Home Archive by category "Feasible inventions" (Page 62)

Category: Feasible inventions

#1284: SackSack

Wine-in-a-box is actually wine-in-a-metallised-plastic-bag-in-a-box.

This is great for keeping the wine fresh, but not so good in terms of elegantly serving a ‘luxury’ product.

Today’s invention is therefore a bottle which contains a plastic bag full of wine. The bottle comes with a bag inserted and with the usual plastic tap incorporated into the bottle neck.

This allows the contents to be dispensed from a bottle which can be resealed conveniently, without allowing air to contact the wine in between openings.

#1282: Remotivation

Today’s invention is a combination of social networking and exercise technology.

It consists of a regular gps running device with a phone built in. When running in a big event, information about your distance and heartbeat is automatically provided to your Twitter followers (especially tagged eg #exhortation if the readings indicate that you were flagging or in distress).

The followers can then tweet replies which are text-to-speech-ed, via a small loudspeaker, so that you can hear their words of support.

#1281: Hysteresteps

Public safety sometimes relies on having crowds behave in sensible ways. I’m always surprised when using underground train systems that there are signs saying “keep to the right when ascending” and yet the stairs themselves offer no incentive to conform.

Frequently, the whole system clogs up because of someone with a wheeled suitcase deciding to climb on the side that is being used by 1000 others to descend.

Today’s invention is a side-by-side, two-lane staircase which makes it easier to climb on one side and descend on the other.

The stair risers are of different heights. This alone stops people using them in a daydream or when eg running.

The red profile is best suited for ascending, having bigger steps at the bottom and shallower ones at the top (when you are getting tired).

The blue profile has deeper steps nearer the top, but once one’s downward momentum has gathered, the steps get smaller towards the bottom (so that one’s knees and ankles don’t suffer from ever-increasing jolts on the way down).

#1276: FauxFlue

Today’s invention is a false chimney for wood-burning stoves, which allows large bits of timber to be burned -ie without having to chop them into pieces small enough to insert via the front door.

Door A in the false chimney is opened and a large piece of wood inserted. Door A is closed and the door B opened, allowing the wood to drop into the flames.

When B can be slid into the closed position again, A can be reopened and the cycle repeated.

#1275: MatrixMat

Today’s invention is a doormat which consists of a flat matrix of short, vertical, plastic tubes all of which are sealed into a base tray.

The tray is connected to a vacuum cleaner device.

When someone is sensed to have stepped onto the mat, the vacuum cleaner motor starts up and draws air down through the matrix of tubes.

This extracts from the feet of the visitor a large volume of dust and debris which would otherwise be walked into carpets etc. This collected mess can occasionally be tipped from the tray into a waste bin.

#1272: PedalPad

A friend of mine recently cycled 81 miles in a race. The vibration through the seat was so prolonged and intense that he was doubtful about fathering any additional children (for an hour or so post-race, anyway).

Bicycle saddle designers have attempted to deal with this problem by creating all sorts of slots in seats, gel packs etc.

Instead, today’s invention takes the form of a frontal pelvis pad which a rider straps to himself before getting on a bike with no saddle at all. The pad is held in place using a strap under the buttocks, but nothing goes near one’s pudendum.

The pad has a stub rigidly attached which engages with a slot on an upwardly-curved crossbar. This allows a cyclist to stand up on the pedals as usual but when later he wants to sit down, his weight is instead supported by leaning forwards and down on the pad (as well as some tension in the strap).

If the cycle crashes, the stub disconnects from the slot just as his feet disconnect from the pedals.

#1268: Bladebank

Today’s invention is a small clamp which allows two (two-blade) disposable razors to be held together to simulate the shaving performance of a multi-blade razor.

I’m not sure I believe that anyone ever needs more than two blades, but for those who are into multiblade razors, this could offer a significant cost saving.

If the clamp were designed so that each razor was at a small angle to the other, this might have the beneficial effect of decapitating a cylindrical hair from two different directions, so that any remainder is noticeably thinner.

#1267: Skinsaver

I know a lot about blisters, having just bought a pair of these.

Today’s invention is a form of protection for blisters. It consists of a collection of felt cylinders (blue), supplied as a column with each cylinder joined to the next using a small cord.

The cylinders have an adhesive underside allowing them to be applied around the blister (whatever its size) as shown.

This creates a support ring which minimises the pressure on the blister while it heals. The support in turn minimises the tendency for the blister to be squeezed so that even more outer skin is painfully separated from the inner layers.

#1266: Rocksteady

There are many alternatives to icecubes available.

Today’s invention is one such approach. A novelty item (such as a shark’s fin or a sinking ship) is moulded in glass and has embedded within it an iron core.

This allows the ‘cube’ to be held firmly in place in a conventional glass by an external magnetic disc applied to the base.

The novelty cube would be chilled in a freezer before use and allow the glass to be used without diluting or contaminating the drink (as may happen if you use eg cold stones).

There would be no possibility that the cubes will interfere with eg straws or come out -until removed by hand for cleaning purposes.

If you want eg mulled wine which stays warm, heat the cube first. A more advanced version might have a ‘cube’ containing an led which lights up in response to the magnetic field from below.

#1264: Seatsaver

When sitting on a straight-backed chair I have a tendency to rock backwards on the back pair of legs. This pretty quickly breaks the structure of even the strongest seat.

Today’s invention is a pair of skids which attach firmly to the feet of such a chair. These have a slippery underside which makes it hard not to just slide backwards if one begins to lean backwards.

Even on a super-frictional floor, the horizontal extensions make it almost impossible to rock the chair onto either its front or back pair of legs -thus protecting it from the kind of inadvertent damage which I have visited on many fine items of furniture.

This also saves the user from the embarrassment and potential danger of actually falling over backwards.