Category: Feasible inventions

When military equipment is captured, an enemy can get access to information about those weapons systems that renders them more vulnerable to attack.

This is true of both hardware and software.

Today’s invention is a program which, when a weapon is about to be captured, allows a crew member to wipe all of the software on board and replace it with an obscured, misleading, booby-trapped and/or out of date version.

This would be synchronised with some self-destruct charges that are designed to be only partially effective, so that the overrun weapon’s systems will still be accessible for interrogation and re-engineering.

A version could be developed which, when connected to an interrogator’s network, undertook a counterattack by viruses etc.

I have trouble sleeping if there is any noise in the background.

Fortunately, there are noise cancelling headphones which make me largely unaware of any such disturbances.

Sleeping whilst wearing such over-ear devices is difficult, though, since rolling onto one’s side immediately puts a strain on the neck and you wake up (and the headphones dislodge).

Today’s invention is a modification to a set of such headphones so that you can stay asleep whilst moving in bed.

The original headphones are shown in turquoise with a teal overhead strap.

These now fit inside an inflatable (green) helmet which supports sleeping on either side and also allows the wearer to roll onto their back, without discomfort or losing the headphones.

Ventilation slots are provided so that the sleeper can avoid overheating.

Mouthguards can be difficult to keep pristine, whether used in sports or as defence against teeth grinding during sleep.

Today’s invention is a slight modification to mouthguards.

This involves moulding in a small recess with an easy-to-clean flap as lid.

Before putting the guard into the mouth, a small, slow release tablet (containing a mild disinfectant and flavouring) is inserted below the flap.

This helps to freshen the breath and make the whole affair a bit more pleasant.

I use a lot of rotary wire brushes.

Long before they wear down seriously, the wires distort.

Today’s invention is a way easily to quickly reverse the drive direction (without having to stand in a different position) and thus counteract the effect of this distortion.

The brush can slide to each end of the drive shaft and lock there, leaving the other end free to be inserted into eg a drill.

(It’s important to do this early/frequently because brushing with a heavily misshapen tool can cause surface damage).

For a long time, it’s been possible to get an advert sticker applied to your car. This works particularly well for taxis, but private car owners really don’t want to drive around with a single, giant sticker bonded to their paintwork.

Today’s invention is a set of thin screens which fold down inside a vehicle, just like sunvisors. There might be one screen for each of the windows in a vehicle ie around 6 different ads running all at once.

These can only be activated when the car is stationary and they would be ads which the car owner is paid for when the car is parked. (This might mean that certain high-visibility parking spots charge higher fees to park than other, less prominent ones -but ads on cars at these locations would also pay better).

The ads might ‘wrap around a car’ as do those surrounding football pitches, for extra animation.

Some of us get confused by certain dates, such as when Wednesday, the third day of the week, is the second of the month, or a Thursday is the 5th or a Tuesday is the 3rd etc.

So as to avoid missing meetings, today’s invention is a program which checks when you put an event into a calendar on one of these odd dates.

It will ask ‘is this correct?’

The calendar will also automatically alert you to one of these events by saying ‘You have a meeting next Tuesday’, but without referring to the date itself.

A list of problem dates is as follows and seems to be mostly some kind of out-by-one issue:

Monday 2nd
Tuesday 1st or 3rd
Wednesday 2nd or 4th
Thursday 3rd or 5th
Friday 4th

Whatever the rules of health and safety, there will always be stuff that needs to be manhandled that is just that bit too unwieldy or heavy.

Today’s invention helps lessen the chance of an injury.

A strong strap (which might be sewn into every new pair of overalls) runs from left hand to right foot (and has suitable shoulder padding). At the left foot is a loop which can be stood upon. At the right hand is a loop which can be attached to whatever needs shifted.

In operation:
1. attach the loop to the object
2. place all your weight on the left bootloop
3. the shoulders act as a brace as you pivot left, just enough to unweight the load so that it can be shifted forward and set down.

Each worker would have a suit with two such straps…symmetrically placed.

In this way, two workers could shift enormous loads gradually.

A lone worker could do a left handed lift and then move to do a right handed one, thus shuffling a giant weight from A to B without causing himself damage.

When I’m meditating by scanning my Pinterest feed, the last thing I want to see is images adulterated by vacuous messages like “Home is where the art is”.

Yep.

Today’s invention is a simple tool for Pinterest and other image suppliers, which allows users to exclude any images which contain words.

Despite what you may think, this is not an easy task (but some people produced this, so you are covered).

Today’s invention is a floss ‘stirrup’ that allows you to feed through normal dental floss, so the material use and cost is reduced, whilst still providing the effectiveness of the frame (which might be made of say brass, for reasons of hygiene and longevity).

The frame has two notches for securing the floss, which can then be easily released and fed through, as required.