Home Archive by category "Possible inventions" (Page 47)

Category: Possible inventions

#1932: FallFeline

People who have to work at heights above ground tend to spend a lot of their time roped to the exterior of buildings, ladders etc.

Today’s invention is an extra safety measure, based on how cats seem able to avoid killing themselves during falls.

It consists of a metal cylinder containing a rotating hub and a ratchet mechanism. To the hub are attached numerous radial steel bands -like several clock mainsprings.

The device allows these bands to be twisted tightly around the hub, using a detachable lever arm, into overlapping spirals.

When someone wearing one of these devices falls, the bands are suddenly released, forming a wide expanse of springy legs. The release order would be electronically controlled so that it would be self-orientating

These legs hit the ground milliseconds before the wearer and thus cushion the impact in a similar way to the legs of a cat.

Such a system might also provide parachutists, dropped from low altitude, an extra degree of safety.

#1931: ApPriciation

I was helping to run a Scottish Crucible event last week in which we talked about smartphone app. business models.

Pricing apps. is a difficult thing to get right in general. Today’s invention is context-sensitive pricing for downloadable products.

The idea is that certain programs are worth a lot more, depending on the location of the consumer.

If, eg you want to entertain your children with a game during a car journey, then you’d have to supply your location and destination coordinates (verified by GPS).

Planning ahead would allow the game to be downloaded at home at low cost. Deciding to buy at the journey midpoint would, say, double the price.

Buying it five miles from your destination would see the cost fall again, due to the lessened utility.

#1930: ManufactuRead

When large numbers of identical cars are sitting still in a factory assembly yard, they always make me think that the manufacturer may be having trouble selling them.

Today’s invention is a system that can wirelessly control the interior and main lights of each car so that an attractive animated ‘image’ can be formed by them.

At night, this array could even spell out some positive message (Like the coloured seats in a football stadium, but with the ability to be rapidly rearranged).

This could be relayed to various media outlets by a UAV with a camera flying overhead.

#1928: RowLoader

Today’s invention is a new way to get people boarding an aircraft.

The essential difference is that the unit of boarding would be the seat row.

Rows of seats would be placed on a bus or buses (in reverse order to the onboard seating plan).

When the buses arrive at the plane, the disembarking rows all slide forward and are withdrawn automatically from a side exit, at exactly the same rate that rows are embarked from the rear (or vice versa).

This allows people to take as long as they like getting seated on the bus, so that the boarding process itself can be very rapid.

#1926: Spiraline

Today’s invention is a washing line which detects the onset of rain and withdraws its washing into a waterproof housing.

The rightmost post would hold a spring loaded washing line reel and a relative humidity sensor.

When rain threatens the clothing, each of the (yellow and orange) items is withdrawn inside a tall shelter (dark blue).

The line wraps around a rotating, motor-driven, spiral rail which keeps the clothing from being crushed together.

if the weaher were bad enough, a small fan might be activated to dry the washing whist still hanging in the shelter.

#1918: Washoops

Today’s invention is another alternative washing line.

This consists of a number of semicircular sections of hoops, attached to each other so that each semicircle can be rotated about the diameter and locked (forming something like a crankshaft).

This allows the line to run over a path, so people can walk underneath. Half-hoops set in the horizontal plane allow Pi/2 times as much washing line length than normal.

A section placed in a U orientation could even allow children to help by hanging up their own clothes.

#1916: Targetoast

Toasters are cheap in the short run but, due to their inefficiency, they must cost a huge amount over their lifetime.

Lots of toasters will activate all the resistance wires in all the slots even when you are making a single slice.

This is good for heating the kitchen but not when you are waiting for breakfast.

Today’s invention is a toaster in which the toast is slid horizontally. The heating units are free to move vertically so that they make individual contact with the bread.

Only when that happens does an individual unit switch on -thus transferring all the heat to the proto-toast.

#1915: Seecurity

When you get equipment (such as a laptop) checked before flying, usually some time-pressured individual has to view the scan image and decide if it is harbouring something illicit.

Today’s invention is aimed at making this task easier and much more accurate.

In future, all complex electronic gear such as computers, cameras, phones etc should have a barcode engraved, somewhere inside the case, which represents an individual product.

This would appear in a scanned image and allow the imaging system itself to access and compare the image with one taken of the gadget interior as it left the factory (or at least a detailed schematic).

If discrepancies are detected, there is some explaining to do.

Terrorists could obviously access and modify the barcode, but to little effect -they would still find it almost impossible to hide any additions or substitutions (eg of explosive material) within a well-known interior layout.

This would allow many more items to be scanned per minute, lessening the frustration which passengers now feel about the whole queueing to fly process.

#1912: ChewChat

Is the art of conversation dead? Do we get fat because we eat too quickly?

There is always a danger that dinner gets wolfed down, rather than savoured in between exchanges of interesting conversation.

Today’s invention is therefore a tabletop vending machine.

This dispenses a communal meal in sub-portions, but only after a smartphone inserted into it (running language recognition software like Siri) has recorded a certain number of recognisable words between each one.

It might even be possible to insist that each individual utter at least a few bons mots.

This would require some extra interaction between eg family members as well as limiting the speed with which their food gets engulfed.

#1911: Gamesimulator

Ordinary folk find it hard to conceive of the ability it takes to win an olympic medal.

Today’s invention is a robotic exoskeleton mounted on a robot arm which allows anyone to strap themselves in and experience the movement of an athlete in certain sporting events.

This would act as a new form of theme park ride and could be used to allow simulation of the long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, some gymnastics etc.

This would all occur in slow motion and motion capture techniques applied to the athletes in competition could be used to ensure that each ride was a perfect reproduction of a particular winning performance.