Home Archive by category "Feasible inventions" (Page 7)

Category: Feasible inventions

#2780: Parseal

At this time of year, parcel delivery companies use millions of metres of tape to seal up boxes.

Sometimes their choice of box size is suboptimal, but today’s invention is more concerned about the overuse of tape. This also makes more difficult the task of recycling the cardboard boxes themselves.

Instead of applying tape to every cm of box seam, boxes would be made with just a little extra material, to allow for the formation of a tang and slot(s) combination, every few centimetres.

These could be made so that a machine could engage the tangs with the slots firmly.

#2799: SwarfSentry

When you change the oil in your vehicle, it’s common to use a magnetic sump plug that collects ferrous particles.

Today’s invention extends that idea by embedding a sensitive magnetic flux sensor within the plug.

This Hall Effect device (of the same type as is used eg to sense wheel speed) detects changes in the amount of iron-based debris sitting on top of the plug and can thus be used to provide, say, a weekly insight into the wear that’s taken place within one’s engine (after track days, for example).

#2795: JumpHop

When parachute jumping, I was instructed to keep the ankles pressed together and bend the knees slightly.

Easier said than done.

Many parachutists, especially in the armed forces, do damage to their legs on impact with the ground.

Today’s invention aims to lessen that effect. Parachutists would hop to the door of their aircraft in a single, tightly-fitted overboot which would encase both feet and have quick release clasps…like ski bindings.

This would help to spread the force of impact, as would the sole, a slab of springy material, such as motorcyclists use in back protectors.

#2793: DropShadow

Sports cars look better on the road when they have been ‘lowered’.

This makes them scrape their undersides, however, on the smallest of ramps and bumps.

Today’s invention is to apply a fin of black, brush material to the underside of a sportscar, running down the centre from front to back.

This creates the illusion (as in the bottom image) that the car has a lowered suspension, by blocking light from the far side, but without the danger of damage which that entails.

#2790: Cannistir

I’ve had enough of buying paint which has been allowed to settle out and denature whilst standing on the shelf in a shop.

Today’s invention is a can that keeps paint or other (fluid) stirred.

The lid has a blade (or blades) attached with holes in it which will vary in size depending on paint consistency.

The can is stored on its side on a slightly sloping shelf.

Every time someone buys a can, the higher up ones roll down the slope and stir themselves a little.

For storage in a warehouse, the bottommost can can be moved to the top location on a known frequency so that a precise record of how stirred the paint is can be maintained.

#2789: WasPitot

In some places, wasps are making nests in the pitot tubes of aircraft.

Not knowing one’s airspeed is a dangerous condition to be in, so today’s invention offers a solution.

Normally an aircaft pitot tube measures airspeed indirectly by the movement of a small diaphragm (red). In order to periodically clean out any nascent wasps’ nests, a small bottle of compressed air (orange) would be connected to the pitot tube using 2 electronically controlled valves.

The blue one closes to protect the diaphragm and then the pink one opens to allow air from the tank to flush the tube.

Any residual blockages would be indicated by an increase in pressure at this valve.

#2788: HybridHourglass

It seems that traditional watchmakers who sell mechanical items at £20k+ are now being forced to create more decorative, Instagrammable watch faces.

These are increasingly equipped with a colourful face.

Today’s invention is to offer buyers of these expensive products a bit more for their money.

As well as a hand-built Swiss watch mechanism, they would get an electronic face, in the form of a high resolution screen.

This could be made by the owner to have any colour (including eg radial gradation) and even to display extra gauges/dials/graphics/electronic functions etc from a manufacturer-designed palette.

#2787: ElecLock

Most electric car charging stations are still being developed, after launch.

What, for example stops a passing hooligan, or even another motorist, from disconnecting your car, during charging?

Today’s invention is a lightweight, lockable frame (red) which you can use to keep the charging gun in position, whilst you spend an inevitable hour our two in a service station, waiting for a re-charge.

You lock the gun to the loop, as shown, after driving the car onto the frame’s feet.

#2786: Passist

Everyone knows that Formula 1 is now a more boring sport than it should be.

This is mostly because aerodynamics and narrow tracks make it really hard for cars to pass each other.

Today’s invention is a simple fix. Cars would be equipped with sensors to determine when another car was in a position to pass.

Once that has been established, the car in front would automatically be throttled back by say 2% to let the following car overtake.

In this way, the driver’s task becomes to stop his opponent getting into a precise overtake position…just as great a test of skill but with more passing and better looking racing.

#2784: Deliverpoo

Kent in England is about to become an enormous lorry park.

Today’s invention is to help it avoid becoming the world’s biggest outside toilet.

It consists of a fleet of motorcycles each of which carry a portable toilet, together with a pull-up shower screen.

Lorry drivers could call for one of these to turn up beside their truck and pay to use the facility.

Once the bike’s tank was full, as it were, it would be taken to a disposal facility and emptied (possibly somewhere near Westminster).