Freezer vacuum pump
Norma McCullough
In 1968, Rongotea 'home economist' - that's housewife to you and me - Norma McCulloch was searching for a better way to avoid freezer burn. Not for…
From the book
Category · 20 inventions
Food & Household
Pavlova, instant coffee and Manuka honey — the flavours and conveniences we gave the world.
Agriculture & Farming
Sport & Recreation
Medicine & Health
Engineering & Technology
Food & Household
Science & Mathematics
Social & Cultural
Maritime & Transport
Thermette
John Hart
What makes the Thermette brilliant is that it is perfect. In the 85 years since it was invented, no improvements have been made on it. It has been…
From the book
Two Drawer Dishwasher
Fisher & Paykel
A dishwasher with drawers, I hear you exclaim, why? Well, why not? It's a simple extension to the 'standard' dishwasher, but on reflection offers a…
From the book
Kiwistar
Dr David Beach
The KiwiStar system was a new type of ultra-fast camera lens with high resolution, broad spectral bandpass and high scalability (100mm to greater…
From the book
Continuous fermentation system
Morton Coutts
For the millions of years before Morton Coutts (b. 1904, d. 2004) was alive, beer was brewed in pretty much the same standard way. The basic method…
From the book
Airtight tin lid
John Eustace
In 1884 Eustace had a small tin smithing business in Dunedin, manufacturing, among other things, lids for tins. Back then they were making slip-on…
From the bookIconic
Pavlova
Mrs McRae
New Zealand and Australia share a friendly rivalry over many things; rugby, cricket, CER, GST . . . but there’s one major thing that we compete over…
Read the full story
Hot cake
Paul Crowther
The Hotcake, like other guitar pedals, is a small box that sits at the feet of the guitarist, and can be switched on and off while the musician is in…
From the book
Childproof Lids
Claudio Petronelli
Claudio was an engineer by birth; his father was a civil engineer in Rome, and we all know the reputation of Roman civil engineers - their roads and…
From the book
Buzzy Bees
Maurice Scheslinger
There has always been only one real Buzzy Bee. The numerous patents and trademarks that protect Buzzy Bee have been bought and sold a number of times…
From the bookIconic
Instant Coffee
David Strang
In 1889, coffee and spice merchant Strang created his ‘Dry Hot-Air’ process to convert coffee into soluble granules and then set about patenting it…
Read the full story
Kaynemaile
Kayne Horsham
Kayne Horsham was Art Director for Creatures, Armour and Weapons for the Lord of The Rings film trilogy when he realised the fake chain mail that his…
From the book
Lanzatech
Sean Simpson
Simpson's insight was that the issue of waste gas is always going to be there. With the world population growing towards 11 billion in the next 20…
From the book
Kindling cracker
Ayla Hutchinson
Ayla came up with the idea for the wood chopper after seeing her mother clip the end of her finger with the hatchet while chopping wood. She took her…
From the book
Easi Yo
Len Light
We've all seen EasiYo in the supermarkets, and many of us have an EasiYo maker in the pantry. EasiYo's inventor, Len Light, was the first in the…
From the book
Mesynthes
If you don’t like the idea of putting squished-up sheep stomach onto you, then you are missing out on a radical new treatment from Auckland company…
From the bookIconic
Manuka Honey
Professor Peter Molan
Professor Peter Molan has taken his discovery of the unusual antibacterial activity of Mānuka honey through to the stage where Mānuka honey wound…
Read the full story
Better Hair Foils
Amanda Buckingham
Like most in her trade, Dunedin hairdresser Amanda Buckingham spends a lot of time standing and contemplating things, and one day had a revelation…
From the book
Biospife
Zespri
Zespri – purveyors of fine kiwifruit since 1997 – created the ‘spife’ a few years ago. It’s like the child you’d get if you mated a spoon and a…
From the book
One Beep
All over the developing world the ‘one laptop per child’ initiative is providing the world’s poorest kids with laptops to help with their education…
From the book
20 of 202 stories
The whole No.8 wire story is in the book.
Every invention here — and 182 more — told in full, with the people and the laughs, in No.8 Re-Wired by David Downs & Jon Bridges.