This reminds me of an old, maybe Reader's Digest bit, about new inventions: a (celluloid) collar that could be removed from a shirt and reused, a two-piece telephone that didn't require you to dial (it was that old) a number; you simply picked up the earpiece and spoke into the mouthpiece, telling a distant operator (real person) whom you wished to speak to, and you got connected,..
I'm getting old, there were several other similar "innovations," but I can't remember them.