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10 everyday things invented in Germany

And while many German brands have become household names (think Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz), few people realize how many commonly used items came to be thanks to German inventors […]

When we think of Germany — the land of poets and thinkers — we often think of men like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the poet and natural scientist, or Albert Einstein, who discovered the theory of relativity.

And while many German brands have become household names (think Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz), few people realize how many commonly things invented in Germany.

Hole punch
It was once the king of the office, but digital storage has somewhat dampened its reign. But the canny hole punch was destined for greatness from the moment Matthias Theel dreamed it up and Friedrich Soennecken filed his patent on November 14, 1886. Alongside his other top invention, the ring binder, Soennecken’s two-hole punch brought some percussive oomph to the otherwise sterile office setting.

Take the automobile, for example. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built the first functional combustion engine and attached it to a bicycle. This “riding car” was presented a few years later at the Paris World Fair in 1889 and by the 1920s, people were mobile.

Or the coffee filter. In 1908, Dresden housewife Melitta Bentz wondered if an improvised paper filter could make her morning coffee less bitter. Voila! The coffee filter was born and Bentz became an inventor. After she patented her idea, Melitta Group KG became a booming business and even today employs thousands of people

Source: 10 everyday things invented in Germany | Meet the Germans | DW | 12.09.2018

By Itamar Medeiros

Originally from Brazil, Itamar Medeiros currently lives in Germany, where he works as VP of Design Strategy at SAP and lecturer of Project Management for UX at the M.Sc. Usability Engineering at the Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences .

Working in the Information Technology industry since 1998, Itamar has helped truly global companies in multiple continents create great user experience through advocating Design and Innovation principles. During his 7 years in China, he promoted the User Experience Design discipline as User Experience Manager at Autodesk and Local Coordinator of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) in Shanghai.

Itamar holds a MA in Design Practice from Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK), for which he received a Distinction Award for his thesis Creating Innovative Design Software Solutions within Collaborative/Distributed Design Environments.

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