Vintage Family Handyman Feature: Home Safety Products from the ’80s
Updated: Dec. 09, 2020In celebration of Family Handyman's 70th Anniversary, take a look back at this article on home safety products from 1982.
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Investing in Home Safety in the 80’s
Family Handyman has always been focused on ensuring our readers feel comfortable and safe in their homes. While the technology and products used for home protection back in the 1980’s weren’t quite as sophisticated as they are now, the “Ten New Products for a Safer Home” featured in this story would have been seen as the height of innovation in ’82. And some of them would be just as useful today as they were nearly forty years ago.
House Fire Prevention
Fire safety was a major focus of this article, featuring products like “Explosafe” containers to store gasoline in a safe and stable condition, and an in-home sprinkler system designed to douse house fires in their infancy. If all else fails, there’s the “Emergency 1,” a roll-up fire escape ladder that turned any upper-story window into a quick emergency exit.
Child Proofing and Face Shielding
Turns out childproofing cabinets and drawers was a thing back in the early ’80s. While some of the house safety products in the article definitely stood the test of time, others — like the portable smoke alarm pictured above — did not catch on quite as permanently. Who would have predicted that the face shield would make such a big comeback in 2020?
For more of our amazing vintage Family Handyman content, visit our 70th Anniversary Page.