Category: Feasible inventions

Wheels on cars are a huge business. Just like spoilers and exhaust systems, people get very emotional about the design of their spinning rims.

Today’s invention is a new way to add a bit of extra drama to this discerning marketplace.

Imagine a wheel which can be attached to the hub as usual (with B on the outside) or attached to the same hub but ‘inside out’ (with A on the outside). This used to be common enough but, with the rise of super elaborate multi piece alloy rims, the practice has largely ceased. Most wheels have a second grade surface where hub meets wheel, but this need not be the case and a protective pad could easily be inserted there.

The benefits come from the asymmetry: having A be the outward side increases the track of the car (eg for race use). It also provides a much more dramatic ‘stance,’ without the usual spacers. Faces A and B could also sport different colours (perhaps using a body-colour wrap on one of them). One might be spoked and the other dished.

Cars like mine which has massive rears and smaller front wheels could get away with four identical wheels, attached with narrow-track in the front and wide in the rear. The only constraint is that the wheels would still have to avoid collision with the suspension and fit over the brake callipers, of course.

You’d also have to be a bit canny when using wheels with inherently directional treads.

When taking handheld photographs, you often have to hold your breath and brace, whilst also clutching a heavy camera. This can be tiring to do all day and undermines a photographer’s concentration and artistic input.

Photographers commonly wear multi-pocket vests and today’s invention is such a garment but one which pressurises itself to act as a semi-rigid platform. This could most likely be achieved using the self inflation equipment from a life jacket.

When you press the focus button, a small carbon-dioxide cylinder would fill the vest. That would compress your torso and help steady you for the shot -without having to keep tightening your stomach and chest muscles.

It might even have bags under the armpits to help support the camera’s weight. Once rigidified, a gibbet attached to the vest could be used to support the weight of the camera using the torso as a stable platform.

Throughout a day-long shoot, the vest could be repeatedly deflated a little and then topped up using a foot pump, for example.

One of the easiest ways to have an accident is to fall from a ladder. Often, this happens because the base is insecure.

Another serious danger is ascending past the point where at least one hand can grip the side rails. It’s always tempting to balance on the top rung and stretch to paint that last, high section of wall.

Today’s invention is a simple alternative design which overcomes this danger. The ladder has a section of rungs deliberately missing at the top end. You can stand on rung B and grip the rails at A but no greater height is possible.

If you need a taller ladder, then a sliding extension can be added in the usual way -to the bottom end.

Another advantage is that, at the end of the day, this design can be inverted and locked to eg a downpipe, making it impossible for burglars or children to ascend.

From a marketing point of view, this would be better portrayed as providing extra length rather than less. The de-runged bit could be painted a different colour.

Everything you buy will soon be payable for using a contactless card. If you choose to use one of these, rather than pay by phone, you will encounter a problem.

The cards need to be held close enough to the reader and parallel to its surface.

That action makes it hard to grip the card properly. You can hold it by one edge, but this often fails to read. I’m thinking here about the London Underground Oyster card. Faffing around those turnstyles at rush hour makes you unpopular. Or you can hold the edges using one finger on each, but this feels insecure and is hard to get the card close enough to the surface.

Today’s invention solves these problems using a milk bottle cap seal as shown. This would be simply glued onto your card. Fold up the tab, pinch it between your fingers and swipe the card close to the reader. This gives more reliable performance at almost zero extra cost.

When inserting that card back in a wallet or even into an ATM, the tab is simply folded flat.

Today’s invention is a simple add-on for paint rollers which allows one to paint up to an edge or skirting board without getting the paint anywhere it shouldn’t go.

This is designed to be manufactured for a few pence and to be easily cleanable.

When you press down on the roller handle, its springiness allows the shield to stay flat on the surface whilst the roller paints it.

Today’s invention is a microphone to be used in the Q&A section of conference meetings.

It is equipped with a simple timer, so that the chairperson can set the interval for which each questioner can speak. This is publicly announced beforehand.

The chairperson may also set the guest responder’s microphone for a different, but still limited, duration.

In this way, the usual self-promotional speechmaking or unfocussed waffling is strictly limited and many more people get to ask questions and receive relevant, pithy answers.

It should be possible to have the microphone emit a warning beep before it stops working each time.

If you have concerns that your home heating system is below par, today’s invention offers a cheap solution.

It takes the form of a simple radiator stand-off bar which ensures the heat gets to the air in your room, rather than the furniture.

I’m normally impatient, but it gets worse when I’m hungry.

Today’s invention is a way to cook things faster on a gas hob.

It’s very common to have a kitchen cooker with four gas rings arrayed in a square. Imagine having a device consisting of three linked pipes (light grey). This can be placed on top of the four burners so as to direct the flow of gas from all four to the single lit one.

This allows a fourfold increase in heat transfer to the pot you want to boil first (or, using a pressure cooker, the pot you want to heat most intensely).

The unit can of course be repositioned to direct the extra heat to any one of the four burner locations.