Secret Reasons You Don't Know About Everyday Things

Published on May 18, 2018
Secret Reasons You Don't Know About Everyday Things

Top things you didn’t know the purpose of! These are the everyday items and things you didn’t know the use for!

#14. “Pen Cap”-- You have definitely noticed the tiny hole in the top of a cap and may have used it to try and make a whistle or pretended it was a tiny spyglass. Most people believe this hole has something to do with preventing a pen from drying-out but this is not the case. The hole in the pen cap actually serves as a safety feature. In the event that a small child swallows one, the hole allows air to pass through and reduces the risk of suffocation.

#13. “Measuring Tape Tools”-- The modern measuring tape machine is a handy invention that most construction workers and contractors can’t live without, but even some of the most skilled workers might not know it has two incredible yet simple features. First there is the serrated edge on the metal end of the tape. This was put into the design so that if you desired you could put a minor scratch or indentation into the surface you are measuring, in order to give you a marker to make further measurements or designs off of. The other feature is right next to the serrated edge. You may have noticed the small hole that is commonly located in the metal tip. So what’s the purpose of this? Well this is so that if you are measuring something from a point where a nail or screw is you can hook the tape onto the nail and hold the tape in place.

#12. “The Quarter’s Edge”-- You probably have spied the hundreds of tiny grooves that mark the outside edge of a quarter but not thought twice about it having a purpose. But these tiny ridges actually once served an important function and no it’s not just so magician’s can get a better grip during coin tricks. Up until recently, historically speaking, the cost of the metals in a coin reflected the coins value so many people took to shaving the edges off of the coins and then used the rest of the coin to purchase items as if the coin still had full value. They would then save up their shavings and melted them together to create new coins or just sell the chunks. In order to combat this, coin minters started putting these ridges on their coins so that retailers could tell whether the coins had been shaved. This practice, though not necessary today, is carried on for the sake of tradition and aesthetic. So why don’t nickels have them? Because no one cares about nickels.