You’ve probably noticed when changing your clothes, that a lot of them come with an extra patch of fabric inside. If anything, you’ve thought to yourself that the fabric is there in the case that your shirt or pants rip and you need to do some sewing. Well, it’s not there in the chance that your pants rip, although we suppose that you can use it as such if your shirt does rip (note that this might look very obvious unless you’re a professional seamstress).
The little fabric’s true purpose is to allow you to test out washing the material a certain way, so you know if it’ll shrink or if the colors will bleed. This addition, which is nothing short of genius, lets you know how the clothing item will react in the machine. If you’re hitting yourself now, just remembering the last time you ruined a new shirt, don’t feel so bad. Unfortunately, this is a feature that most people don’t know about.
Ridges on Coins
We aren't sure if you've noticed this, but both quarters and dimes have rough edges (as opposed to pennies and nickles, which don't). Go ahead, we'll wait patiently for you to pull some coins out of your wallet so that you can compare the difference, that is, if you even have any coins considering that credit cards are taking over the world. To set the scene, the year is 1972, and the Coinage Act has just established the U.S. Mint. Back then, coins were stamped in different weights to show the real value of the coin.
In order to prevent criminals from filing shavings from the sides of the coins and selling the metal, minters put ridges on coins (a process known as reeding) to make it easy to tell if the edges had been shaved off. Another benefit to doing this was that it also made it more difficult to counterfeit the money. Nowadays, coins are no longer made from precious metals so this isn't an issue. But, we still have edges on our coins.
Detachable Headrests in Cars
This next one is up for debate. Do you know how the tops of the seat in a car are detachable? Come on, I know I'm not the only one that used to pull them out on family road trips and get my dad mad. If you think that there isn't a reason for this, then you're wrong. Well, there's a popular meme that went around explaining the reason for this madness. This meme explained that the reason for the tops of seats being removable is in case of an emergency.
If you're stuck in your car, you can pull out the headrest and use the metal bars to break through the window and exit the car. While they are really there to provide support for your head and neck in case of an accident, it does make you wonder why the headrests are removable. I'm choosing to believe that all those times I spent pulling the headrest out were practical and that I'll be the one who knows what to do when trapped inside of a vehicle.
Three Handles on Jerry Can
Jerrycans were designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use. The original design of the jerrycan still remains in widespread military use. The three handles were designed because it was specified that a soldier should be able to carry two full containers or four empty ones by holding onto the outer handle. In order to keep the fuel evenly distributed while you're holding it, there are three handles across the top.
This is especially true if two people are carrying it. If you are holding it with a friend, you should each grab one of the outer handles. If you're Hercules enough to carry it on your own, then grab it by its middle handle, or if you're carrying two in each hand, then by its outer left and right handles, respectively.
Brass Doorknobs
Alright, we definitely aren't expecting you to be paying attention to brass doorknobs, so if you haven't noticed this next one, then you get a free pass. All doorknobs are made out of brass. There is a very smart reason for the doorknobs being made from this, and it is surely not an accident. Things made from brass hold up better against bacteria build-up. Think of the number of times a day that doorknobs are touched.
The brass helps make them free of germs. This is very important, considering that people are constantly touching doorknobs after touching a load of other things. Obviously, this is important since people will pick up germs on their hands in countless different ways. Thanks to the brass, we are less exposed to germs than if they had been made from another material.