The Spork: An Eccentric Inventor's LegacyHe also designed a safety coffin for the buried alive.

From the show

The Secret Life of Objects

Meet Samuel W. Francis, the prolific inventor behind the modern spork. His 1874 patent for the utensil was just one of many bizarre creations, including a typewriter that looked like a piano and a self-opening casket. Though his combined fork-spoon-knife never became a success in his lifetime, his story reveals a fascinating obsession with solving humanity's problems through often outlandish ideas.