Products that were created in the exact same year (11 Photos)

1

GIF

You know, sometimes it’s good to set things into perspective every once in a while. And personally, I think this is a pretty solid way of doing it: Showing exactly when products we take for granted were made and how others were created in the same year. It shows just how some of the things we take for granted are much older (and newer) than we think.

2

NES and Cherry Coke

I’ve been drinking Cherry Coke for almost my entire life, so color me shocked that it was launched the same year the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released.

3

Post-It Notes and Barcodes

In the same year that we gained the ability to stick bits of paper to a co-worker’s desk to annoy the fuck out of them, the first barcode was scanned (and it was on a pack of Wrigley’s gum).

4

The Internet and Glue Sticks

The beginning of the internet as we know it is kind of foggy, but if you consider the communications between the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network in 1969 the beginning, then you’re in the same year that a German company by the name of Henkel created glue sticks.

5

The Computer Mouse and the Smiley Face

I don’t think I need to explain computer mouse’s too much here (beyond mentioning its inventor, Doug Engelbart), but the smiley face has a strange history. It was created by a graphic artist named Harvey Ross Ball and apparently he was hired by to create an image that would boost morale. At an insurance company.

I don’t think there’s an artist on Earth capable of creating an image that could meet that goal.

6

Satellites and Bubble Wrap

There’s a bit of a technicality here. Sputnik I was absolutely launched in 1957. Bubble wrap was created the same year by two engineers named Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes, but wasn’t used as packaging material until 1961. That’s probably because they created bubble wrap while trying to create textured wallpaper out of shower curtains. Because, you know, science.

7

Synthetic Diamonds and Microwaves

Apparently microwaves in 1954 cost anywhere from between $2,000 and $3,000, unadjusted for inflation mind you. No information is available about how much synthetic diamonds cost back then.

8

ENIAC and Tupperware

Let’s break down that acronym: It stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, coined and created by John William Mauchly and J. Prepser Eckert. It was the first electronic digital computer, and I’ve actually seen a piece of ENIAC in person (it was gigantic, and apparently the piece was only as powerful as a flip phone).

And Earl Tupper invented Tupperware at around the same time.

9

Soft Serve Ice Cream and Ballpoint Pens

So, it’s worth saying that the origin of soft serve ice cream is debated. We’re assuming that Dairy Queen’s story claiming they invented soft serve in 1938 ice cream is completely true and that Carvel didn’t invent it. And around the same time, a journalist named László Bíró invented ballpoint pens.

I don’t know why, but I assumed soft serve ice cream was a much newer invention, and I definitely wouldn’t have assumed that they were as old as ballpoint pens.

10

Sliced Bread and Mickey Mouse

Yep. Sliced bread and Mickey Mouse were both created, Mickey making his debut in the legendary Steamboat Willie and sliced bread making its debut from a machine invented by Otto Rohwedder.

11

Light Switches and Zippers

Over a hundred years ago, the patent for the light switch was filed by William J. Newton and Morris Goldberg. And the same year, the patent for the “separable fastener” was filed. Believe it or not, the name “zipper” didn’t get popular until 1923.