You can't celebrate your success without admiring your failure. Similarly, we as a civilization cannot recognize our monumental achievements in technology without remembering our more questionable ideas.
Below we've collected some of the wackier designs to cross the U.S. Patent Office in the 19th century. Ranging from an animatronic creeping baby to a diving dress that transforms you into a deep-sea bullet, these patents will make you wonder what their creators were thinking.
Image: FLICKR, THE U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES
