11 Curious Items From the Past With Functions That Are Too Hard to Guess

It is wrong to assume that people of the past were less inventive than you and I are today. Their imagination was rich enough to create a variety of things, some of which were useful, and others were, well, quite strange.

For example, there was a reusable body cleaning pill, which was also inherited. There were car vases, a device for measuring applause volume, a pocket sundial, a toaster fork, and other quirky objects.

Bright Side has assembled a small collection of vintage accessories, the purpose of which modern people often struggle to figure out at first glance.

11. A car vase

10. A reusable cocktail pick

9. A device for dialing a rotary phone

8. A mechanical circular calculator

7. A hooked ice pick

6. Victorian ice cream spoon

5. A toy washing machine

4. A pocket sundial

3. A perfume flask necklace

2. “An egg shell topper cutter — found this under the floor of a nineteenth-century house.”

1. The Clap-o-Meter

Do you have any strange old things like this lying around your house?