Category: Possible inventions

Normally, product warranties tend to be limited by the period for which an item has been in use.

Today’s invention is to provide a warranty based on the number of times which a product (or some subsystem) has been used.

This could be made to work in products such as washing machines, by counting electronically the number of door openings or wash cycles undertaken.

The memory device used to record these data would have to built so as to detect any attempt to interfere with its sensor wiring but, once created, it could be embedded in a generic armoured casing and applied to many different systems.

This type of device could be reprogrammed to give eg a variable warranty period for remanufactured or pre-owned products.

Today’s invention is a gyro-stabilised rolling shield for protecting eg ground troops from enemy fire.

This would carry its own motor and have a heavy tread on the circumference.

It would track some LEDS and thus follow its owner closely -helping transport some of his infantry kit, whilst acting as both shield and weather shelter when required.

Before pulling an ejection handle on his seat, a pilot should have his chin elevated by a few degrees, the back of his head forced against the headrest, his elbows tucked into his sides, his back pressed against the seat and his heels firmly on the floor.

Today’s invention is a flying suit, boots and helmet combination which comes equipped with a set of strong tapes firmly attached. These are fed through the headrest, floor and seat back before takeoff and each is attached to a small motor. The tapes would be very lightweight but ultra-strong and lightly attached to the flying suit exterior by breakable threads, so as to ensure no snagging on cockpit interior switches etc.

When the ejection handle is pulled, the motors rapidly retract the tapes, forcing the pilot into the safest possible configuration before ‘punching out.’

Today’s invention is yet another minimal watch design.

This takes the form of a doughnut-shaped bracelet -one half of which rotates relative to the other half, driven by a clockwork mechanism (360 degrees of rotation corresponding to eg one day).

The time is indicated by the position of an arrow on one half relative to the scale marked on the other.

Consider the dashboard…it used to actually be a wooden plank with some holes cut to accommodate the brass dials on one’s horseless carriage.

Odd, therefore, that all of that stuff persists in modern vehicles. Today’s invention is an alternative. Do away completely with all the displays hidden behind the steering wheel. Instead, mount a screen on the car’s roof -just in front of the driver’s head. An image of the screen (suitably reversed) appears on a large, high-quality, soft mirror mounted on the steering wheel itself.

This would be of a type similar to that used in toys for babies, so that, in the event of airbag deployment, the reflective surface would do no more harm to occupants than the bag itself.

The virtual dashboard would maintain its orientation, irrespective of the current steering angle and allow an unobstructed view of the necessary information. Software in the ceiling unit would automatically distort the displayed data to maintain a perfect image as the steering angle was adjusted.

Domestic radiators are both ugly and surprisingly poor at transferring heat to the air which surrounds them. Why else would there be an industry making chipboard boxes to hide them?

Today’s invention is a set of copper finlets which each have a magnetic base allowing them to attach to the sides of radiators, greatly increasing the efficiency of heat transfer to one’s internal environment. The fin ends and edges would need to be rounded to avoid any injury, of course.

These might be made more entertaining by giving them each a small motor in the base which would allow them to move about the rad surface and/or flap -perhaps in response to temperature gradients (using a Stirling engine maybe?) and their proximity to other fins. They could be wirelessly controlled from a PC attached to one’s boiler which would know about the variation in room-by-room heating requirements throughout the day.

I’d actually like to see an algorithm developed which would allow the fins to discover patterns which provided some optimisation of the overall heat transfer (this might then be used in other contexts).

The pilots of fighter aircraft can survive accelerations of over 9g (wearing the right suit and performing the recommended muscle bracing techniques). When being pursued by a missile, their ability to escape is limited by their own physiology, rather than the manoeuvrability of their planes.

People are notoriously bad at behaving randomly, so any missile worth its salt can probably predict a pilot’s changes of direction well enough, once it gets close, to be able to score a hit.

Today’s invention is therefore a system which detects when a missile has locked on, gains height rapidly and then automatically undertakes a rapid, random sequence of spins, jinks and darts, always keeping each acceleration of the plane below the damage level for the individual pilot in question.

(The human body is much more tolerant of g-force when it is applied across the body than along its length and pilots are already tested in centrifuges to determine their passing-out thresholds).

Each plane would thus know the limits of its crew -making for a very rough ride, but no rougher than ejection and certainly preferable to the alternatives.

Given the horrors of trying to fit snow chains, today’s invention is a low-tech alternative.

The user slightly deflates his tyres and slides over them the snow-studded covers which fit snugly.

The tyres are reinflated, providing each with a firmly-attached, much grippier, outer cover.

I was inspired by this system, which allows someone to fly over water, to come up with today’s invention.

It’s a personal ‘jetpack’ the motors of which are supplied with electricity from a self-powered battery cart travelling on the ground. This could be remotely controlled to follow the pilot and avoid stressing the power cable.

The system allows flight only to a limited altitude but the time aloft could be as long as a whole day at a time. The cart might even be equipped with a large air bag in case the motors failed -so that the pilot could safely crash land.

Many firearms help the user ensure they are aiming accurately by shining a laser beam onto their target.

If this happens to be a suspected criminal, they may look down, see the spot and realise their predicament…but they may not.

Today’s invention is an attachment for such a laser equipped weapon which modulates the outgoing laser beam into digital bursts. It can detect any reflected light and determine the distance from the target.

This allows a lens system to deflect part of the beam upwards to where the face of the target person should be…alerting them to the fact that they are in danger.