Home Archive by category "Feasible inventions" (Page 59)

Category: Feasible inventions

#1350: ScoreSheet

In football, controversy rages when it isn’t clear that the ball has crossed the goal line ‘with its full circumference’.

Leaving aside that the ball is unlikely to be exactly spherical when kicked, today’s invention is a low-tech way to remove any such doubts (FIFA is notoriously conservative about the adoption of anything newfangled, even when its absence makes this low-scoring game look ridiculous).

Instead of nets behind goals (which flap and raise more doubts about where the ball actually went) a flat sheet of perspex is fitted exactly one ball diameter behind the line. The sheet is provided with a weatherproof perspex box and coated with eg Vaseline or other waterproof gel (so the action can still be seen from behind the goal).

All this fits into a frame on the goals and would probably be no more expensive than nets anyway.

When a score is in doubt, the referee need only inspect the Vaseline on the sheet for any marks. If there are any, a goal is awarded and a new sheet slotted in.

Two such perspex sheets could be used even in Sunday league games with one sheet being recoated whist the other was in-goal.

#1347: Clickselect

When I’m making changes to a document, I want to be able to select individual characters (for deletion or substitution).

Dragging across them with the cursor is nigh-on impossible (and in OpenOffice usually results in moving a large chunk of text to an entirely unexpected location).

Today’s invention is the ability to click in a word processed document thus:

  • One click provides cursor insertion, as usual
  • Two clicks select a character
  • Three select a word
  • Four select a line
  • Five select a paragraph.

    • This would be easy to remember and stays, just about, within the brain’s limits on instantaneous counting.

    #1346: Plasterpix

    Today’s invention is a small way to reduce a child’s distress, having sustained a plaster-worthy cut.

    Each plaster would have an outer surface capable of retaining pen marks.

    This would allow the injured party to do a little drawing of the incident which caused their wound, so that when asked “how did you do that?” they could simply brandish the evidence of the whole grisly event .

    #1345: EmbedCred

    Crowdsourcing product design is pretty much flavour of the month…or it will be as soon as manufacturers start taking it seriously. Similarly the urge to own personalised products is increasing.

    I watched my daughter selecting mobile phone designs at the weekend…not only must the touch and feel of the interface be crisp, the colour striking but not ridiculous, she wants the whole thing to be unlike anyone else’s device.

    Today’s invention is a website for the most ardent customers for tech products on which they can specify such wants/ innovations.

    If their idea gets adopted, a small CV file of theirs is embedded in the device, indicating what they contributed and thus providing them with a small claim to fame and access to many new potential business partners/clients who need to access such creativity.

    These buyers also get the added value of knowing a little more backstory in connection with their new design classic.

    #1343: PainterPointer

    Today’s invention is a new paintbrush.

    This contains a detachable handle (orange), which allows a range of different ‘profilers’ to be inserted (blue).

    This forces the bristles (grey) to adopt a profile ideally suited to the painting task of the moment -ie from broad brush to very fine detail

    It can be swapped quickly when eg up a ladder without having to carry multiple, paint-covered brushes.

    #1342: Incenseinserts

    I’ve heard numerous e-book readers complain that their new fangled electronic devices suffer from the absence of the traditional smell of a well-thumbed paperback’s pages from a fusty library.

    I’m unclear why the smell is so important. Can people differentiate between Moby Dick and Dracula by their olfactory properties ? (I guess not).

    Today’s invention is a plastic sleeve which fits in the case behind one’s e-reader. This accommodates a page from an old book which you no longer need but which smells of a suitably literary study.

    On opening the case, the (hidden) page is exposed to the air and one’s reading experience is thereby enhanced (especially as the e-book device warms up).

    #1337: Wirewords

    Today’s invention is a flexible, cheap way to make large-scale written notices.

    Units such as those on the left of the diagram can be attached to a pegboard-type background in a variety of layouts (including that of the seven-segment arrangement shown on the right).

    A wire, cable or tube is looped around these units, either through the hidden or visible side of each.

    This allows words to be spelled out using a continuous section of high contrast rope etc. (much more convenient than searching in a box of preformed characters for that missing ‘X’).

    #1334: Secureslice

    Today’s invention is a new way to slice a loaf of bread.

    Every other cut would be replaced by one which fell short of cutting through the bottom and one side of the loaf.

    This would result in the creation of many double-thickness slices, each of which acts as a two-sided pocket.

    This allows for easier sandwich making (and eating, since the contents could not drop out of the bottom). Each slice would also still be thin enough to just fit within a standard toaster.

    #1333: DigiDial

    I have just seen one of the latest Breitling wristwatches: a mechanical masterpiece with an electronic display but with a dial that looks designed by someone who works on fast food packaging or maybe matchboxes.

    Today’s invention is a dial in the form of a digital display fitted to high-end mechanical watches. This would allow a user to choose an alternative backdrop to the clockwork-driven hands from a very large number of combinations of colour, numeral size and font etc.

    This would provide effectively a whole new look every day and add extra value to a very expensive piece of machinery/jewellery.

    #1332: Slurpstop

    Breast-fed children get to decide themselves when they have had enough but bottle-using parents tend to keep feeding their child until the bottle is empty. This is thought to contribute to obesity and maybe even to developing diabetes.

    Today’s invention is therefore a bottle which disguises the amount of formula milk left during a feed (until actually empty). It does this by being opaque and slightly heavier than usual but also by incorporating a sealed compartment part-filled with water.

    This makes it difficult for a parent to judge how much milk remains (without removing the top) so that the baby can have more say in when to stop drinking.