#2792: DeckPods

It’s aircraft-carrier-of-the-future time again.

Today’s invention is a carrier which consists of many smaller vessels, each of which accommodates several aircraft and takes the form of a fast hydrofoil.

To launch their aircraft, the mini carriers raise them to the top decks using the T shaped lifts as usual, after having first linked 2 or 3 vessels together.

This would require a robust docking mechanism, for operation in a high sea (hydraulic anchors perhaps).

The speed of these hydrofoils would enable aircraft launches using shorter decks than normal, so that a large number of aircraft could get airborne simultaneously.

This kind of distributed carrier would be harder to hit with weapons, although landing would require the smaller ships to form at least a group of, say, three.

This could be done very rapidly and away from the centre of any conflict.

#2791: ShiftSkin

High speed cars often have rear wings to create downforce in the corners.

Inevitably these generate huge amounts of speed-limiting drag in the straights.

One way to deal with this is to fit a flip up wing, which may go from closed to open at a given speed, but is otherwise not very ‘smart’.

Today’s invention aims to offer a high level of downforce, whilst limiting the amount of associated drag.

The wing shown would consist of two main pieces, so closely spaced that almost no air flows between them. The air flowing over the outside is kept attached, thus shedding minimal vortices and lessening drag, by having the surfaces move (backwards on both because they are actually two, independently-driven tracks).

The speed relative to the car might occasionally have to be 200mph, but that is do-able with eg carbon fibre mats.

As well as having the overall wing angle automatically determined, from moment to moment, the speeds of the two surfaces would be chosen so as to give the optimal combination of drag and downforce anywhere on the track.

#2790: Metamask

Today’s invention is an attempt to reduce covid-19 infections.

A collar has a fan embedded within it. This sucks air through a number of inlets (red). The air passes through a viral particle filter which may be treated with antiviral chemicals. The air then is blown out through some upwards pointing tubes (green).

This air forms a curtain around the face which makes breathing in viral particles, from the environment, much less likely.

#2788: PolePecker

Today’s invention employs the principle of the falling woodpecker toy.

This is used as an emergency fire escape for very tall buildings.

The idea is that by allowing a mass (the escapee) on a spring to oscillate up and down, the collar (green) to which it is attached alternates between gripping and slipping on the pole (the woodpecker is actually optional).

Since each woodpecker descends at a fixed rate, many hundreds of them could be falling safely down a single (strong, fireproof) pole simultaneously (thus avoiding the need to use lifts or staircases).

Unlike the pole in a firestation, users need only attach themselves by using a harness and would require no skills or training.

#2787: Puzzlinks

I’ll admit I’m a big fan of tracked vehicles, from snowbikes, to NASA launch crawlers to military tanks.

Today’s invention is a new form of track, especially for vehicles which are subject to damage or attack.

Imagine that the tracks are replaced by a series of parallel chains. These are driven by having a sprocket wheel for each chain -so that the drive wheel might have 5-10 co-axial sprockets.

This would avoid many problems associated with loading tracked vehicles onto trains (when they often need to be equipped with narrower track ‘shoes’)…we’d simply fit only the innermost two or three chains. In addition, when damaged, replacement of one or two chains would be much simpler than the very heavy (and space-wasting) sections of normal track.

Finally, each chain would be made from hardened links whose geometry mimics the metal puzzle shown. These can be joined without the need for any pins etc (making use of the small amount of slack, which tracks always have, to slide links together).

#2786: DramDice

Today’s invention is a way to make drinking more exciting.

A cup has a number of testtubes inside, each filled with some different liquid. The outside of the cup is tinted or opaque, so that users can’t see what is going on inside.

The green top forms a seal with the top of the testtubes. A drinker rotates the green top around a vertical axis, so that some testtubes are now in communication with a small number of bendy straws.

This allows the drinker to twist the top and make himself/herself an instant, random cocktail.
(See also #371: Rainbow drinks)

#2783: EjecTub

When fighter jet pilots eject, they usually have to do so by firing a detonation cord in the canopy that blows a hole in it -milliseconds before the ejector seat blasts them clear of the aircraft.

Today’s invention is a modification of this scheme. When flying over water, the canopy, which would be specially reinforced, is jettisoned in one piece and attached to the pilot’s seat by a long cable.

When the pilot splashes down, he or she now has a small, transparent life raft to get aboard.

It might even be possible to have this incorporate a small motor and propellor.

#2782: CAPillary

We are realising now that many sports, such as Rugby, Soccer and American Football, entail brain damage by repeated, low-level impacts.

Today’s invention takes the form of leather headgear, like a sparring helmet, which contains a number of packets of dyed fluid, distributed over the interior surface (something like paintballs).

These would be designed so as to burst when subject to either a fixed peak force or to leak after a known number of such impacts.

The fluid could be some bright (but not red) colour in order to be easily seen and not confused with actual bleeding.

This would allow players who had been hit to be withdrawn from play. If causing someone’s helmet to bleed resulted in a penalty against your team, it might also provide a way to encourage players not to target the heads of opponents.

#2798: Chaserounds

Armoured vehicles can be made quite resistant to attack by eg shells, using clever, multi-layer armour.

Today’s invention seeks to lessen that resistance.

Imagine firing two shots in very quick succession. The penetration power would be much greater, since both impacts would occur at the same spot.

It’s hard, however, to have even an autoloading tank gun reload and fire quickly enough to achieve such a ‘double tap’ with heavy ammunition.

Instead then, fire shells which have a heat retaining rear end (or flare) to act as tracers.

Normal, relatively cheap, heat-seeking rockets carried by ground troops can be automatically triggered and fired within a second of the tank’s shot, so that the missiles follow and catch up with the shell.

This results in several items of ordnance arriving at the target almost simultaneously.

#2797: Nuclearoof

I understand that many people of Germany live in fear that there will be another Chernobyl nuclear disaster, perhaps even one within the EU.

Today’s invention is a rapid response mechanism to ensure that radioactive particles given off by a plant on fire don’t rise into the atmosphere and spread beyond the immediate area.

A shell made of steel and concrete is made in two nesting half-hemispheres (black and blue). This structure would be built around every existing nuclear plant (red), without being particularly costly.

The outer half-hemisphere (blue) would be free to rotate, so that the two overlapping half-hemispheres could become a sealed hemisphere. This would be dragged into place (once the plant was evacuated) by a small, autonomous locomotive (green).

In the event of an explosion, this would contain any escaping dust or gas long enough for a sarcophagus to be created from concrete pumped into the sphere by robots.