Gadgets That Are Unfamiliar To Younger Generations But Were Used Frequently By Older Generations

Dec 20, 2019 by apost team

Advancements in technology have resulted in a wide variety of things coming in and out of fashion and usefulness. In some cases, these gadgets and tools were used by mass numbers of people, and nearly everybody at least knew what they were even if they didn't use them.

But, in the below cases, if you show them to anyone who was born in this millennium, they'd likely raise their eyebrows at you, wondering what you were going off about. Go ahead, try it. Show them the five items that we describe below, and see what their reactions are.

Most people recognize common sewing tools such as pin cushions, pins and needles and related items such as roles of measuring tape and scissors. However, something that many today will not recognize are needle threaders. Some of them look like old coins with an interesting diamond-shaped wire at the end of it. A needle threader is pushed through the needle, the thread is then placed through the needle threader, and the needle threader is retracted with the thread now going through the needle.

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Another item that few people nowadays would recognize is tailor's chalk. Chalk being used on a chalkboard in a classroom has been getting phased out but is still used from time to time, so that's recognizable. However, tailor's chalk isn't really used much nowadays.

Regardless, it's the same idea. Tailors used it to make temporary marks on the clothing that they were working with before making cuts, measuring or otherwise using those markings to improve the garments.

Previously, churchkeys were used to open cans and bottles needed them in order to access the liquid inside. In fact, some cans even included operating instructions while others gave churchkeys away with their cans to encourage can purchases. Fortunately, they're no longer needed as cans and bottles can generally now be opened by pre-installed openers.

However, churchkeys used to be ubiquitous. If you don't recognize them, ask some older friends or family members, and they've most likely seen them and, in many cases, even used them themselves.

Record adapters are likely new to anybody who didn't live through the time when records were commonplace, especially 45-rpm records. What is a 45-rpm record? It's one that's much smaller than the normal 78-rpm records.

As a result, it didn't fit on a regular record player as its center was too large. Fortunately, these record adapters fixed that issue. Place this in the middle of the 45-rpm record, and now it fits and may be played.

It's uncertain how many people in the 1970s purchased these pants, but most at least saw the advertising. Regardless, those who did buy them almost never wore them in person. 

The idea behind them was that they'd cause you to sweat much more than normal, especially around areas of your body where you wanted to lose weight, and that would cause that weight loss to occur. Of course, that wasn't true as any weight loss was in the form of water weight and temporary, but that didn't stop people from buying them.

If you're a younger person, did you recognize any of these? If you're older, did you recognize all of them? What memories did they bring back? Tell us below. Pass this article on to your friends and family.