This whiskey gun propels a shot glass of whiskey at your face
Phil Edwards was a senior producer for the Vox video team.
Is this the greatest pun-based invention of all time? So far, yes. (Vox/USPTO)
Everyone knows the best inventions come from puns, and this 1969 patent is particularly inspired: It allows you to use a gun to send a shot of whiskey hurtling toward your face.
The invention by Frank G. Bohn (a Wisconsinite who apparently preferred whiskey to beer) specifies that the shot glass is a whiskey shot glass because, let’s be honest, you’re not going to get vodka from a toy rifle. The novelty invention would work pretty much as patented — delivering a shot of whiskey to the lips when the trigger is pulled (and probably spilling a lot in the process).
Lest you be worried, there is still innovation coming from the best minds in the moving-alcohol-to-your-mouth field. There’s a 1996 patent for a shot glass that can be wound up and sent forward like a Matchbox car, and there’s a bracelet that ensures your beer always has a shot physically attached.
There are even many variations on the Russian roulette shot dispenser. But none of them are as perfect a marriage of function and pun as the gun that shoots whiskey shots. Just make sure you have a napkin ready.
