#2933: SpinSpecs

Today’s invention is sunglasses with swappable combinations of lenses.

The lenses are fitted to a vertical post at the junction of the across-the-face bridge and the over-the-ear leg (a weakness in almost all spectacles). The specs would fold up as usual.

Onto this post would slide a number of turnable collars, one for each lens (shown in different colours).

When not in use, lenses would be flat against each other, providing a ‘blinker’ design down the leg.

This would allow a combination of lenses to be superimposed on each eye, for different colour viewing effects.

For someone who needs them, prescription lenses could be used here, as could photo- or electrochromatic ones.

Similarly, when using augmented reality, a lens with display information could be incorporated and rotated out of the way when not needed.

#2928: LeftisLife

It’s common knowledge among drug manufacturers that pills dissolve into the bloodstream much faster when you lie on your right side.

Someday soon we may have pills which can steer themselves within the stomach, in order to maximise their effectiveness.

Today’s invention is a visual reminder for emergency services personnel, or members of the public, who come upon a suspected overdose victim. It takes the form of a label for eg paracetamol bottles that shows someone being rolled onto their LEFT side: “LeftisLife”.

This will greatly delay absorption of whatever they have taken and perhaps save their life.

#2927: TarmacVac

One of the problems with airliners with low-slung engines is that they are vulnerable to picking up trash when taxiing or on the runway.

Today’s invention extracts some benefit from this.

Imagine a bank of jet engines which have been withdrawn from flight service mounted on a vehicle with their intakes pointed towards the tarmac.

The engines have their intakes behind a strong mesh screen, which can be slid away for cleaning, when stones, rubbish or stray metalwork have been collected.

The vehicle, which could be made autonomous, drives around an airport cleaning all the flat areas where planes go.

A smaller version of this would be useful for the flight decks of aircraft carriers.

These jet engines may need to be rotated out and repaired, but they would not be subject to any flight regulations and could therefore be operated relatively cheaply.

#2925: Wi-Fee

When you take a seat in a coffee shop, the wifi strength you receive via their network will vary, sometimes significantly, depending upon where you sit (try working behind a stone partition in an Edinburgh Starbucks, for example).

Today’s invention is an attempt to enhance and exploit these differences.

A coffee shop could invest in localised hot-spot and shielding technology, so that some areas would have multiplayer games capability and other areas would be deliberate deadzones.

People could choose a seat in a ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ area (which staff could determine from a behind the counter screen. These areas would change dynamically, depending upon the network usage of current customers).

The price of the products they buy would be made proportionate, in realtime, to the popularity of their chosen location.

#2922: ScissorStoppers

Even my humble Transit van has parking sensors which beep when I’m getting too close to a bollard or a kerb.

Today’s invention is to apply these sensors to the doors of all cars. Instead of beeping, though, when the sensor detects something in the way of the door, it simply applies a brake to that door, stopping its movement.

This would stop damage being caused to a vehicle and also all other vehicles that it might park near, by careless door opening.

It might also be useful to the tiny number of folk with gullwing or scissor type doors which are notorious for opening upwards into low garage ceilings.

#2920: ForeWarmed

Today’s invention is long motorcycle gauntlets which have copper wires woven into the palms.

These wires extend across the backs of the gauntlets so that a rider’s forearms are covered by a mesh of them.

Most motorcycles with heated grips are capable, even on a frigid day, of making one’s palms so hot as to be locally uncomfortable.

These gauntlets use the extra heat to stop the forearms becoming numbed on the stagnation surfaces, which is a major contribution to loss of rider concentration on a very cold day.

#2918: SodaHose

I’m in Southern Spain at the moment and I’ve noticed a couple of things:
There are large numbers of soft drinks bottles strew around many urban areas.

There are large numbers of black plastic pipes draped across the countryside, in an attempt irrigate the otherwise dry land.

Today’s invention is a plastic drinks bottle which is designed to be recycled into irrigation pipes.

When the contents have been consumed, the bottles can be punctured in the bottom end and then screwed together tightly, using the moulded-in thread.

(I discovered yesterday that the multi-lobe base of the standard 2 litre bottle, which allows it to stand up and still have a thinner wall, was 20 years in litigation before it could be used. We need to stop allowing lawyers to live off the back of innovation asap).

#2916: Mechanismatch

I’m a huge fan of both Lego and Meccano, for use in demonstrating engineering mechanisms to clients (as well as understanding complex mechanisms myself).

Meccano is based on the Imperial system and therefore the two are incompatible (I’m 100% metric by choice and now use only Eitech components).

Today’s invention is a bridging piece which allows me to connect Lego to Eitech consistently. I tried buying such parts, but these days it’s just easier to 3D print them.

The grey bits are Lego, the blue bits Eitech (metal) and the yellow is the piece in question.

(If I find I need a stronger connection, I have ways to achieve that, but it usually means I’m trying to build an actual system, not a demo/prototype 😉

#2913: LandscapeSnakes

My youth was bedevilled by boardgames. They really don’t interest me, partly because everything is made of flat, scrappy cardboard.

Today’s invention is an upgrade to the popular game of snakes and ladders.

Instead of a flat board, each of the 144 squares would be made from a tower of a variable number of Lego-like bricks, so that the topography of the board would be configurable from game to game.

Onto this a number of plastic snakes and ladders could be snapped…their locations chosen by the players before the game commenced.

#2911: SnowShedder

During recent snowy weather, I watched numerous big trucks, which were otherwise well cleaned and maintained, shedding tonnes of snow and ice onto the roadway.

This often happened suddenly, some miles from the place where the snow had fallen overnight. The effect was that many car drivers were surprised by a sudden avalanche and their drivers reacted by hard braking or swerving.

Today’s invention is a way to ensure that all snow removal happens safely and conveniently, away from other vehicles.

It takes the form of a tarpaulin roll, the same width as the vehicle. A truck driver who arrives after a snowy period reels the tarpaulin along the roof (using a hand or motorised crank). This throws all the snow and ice off the truck, either forwards or backwards.