Today’s invention is a cylindrical ice lolly which is moulded onto a tubular ‘stick’.
This can be inverted and placed in a drink as shown so that the lolly acts as an icecube.
Sucking the drink through the ‘cube’ adds its flavour to that of the cooled booze juice.
People get distracted when using their mobile devices -to such an extent that they sometimes walk out into traffic.
Today’s invention is a simple safety feature which might help.
Each cellphone camera would have a small double prism which would gather light from either side as one walks along.
The cellphone system’s accelerometer could tell if one were walking and activate the display of sideviews accordingly, as shown.
Anything approaching from either side would then be easily visible on the screen.
I’ve noticed a tendency, during train journeys, for people to file their nails and then act as if the various dusty fragments simply disappear.
In fact, some of them end up adorning the clothes, not to mention lungs, of their fellow passengers.
Today’s invention is a nailfile attached to the inner face of a small envelope.
When you file your nails, the various scrapings end up in the envelope, which can be discarded (or sealed temporarily and retained for next time).
Having recently been painting a logo on a steel roller blind, today’s invention is particularly appealing.
It is a simple gantry system that moves a lump of chalk backwards and forwards, as the door closes, so as to create dots whose locations can be computer controlled. This draws a detailed but temporary image on the door surface, just like a computer printer.
As the door is opened, this film of dusty dots can all be brushed off, ready for the next cycle.
In this way, ever-changing adverts, logos, -tweets even, can appear on otherwise bland industrial units…at least when the weather is dry.
(Image copyright Danny Gilbert)
Most military organisations run an escape-and-evade course, during which their personnel are trained to avoid getting caught by forces in pursuit of them.
Today’s invention is for anyone being chased by a team of trackers with dogs, eg downed pilots…
It consists of a small, silent catapult with which the user can fire clay pigeon-like projectiles in random directions.
As each one lands, its thin outer skin cracks and releases a taught rubber band so that additional, internal clays spring out and fly for perhaps 10m in random directions.
The clays are nested to several levels so that they end up a long way from the user.
Each clay is heavily impregnated with human scent compunds.
The effect is that a pack of hounds is effectively misdirected away from their quarry.
You can now buy a typing tutor program which allows you to identify your individual error rate per finger, over a period of time.
The only data I can find indicate an error distribution of 2,4,1,2,0, 0,1,2,4,14 %.
I’m guessing this may vary significantly between individuals but it is an interesting measure of one’s physiology, which might in itself allow identification of an individual. Perhaps the motor homunculus in one’s motor cortex reflects these figures.
Today’s invention however is to gather the information for an individual who has not yet learned to type and then reprogram their keyboard so that the most frequently typed letters in one’s language, eg E, are placed close to one’s most accurate fingertip (and vice versa).
(There would be little point the indvidual whose map is shown above using his right, little finger to type E, for example).
I’m regularly driven to distraction when trying to close up my coat in a sudden rainstorm.
The main difficulty is that the moving zip part (carriage?) and the retainer get misaligned and/or separated by even a small amount.
This makes it impossible to insert the other side of the zip properly, thus causing me to have to bend over and watch what I’m doing in some detail.
Today’s invention is a pair of small magnets to remedy this situation (shown in yellow).
Simply moving the zipper down as far as it will go will automatically attach and align the zip and retainer, allowing the wearer to avoid spending crucial seconds getting wet.
I can’t be the only person who finds self-checkouts intimidating.
It’s not just the hectoring tone of voice -every store that has these uses a radically different interface. All of them are confusing and ugly with no sense of process built in (Look at all the green boxes in the photo). Frequently, they require interventions by the few human store staff left, just to correct the inevitable errors.
Assuming that retail chains have invested such huge sums that these systems can’t be fixed or scrapped, today’s invention is a simple online training simulator.
Each different type of machine in use could be selected by a customer in advance of going to a particular store. The website would reproduce all the ridiculous interactive elements -including the noises.
This would make mildly Aspergers people like me, who get overwhelmed by the horrible, illogical detail, slightly better prepared.
Today’s invention is a bicycle saddle with an elongate saddle post.
When the saddle is removed from the bike, two small posts fold out, forming a tripod.
This allows the bike seat to act as a stable seat…so you can watch as the Tour speeds by.
Manufacturers still make sports cars with two absurdly small seats in the back.
Today’s invention is an alternative.
Such cars would have an aftermarket module available containing one, adult-sized seat and designed to drop into the vehicle, facing sideways, as shown.
This would contain several airbags, so that the travelling position need not pose an extra risk in an accident.
