History Main / InventorOfTheMundane

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode [[JoeMillionaire "Ron Millionaire"]] featured Ron Stoppable receiving 99 million dollars for inventing the Naco. Whatever he didn't spend during the episode was stolen by Dr. Drakken in the end.

* One ''{{Dilbert}}'' strip showed Dilbert's great-grandfather as the inventor of sliced bread, the greatest thing since unsliced bread.

* In ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', Scotty hands the chemical makeup for Transparent Aluminum (which ''will'' be extremely mundane in the ''Star Trek'' canon, but isn't in 1980s America) to an engineer.

* Otra in {{Girly}} is wealthy only because she accidentally came up with a popular clothing fashion line that only consists of wear with the number 0 on it, or letter O in reference to her name, after a designer took notice of the number 0 she drew on her own shirt and found it to be brilliant.

* ''TimeSquad'' had plenty of these. Whether the inventors actually got around to inventing their mundane inventions was completely subject to plot convenience.
* ''DannyPhantom'': Sam Manson's family became wealthy because an ancestor of hers invented a device that twirls toothpicks in cellophane.

* ''KimPossible'' episode [[JoeMillionaire "Ron Millionaire"]] featured Ron Stoppable receiving 99 million dollars for inventing the Naco. Whatever he didn't spend during the episode was stolen by Dr. Drakken in the end.
* In TheLooneyTunesShow, Bugs is wealthy and living in a nice home because he invented the carrot peeler, apparently a useful kitchen appliance.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': The episode "Timeslides" features a man who became staggeringly rich by inventing a novelty stress toy, the "tension sheet".

->'''Actress:''' "So what do you do for a living?\\
'''Harry:''' Uhh, I'm retired. I invented dice when I was a kid.

[[caption-width-right:184:[[SelfReferentialHumor Coffee Collar? I hear the guy that invented these gets ten cents every time one is used.]]]]

Sometimes the plot needs a character to be [[UndisclosedFunds very wealthy]] without ever [[OneHourWorkWeek actually doing anything]] or being particularly clever. When such a thing is needed, the character will be credited with inventing something very simple, useful, and everyday. Not anything groundbreaking like cold fusion -- think more along the lines of velcro.

In other cases, the character is shown to be someone who isn't necessarily a great scientist, but clever and practical minded. Perhaps the character won't get famous or wealthy off of the invention, but their product at least will be a household name.

Compare with WeekendInventor when inventing is a hobby rather than a lucrative living. See also BunglingInventor, GadgeteerGenius, and MrFixit. If the inventor was an ancestor, then it is RoyaltiesHeir. If the character only ''claims'' to have invented something, then it is InventionPretension. In a number of cases this also doubles as a ShoutOut or a NamesakeGag.
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!!Examples

[[AC: AnimeAndManga]]
* From {{Akira Toriyama}}'s ''Manga/DragonBall'', Dr. Briefs invented capsules: nifty little things that defy the laws of conservation of mass in order that whatever vehicle, housing, or devices one could possibly need can be shrunk down to the size or a pill. Due to his rule as one of the series' {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es, he fills that role a bit more than this (but the capsules are ''very'' mundane in that world).

[[AC: {{Film}}]]
* Patrick Dempsey was portrayed as one in the movie ''Made Of Honor''. He invented that cardboard thing that goes around the coffee cup that keeps your hand from getting burned--named in the movie as the "Coffee Collar." Patrick Dempsey got 10 cents whenever one was used.
* In ''GardenState'', one of Zach Braff's friends invented "silent velcro" and became a multi-millionaire. He now spends his time driving golf-carts around his mansion.

* ''TheSocialNetwork'' features the RealLife story of Mark Zuckerberg and the invention of {{Facebook}}.
* In ''AustinPowers: International Man of Mystery'' during a group therapy session Dr. Evil mentions that his father claimed to have invented the question mark (among many other, equally strange declarations).
* In ''Film/MenInBlack'', the MIB owned the patents to some '[[ETGaveUsWiFi out of town]]' inventions. Among them was Velcro.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', Scotty hands the chemical makeup for Transparent Aluminum (which ''will'' be extremely mundane in the ''Star Trek'' canon, but isn't in 1980s America) to an engineer.
-->'''[=McCoy=]:''' Scotty, you're tampering with the future!
-->'''Scotty:''' How do you know he ''didn't'' invent it?
* ''Flash Of Genius'' is a movie BasedOnATrueStory about Robert Kearns and the invention of the intermittent windshield wiper.
* In ''OfficeSpace'', the character Tom Smykowski uses the settlement from a car accident to fund the invention of his "Jump to Conclusions" mat ("Have a problem? Just take out the mat and ''jump'' to a conclusion!"). In universe, it was wildly successful.
* In ''MeanGirls'', Gretchen's family is wealthy because her father invented toaster strudels.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
* The father from ''{{Holes}}'' spent the entire novel trying to invent the perfect odor-eater. He finally succeeded not only at inventing it, but also at marketing.
* ''Literature/GoodOmens'' has a list of people who invented things that, once they were invented, became so ubiquitous no one remembered they ever needed inventing. [[NamesakeGag They all have names like Device or Gadget]].
* One DanielPinkwater book featured a protagonist taking a summer job working for his uncle, who had invented the things they put on the end of shoelaces ("aglets", according to TheOtherWiki, but carefully not given a name in the novel).

