Pillow Crash Helmet

U.S. Patent No. 3,538,508 (.pdf)

Building off the idea of the courtesy pillows handed out on airplanes, the inventor of this patent had the brilliant idea of making a courtesy pillow that folds in half. In the event of a crash, the folded pillow can be put over the passenger's head, and strapped on under the chin. Gosh, wouldn't that make you feel safe? For some reason I thought that people moved past the idea of using pillows as helmets somewhere between preschool and first grade... I guess not. If nothing else, the pillow helmet could be used as a crowd control device: the passengers won't be able to see all the luggage and body parts flying through the air around them.