

©

Shutterstock

Graham crackers -

The tasty s'mores biscuits were first introduced by the Presbytarian minister Sylvester Graham as part of a special diet that was meant to curb "carnal urges," as a popular theory of the time was that sexual appetite was the ruin of society and that it could be reduced by eating bland food.

©

Shutterstock

Fertilizer -

The ammonia fertilizer Fritz Haber pioneered is celebrated by many, but he also used his talents for evil. During World War I, the German chemist became known as the "father of chemical warfare," and developed and weaponized poison gas, which led to some declaring him a war criminal.

©

Shutterstock

Chainsaws -

Brace yourself, because this one’s gory. Up until the 18th century, the caesarean section didn’t exist, so doctors would help difficult deliveries by taking at knife to the pelvis bone to make room for the baby. In 1780, a pair of doctors created a hand-cranked blade on a chain, which gained popularity first in bone-cutting procedures before it became popular with other materials like wood.

©

Shutterstock

Bubble wrap -

The packaging staple reportedly first started out as an idea for artsy, textured wallpaper by Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes in 1957. They sandwiched two plastic shower curtains together and pushed them through a sealing machine, and three years later discovered the best use for them was not on walls or as greenhouse insulation, but as packaging wrap.

©

Shutterstock

Play-Doh -

The idea for the colorful kids' dough started as a soft compound, by the company Kutol, which homeowners could press against wallpaper to remove soot, since most homes before the ‘50s relied on coal. When electricity came along, Kay Zufall, a preschool teacher and sister-in-law to Kutol’s head, had the million-dollar idea, and the rest is history!

©

Shutterstock

Chewing gum -

In the 19th century, Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna asked inventor Thomas Adam to create rubber from a milky latex material of the Central American sapodilla tree, called chicle. The rubber didn't pan out, but Adam went in another direction.

©

Shutterstock

Kleenex - Before they became designated for blowing noses, these facial tissues were reportedly originally used to function as disposable gas mask filters during World War I.

©

Shutterstock

Listerine -

The morning breath slayer was originally developed as a surgical-grade antiseptic, and was even marketed as a floor cleaner at one point.

©

Shutterstock

Brandy -

In the 17th century, Dutch vintners would boil their wine in order to reduce its volume for transport, then cut it with water when they were ready to drink. They didn't realize, however, that transporting the concentrated mixture in wooden casks would accidentally turn it into something very different: brandy.

See also: Accidental food inventions (history's tastiest mistakes).

©

Shutterstock