Category: Feasible inventions

My Australian brother in law is the owner of many solar panels. He says that cleaning these causes a significant increase in electricity generated.

People often drive about without realising that their view or their lights are somehow impaired.

Today’s invention is to apply a small solar cell to the inside surface of all of the lights, window glass and indicators on a car.

When any of these generates a lower current than a calibration cell (placed somewhere high on the vehicle), it indicates that the local surface is obscured eg by mud, ice, grime or crazing. Time to take some action.

You could also use these sensors to rate different car washes for cleaning efficiency.

When people sail dinghies or catamarans, they often have to ‘hike’ ie lean their bodyweight over the side to stop the boat being blown over too far by the wind.

This technique is used to increase speed, but it results in a lot more air drag because the crew’s bodies act like a large air brake.

Today’s invention is a lifejacket which the rearmost crew member wears when hiking. This would have a cross section (perpendicular to the spine) with a teardrop-shaped profile in the direction of travel, so the airflow over the crew would result in less drag.

There is something comforting about a real fire (Despite the dire warnings of carbon monoxide poisoning and particulate pollution).

Today’s invention is a sound module for all forms of domestic fires…both real and simulated.

This would consist of a loudspeaker, plugged into a high quality audio player.

This would be located inside an insulated box and hidden close to the heating device.

There would be a sensor which would cause the recording of a roaring fire to be played whose loudness could vary according to the fire’s temperature, giving the impression of enhanced burning.

Even a real fire would benefit from some extra crackling and updraft noises.

I like thick smoothies, but I dislike the fact that you always have to leave some in the glass, because of its viscosity.

Today’s invention is an alternative to inverting the glass over your mouth and waiting a long time, in the form of a novel smoothie glass.

After you drink the majority of the liquid, some is left in the lower section.

Open the valve and suck out the dregs rapidly (much easier than using a straw).

The whole thing comes apart for washing afterwards, of course.

Foil crisp packets are pretty good at reflecting heat. Various kind folk have started collecting these and gluing or sewing them together to make blankets for homeless people.

Today’s invention is a way to short circuit this process so that homeless people can assemble their own blankets from crisp packets dropped as litter by idiots.

The packets would be manufactured with tear-out tang and slot edges as shown, so that any standard size packets can be joined to form a continuous sheet, without any additional materials or tools.

Today’s invention is a speaker which is embodied in the vacuum cleaner of the future.

In use, this machine will play a recording to sound like the engine of eg a Formula 1 Ferrari.

As you drive the cleaner forward, it is exactly coordinated with the noise of a car accelerating forward.

This might have the additional benefit that males will choose to do more housework.

It costs my Council millions to buy stainless steel lamp-posts. They do this partly because the cost of using the conventional steel ones is heightened by the need to be constantly repainting them.

Today’s invention offers a simple alternative.

In areas which have trees, why not just mount street lights on the trunks of those trees?

They would be no darker than with the current low voltage lamps and there would be limited maintenance costs associated with the odd broken branch.