Doughnut-dunking machines: 1956 inventor's gadgets

"Life has gotten too darned complicated," declared Russell E. Oakes in the January 1956 issue of Celebrity magazine. "Our scientists and inventors are just great at investigating the sex life of the polyp or building bigger and better positronic re-diffraction hypotelemeters — but they ignore the all-important everyday problems of the ordinary guy like you and me."

Oakes was an advertising executive from Waukesha, Wisconsin who spent his off-hours building elaborate contraptions for daily irritations. His doughnut-dunking machine keeps your fingers dry, with a pan strapped to your forearm to catch coffee drippings. A "metal spider" rig sits over the butter dish, so your sleeve never dips into the goo when you reach for the salt. A bashful bellhop's tip collector pops up a NO SALE sign when the gratuity falls short. His "improved" bowling ball — guaranteed to strike every frame — comes with its own mechanical arms.

Most of his inventions, he admitted, were more trouble to operate than just doing the task by hand. But they made life more interesting, didn't they? Between 1930 and 1960, Oakes built more than 50 of these gizmos and made short films in the 1940s.

Previously:

• Bizarre and outlandish gadgets and doohickeys
• Rube Goldberg's marvelous machines
• Mid-century classic gadgets photo-set