http://iotd.patrickandrews.com Invention Of The Day Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:06:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Anyone who has ever tried to hang wallpaper or to cut fabric knows that it can be hard to achieve any kind of long, straight edge. If you are working with expensive materials, the cost of having snipped a section which is slightly too short, because of irregularity in the ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/08/04/593-snipstraight/ Young dogs seem to chew anything within reach. This is obviously hard to discourage and may even do damage to the animal's mouth. In particular, they seem to like to gnaw on their bedding and, if not closely supervised, their baskets. Today's invention is a puppy basket in a woven construction. ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/08/04/592-chewbasket/ This being summer, it's the season for being rained on at barbecues. Since I like my meat actually cooked, rather than 'rare', I have to spend a lot of time watching whatever is being made on my behalf. Food in preparation always gets shuffled about on a grill a fair ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/08/03/591-grillclip/ Military helicopters sometimes have to make a forced landing: an event which often results in a sickening impact with the ground and multiple casualties. Today's invention is an adaptation of the Russian approach to space vehicle landings, using retro rockets, which attempts to lessen the injuries caused in such helicopters. In the ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/31/590-blastdown/ Now that fuel is at a ridiculous price, criminals need to be deterred from hijacking roadgoing tankers and stealing their contents. Today's invention is a simple mechanical keypad lock applied to the outlet valve of a tanker. This would be made extremely attack-resistant and the combination reset daily. Although few ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/31/589-fuelock/ Buying a fresh bread stick is a great luxury as far as I'm concerned. I know the French often eat theirs en route from the shop, but I like to get mine home in one piece. Given the mechanical properties and geometry of such bread, I rarely manage to arrive ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/29/588-bagbaguette/ Everybody would like their laptop battery to last longer. Today's invention is one way to allow that. Normally, when left alone for a while, one's screen will dim. I suggest applying that by default to all screen real estate, apart from the active window. The screen would thus use a great ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/28/587-quarterlight/ Misfuelling is the dreadful name given to putting the wrong fuel in your vehicle. Diesel in a petrol car = bad news. This can be a very costly mistake to make and so there are numerous devices to ensure motorists avoid it. The odd thing is that drivers aren't all ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/28/586-hosetidy/ A ring or bracelet can be given more lasting value by the memories associated with it. That's why, I suppose, people care so much about the inheritance of family jewellery and why eg watch manufacturers centre their advertising on the idea of passing their (pricey) products on. Today's invention is ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/27/585-memoring/ I'm told that using a look-down viewfinder is very strongly preferred by many photographers. One of the biggest advantages, apparently is that when taking portrait shots, not being looked at by the snapper directly puts a sitter in a more relaxed frame of mind. Today's invention is a simple variant on ... http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/07/26/584-overseer/