I'm tempted to set up a photo of all the things I've got that are mentioned here: that Workmate, that calculator, the original Anglepoise, my two Gaggia classics (getting old so always need one on the subs' bench) my Tikki pens, Stanley knife, Telecaster and to top it all maybe an ancient Sabatier rusty-blade knife and a le Crueset pan. And my 1951 Rolex Oyster.
All in almost daily use.
Aeron chair - I live in them!
Inspired by the steel pipe beinding thread, the sheffield bike stand. Such a simple idea but you realise how good it is at what it does every time you try to lock your bike to something where somebody has tried to be more clever about it.
Why did you carry it all the time, to point of affecting your skin, if you only used it once a month?
Because I... used it once a month? Fire is a useful thing to have to hand. I carried lots of things, does everyone with a SAK in their pocket use it daily?
It took me a little while to make the connection as to what was causing the rash(*). The Zippo lived in the watch pocket of my jeans, the pocket was the perfect size but it meant that it was always held in exactly the same spot.
I retired it for a while in favour of a jetflame thing which was better but unreliable, something I later discovered was probably at least in part down to gas quality. Today I'm back to a Zippo but with the innards replaced with a jet cartridge. It's better in every way other than the button having a lower fiddle-factor. 😁
(* - that's what she said, etc.)
The humble BS 1363 plug.
Overengineered, bulky, and uses far more materials than the standard two pin plug used in the rest of Europe.
How can plug be a design classic when it could electrocute you? Before they sleeved the live and neutral pins it was possible to accidentally touch the live as you pulled the plug out.
It certainly woke you up!
Wooden deck chair.
As someone who goes through the comedic routine of trying to put one of this into shape at least once a year I have to object to its inclusion; there really must be a foolproof design.
I have to agree about the Zippo. I don't smoke and don't need one, but I want one!. They are such a great "thing".
Honda C90 / supercub, the worlds greatest motorcycle.
Patented in 1895, still used today- simple, efficient and (in my experience) reliable.
The derailleur!
As a nipper I once unplugged something and my little hands went round the side of the plug and made contact with the live pin. It gave me quite a belt.
But what really bugs me about them (apart from my dislike of re-wiring them, and every bloody one you look at needs different wire lengths, and some cheap ones not gripping the cable properly) is that when you but a carpentry tool in a decent case, the case is never designed for a UK plug so it's always a right faff to get it back in and shut it.
Long Johns.
The derailleur
Bit of kit nerd time. That style of dropped parallelogram derailleur is a design masterpiece within a design as it were. Suntour introduced it and it, ultimately, led to the abandonment of the previous design of derailleurs and the ability to use far lower gears easily.
This can opener is brilliant.
It opens the can, but the cut is so clean and safe you can run your finger around the edge of the can, and use the top as a lid (if you want to) - it clicks back onto the can, which will then look like it's still un-opened.
Probably not an 'everyday design classic' in the sense the OP had in mind, but it's a sort of 'hidden gem' of design instead.
And the first time you use it, you'll assume it hasn't done anything and is completely useless. But that's only because it's so good; and you will have to adjust your expectations of the whole world ref. can-opening.
Hard boiled egg slicer
Patented in 1895, still used today- simple, efficient and (in my experience) reliable.
The derailleur!
Every time I look at a derailleur I think "surely there must be a better solution for MTB than a fragile lump of metal dangling inches from the ground?" Why can't there be some sort of slack taker-upper inline with the lower chain and lifting it, a horizontal derailleur?
I suppose the fact that there isn't is a testament to its design.
Why can't there be some sort of slack taker-upper inline with the lower chain and lifting it, a horizontal derailleur?
Somebody designed this a couple of years ago, and tucked it behind an additional little triangle at the cassette end of the chain stay. I can't remember what it was called or the company who made it, I'm sure somebody will recall it and post below.
The main drawback of course being that it isn't retrofittable to any frame designed for a standard derailleur.
I suppose the fact that there isn't is a testament to its design
And that before the recent 12, 13, 14 & dinnerplate blocks, electric gears, etc changes derailleurs were fairly cheap bits of kit so there wasn’t any incentive to change?
derailleurs were fairly cheap bits of kit
Deore.
12 spd can be had for what, under £30 ?!?
The U-bend.
Following on from Chewy's vegetable peeler a few days ago, which is the dogs for carrots,parsnips etc, we mustn't forget this too:
Was it this one?
No, more modern than that, which looks like something Henri Desgrange would have objected to. 😁
A bit of hunting found this. Lal bikes Supre Drive.
https://share.google/o5zeKGJVhKHbiUlYT