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* A RunningGag from ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' was the invention of now-everyday objects, some of them decades in advance of their normal time.
--> "It's the coming thing!"

* The town of Neptune in ''VeronicaMars'' is so high-class because it's home to a bunch of children of the tech boom. Duncan Kane's dad, for instance, invented streaming video,

[[AC: WebOriginal]]
* Mentioned as a gag in the ''LegendaryFrog'' cartoon where Kerrigan decides to become an inventor and make millions. She says to her boyfriend, "Remember John from next door? John Velcro?"

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
* ''TimeSquad'' had plenty of these. Whether the inventors actually got around to inventing their mundane inventions was completely subject to plot convenience.

* In ''StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', Scotty hands the chemical makeup for Transparent Aluminum (which ''will'' be extremely mundane in the ''Star Trek'' canon, but isn't in 1980s America) to an engineer.

* A RunningGag from ''TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' was the invention of now-everyday objects, some of them decades in advance of their normal time.

Sometimes the plot needs a character to be very wealthy without ever actually doing anything or being particularly clever. When such a thing is needed, the character will be credited with inventing something very simple, useful, and everyday. Note that the character is not typically inventing cold fusion or something very complex, [[BrokenRecord but rather something like, say, velcro]].

* Inverted in ''RomyAndMichelesHighSchoolReunion''. Michele ''claims'' she invented Post-It Notes (it's a lie to impress her old high school people).

* ''RedDwarf'': The episode "Timeslides" features a man who became staggeringly rich by inventing a novelty stress toy, the "tension sheet".

* In ''DirkGently's Holistic Detective Agency'', the main protagonist invented an ap that turns spreadsheet data into music, which corporations love because the resulting tunes make good jingles. He doesn't personally get rich by doing so, but it's the product that keeps his boss's software company afloat.

* From {{Akira Toriyama}}'s ''DragonBall'', Dr. Briefs invented capsules: nifty little things that defy the laws of conservation of mass in order that whatever vehicle, housing, or devices one could possibly need can be shrunk down to the size or a pill. Due to his rule as one of the series' {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es, he fills that role a bit more than this (but the capsules are ''very'' mundane in that world).

* In ''TheWestingGame'', James Hoo has a grudge against Westing for stealing his idea for the disposable paper diaper. He later invents a paper shoe liner, Hoo's Foot-Eez, that sells well enough that he retires a wealthy man.

* In ''DirkGently's Holistic Detective Agency'', the main protagonist invented an ap that turns spreadsheet data into music. He doesn't personally get rich by doing so, but it's the product that keeps his boss's software company afloat.

* ''TheSocialNetwork'' features the RealLife story of Mark Zukerberg and the invention of {{Facebook}}.

Compare with WeekendInventor when inventing is a hobby rather than a lucrative living. See also BunglingInventor, GadgeteerGenius, and MrFixit. If the inventor was an ancestor, then it is RoyaltiesHeir. In a number of cases this also doubles as a ShoutOut or a NamesakeGag.

* In ''MenInBlack'', the MIB owned the patents to some '[[ETGaveUsWiFi out of town]]' inventions. Among them was Velcro.

* ''FlashOfGenius'' is a movie BasedOnATrueStory about Robert Kearns and the invention of the intermittent windshield wiper.

* From {{AkiraToriyama}}'s ''DragonBall'', Dr. Briefs invented capsules: nifty little things that defy the laws of conservation of mass in order that whatever vehicle, housing, or devices one could possibly need can be shrunk down to the size or a pill. Due to his rule as one of the series' {{GadgeteerGenius}}es, he fills that role a bit more than this (but the capsules are ''very'' mundane in that world).

* PatrickDempsey was portrayed as one in the movie ''MadeOfHonor''. He invented that cardboard thing that goes around the coffee cup that keeps your hand from getting burned--named in the movie as the "Coffee Collar." Patrick Dempsey got 10 cents whenever one was used.
* In ''GardenState'', one of ZachBraff's friends invented "silent velcro" and became a multi-millionaire. He now spends his time driving golf-carts around his mansion.

* In ''JohnnyAndTheBomb'', Wobbler is left in the past, unable to return to his time due to a paradox. While taking TheSlowPath, he uses his knowledge of the present to "invent" fast food restaurants.