It’s been a wonderful 11 seasons but sadly Modern Family is wrapping up its 11th and final season. It’s been a fun journey following the lives of these three modern families but it’s been even more rewarding watching these families grow. After all, the kids on the show are now young adults. And while fans are leaving with a belly full of laughs and memories from the Dunphys, Delgado-Pritchetts, and Tucket-Pritchetts, we’re also leaving with inspiration for new inventions.
Thanks to Phil’s childlike wonder, he and his son Luke had their fair share of crazy inventions over the years. From wacky ideas to actual creations we wouldn’t mind having around the house, we’re taking a look at 10 inventions created by Phil (and his co-creator Luke) from ABC’s Modern Family.
The Wear-Chair T.M.
In the 10th season, Phil shows off his latest invention: The Wear-Chair T.M. It’s essentially a chair attached to Phil’s waist so he can take a seat without actually needing to take a seat. All he has to do is press a button and a peg shoots out from the back, allowing him to lean back without needing to find a spot to sit.
This invention is actually pretty great but leave it to Phil to screw up the demo. He accidentally wore it backward so the peg leg shot towards his butt instead of toward the ground.
The Head-Scratcher T.M.
The Head-Scratcher T.M. made an appearance a couple of times in Modern Family before it backfired on Phil. His invention is exactly what it sounds like, it’s a helmet you wear on your head that massages your scalp.
It appears that he and Luke created it out out of an old baseball helmet and added “32 patent-pending nogginizers” to massage the person’s noggin. All you have to do is press a button on the back of the helmet and relax… You know, as long as it doesn’t malfunction on your head and cause pain.
The T-Shirt Cannon
In the episode “Three Turkeys,” Phil is in charge of Thanksgiving and Claire has promised to sit back and let Phil take charge. However, she knows Phil like the back of her hand and is afraid he’s going to ruin the turkey so she cooks a backup turkey without him knowing. Alex follows Claire into the garage where she sees the turkey and the two talk about how they wish they could be as careless as Luke and Phil. That’s when they find a box of Phil’s “billion-dollar ideas.”
Inside was an old t-shirt cannon that Claire says Phil created for Luke’s newspaper route. Luke would put the newspaper in it and shoot it at the person’s front yard. But the real question is how long did Luke use this until the cannon shot something else than a doorstep?
The Massive Pumpkin Boat
In “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy,” Phil wants to play the ultimate prank by hiding inside a massive pumpkin and scaring people as they walk by. He was inspired by the original “first prank,” the Trojan Horse. However, his Trojan pumpkin didn’t work out how he expected.
He wanted to scare the neighbor’s kids but he ended up losing control of the pumpkin and ruining their backyard. By the end of the episode, Phil is wondering if he should quit his childlike love for Halloween but that changes when he and Claire decide to test out the pumpkin in the water. The classic episode ends with Phil and Claire steering the pumpkin like a boat having the time of their lives.
His iPad Robot
In the episode “American Skyper,” Phil is away for a conference in Seatle for Alex’s high school graduation party. He’s afraid he’ll be missing out on all the fun so he creates an iPad robot to keep at home so he won’t miss a second of Alex’s party. The robot ends up rolling around the entire house but the volume cuts out, so no one could hear Phil when his robot was stuck (or when Gloria’s cousin stole at the end of the episode).
His Spying Drone
In the fifth season, Phil and Claire have a feeling that Luke is lying to him about his whereabouts. The two find out he’s at a creepy warehouse where the bad kids at school hangout so they decide to spy on him. They show up and Phil sets up a combination of a drone, a camera, and a glare protector after they can’t find the entrance to the warehouse.
While the drone was a “professional real estate tool,” with a little elbow grease, it became his own handy dandy spying machine. Unfortunately for him, Luke knew it was his dad’s drone and the gig was up.
The Pancake Flipper
In the episode “The Future Dunphys,” Luke is in an inventive mood when him and his dad try to find a way to make pancakes flip on their own. We see the two in lab coats in the kitchen, adding popcorn kernels to one side of the pancake. When hot enough, they’re hoping the kernels will pop, thus flipping themselves. Luke called them “pop cakes” but his idea was trash in comparison to Phil’s “flip Jack.”
After minutes of waiting, they decided to call it. But as soon as they walked away the pancake flipped itself! Funny enough, in season 10’s “A Game of Chicken,” Phil reminds those of his invention: the Hey Batter, Batter — a pancake shooter.
The Robotic Camera Car
The episode “Fears” was all about the families conquering their own fears. In the Dunphy household, Phil and Luke wanted to explore the depths beneath their house for treasure but there was one little problem. Phil was scared. Seeing how dark and spooky under their house was, Phil was nervous there was going to be wild animals or worse under there.
To buy himself time from Luke seeing his fear, Phil decided to create a robotic camera by attaching a camera to Luke’s remote-controlled car. By setting the car under the house, Phil would be able to see if there was anything creepy under there before crawling around.
Luke’s Waterproof Ensemble
At the end of the first season of Modern Family, the gang is trying to get together for a family picture but it doesn’t go the way Claire imagined. She can’t find the perfect spot for the picture and with everyone wearing white, things were getting a tad messy.
When she decides everyone should take a picture in Jay and Gloria’s backyard, the sprinklers go off. The only person brave enough to turn off the system was Luke. But how should he do it? Phil wraps his body in Saran wrap and places a planting pot on his head, leaving him virtually waterproof! We see Luke cross the grass—while getting shot at—and he remained dry.
Toast That’s Already Buttered
In the fourth season, we see Luke dismembering a toaster as he’s trying to figure out how to create pre-buttered toast. But this was a case for a professional. Phil enters the kitchen and tells Luke he needs stronger springs to make the toast truly pop (“like the springs from your mattress?”). With stronger springs, the toast will shoot out of the toaster and land into a bowl of melted butter, so all a person would have to do is pick up their toast and eat it. Genius.
