Category: Possible inventions

Wearing a goose down insulated coat recently, I found myself in a rainstorm with the hood up, just before crossing the road. Bad move. It turns out that this material, which is great at heat insulation, also forms a really good sound barrier.

Today’s invention is a way to help hood wearers avoid getting run over.

It consists of a pair of inbuilt earbuds which are wired to a pair of small microphones on the outside of the hood. This would be good for getting to sleep in noisy, outside environments…to silence the background din, just switch off one’s mics.

I’d also like these to be steerable by the wearer, so that one could listen more clearly to certain noise sources rather than others by pointing the mics in that direction.

Today’s invention is an electric car sharing scheme. In the early morning, cars are driven to multiple locations around town on the back of a transporter and dropped off in modules like the one shown.

This allows hugely increased packing density, since each vehicle has its front wheels rolled up on a track using a small hand-cranked winch (once roof is stowed and doors closed).

Customers arrive, insert their credit card and driver’s licenses into a slot in the module. This allows removal of one car from the front, leaving the rest locked together like shopping trolleys. The card number is retained until the vehicle is returned to any one of the (networked) modules.

Cars added to the back of the queue have time to be recharged (and may even have the facility to swap in a new battery) whilst waiting.

There is a pattern of ocean currents which is largely stable over very long time periods.

Although the speed of these currents at depth is slow (only around 1m/s) it is predictable.

Today’s invention is a flotilla of linked, submarine-like containers designed to transport goods around the globe using only these deep currents as a power source.

These could be made fairly cheaply of reinforced concrete and capable of carrying a large volume of commodities such as fuel or foodstuffs. The speed of transport would be slow and might give rise to futures-like trading in the value of materials in transit for eg 60 days between continents. Huge sections of these journeys would be effectively naturally refrigerated.

It might be possible to reuse some of the world’s surplus military subs for this purpose, or at least to head each flotilla with one so that its navigation systems could be used to direct the goods to the correct destination(s).

If you wear contact lenses which don’t get discarded every night, you probably carry a small case around, just in case they need to be stored temporarily.

If your eyes have become dry or sore, it’s a real pain to have to cart about spectacles to change into as well.

Today’s invention is a contact lens case the containers of which are held together by a springy band. Each container has a clear base which is actually a screw-in lens, matching your prescription.

If you need to remove your contacts at any time, pop them in the cases with some fluid at the bottom, reseal and then apply the pince-nez case to one’s nose for more relaxed vision.

Today’s invention is a microscope without any of those confusing and time-consuming focus knobs.

Instead, a fingerprint swipe device identifies the user (take the rubber gloves off first) and then sets the focus of the system accurately for the current level of magnification -based on one’s personal spectacle prescription (if any).

It might also alter the colour and intensity of illumination, based on pre-stated preferences -particularly useful for shared microscopes in busy labs.

Footballers and other sports players wreck their knee joints by twisting. Many designs of boots attempt to lessen the stresses which cause this.

Today’s invention is one such consisting of a cylindrical ‘cookie cutter’ blade moulded into the base of a boot. This would be edgy enough to provide good grip on the surface but not so sharp as to allow injury to people coming in contact with it.

The foot could be well planted on the turf and then the player could spin around the centre of the cutter, without causing any internal damage.

The whole process of booking seats on public transport is a potential nightmare. People sit on your seat and then you have to fight with them so you can sit down, or you may find that you have accidentally parked in a location reserved for someone’s aged relative. In either case, embarrassment ensues.

Today’s invention makes booking a seat a well-defined event. Instead of attaching an inconspicuous piece of paper to the back, train staff flip the base around a fore-aft axis marked X. This locks the seat with a number of random-height hoops sticking up. Impossible to sit on or even put a case on. No danger though of causing anyone injury.

When the seat owner appears, they unlock it using their credit card (or via a keypad), flip the base and sit in upholstered luxury.

A smarter system might have remotely powered seat rotation setup in direct response to the booking computer’s signals.

Films, whilst entertaining to watch, are often nearly as much fun to discuss afterwards. Indeed, I’m convinced that the films you like (or more precisely, the most memorable scenes) are strong indicators of the person you are.

Today’s invention is an online dating agency whose matching algorithm is based on the scenes which people say most move them.

A person could create their profile consisting of the usual personal data but then add formatted information about the 20 film scenes that most affect them (eg “LeMans, 23 mins, nostalgia, reminds me of boyhood in the 60s”). The scene information could be selected from an on-screen database or added and edited by hand -or from here.

The emotions stated could be ones of irritation or disgust or joy, just so long as the named scenes evoke strong feelings in the person concerned. These views would be used to optimise matches from within the database of potential ‘dates’.

Today’s invention is a low-cost radio controlled toy.

Two aerosol cans filled with compressed air have their necks clipped into a control box with steering levers which can be made to press the button on either can (or both).

The resulting jet(s) is directed onto the ground so as to drive the whole vehicle forwards, turning according to the strength of the left or right airflow. The cans can have a couple of loosely fitting cardboard rings attached, so as to make this turning easier.

I’m always boiling more water in the kettle than I need. This wastes huge amounts of both water and energy.

Today’s invention provides a fairly simple way to limit this bad habit. An inlet pipe to a small cistern is sealed against a kitchen’s cold water tap. The tap is left in the open position but water can only flow from the tap when a handle is depressed: as in normal bathroom cistern operation.

The difference here is that the internal ballcock is capable of being set by an external dial so as to allow water to flow through in multiples of 1 cupful.

You can thus place the kettle beneath the outlet, dial up ‘four cups’ and only that amount flows into the kettle. Much easier than squinting at a meniscus through a steamy window in the kettle wall as you attempt to hold the whole thing in mid air.