Category: Possible inventions

I’ve been chasing details of varifocal contact lenses and I’m sceptical that these work at all. According to this article, the lenses need to actually move on the eye’s surface, which is a dreadful idea.

Instead, today’s invention is contact lenses containing a fluid filled envelope.

As the eye looks ahead, the fluid does not get in the way of incoming rays. Look down, however, and the fluid has an extra refractive effect. This could be continuously attenuated by controlling the radial geometry of the envelope or even by having a fluid which is naturally stratified, providing variable optics.

There is some kind of evolutionary process going on in the world of tent design.

You can choose from a hundred different sizes, shapes, support arrangements and materials but basically tents are still a tensioned, waterproof outer sheet supporting some kind of inner envelope which accommodates the occupants.

Today’s invention is an alternative for vehicle borne campers. These people usually have to stand about in the rain fighting with guyropes and looking confused by the instructions -well, no longer.

A transparent plastic sheet is supplied at a thickness of 2mm. This is placed on the roof of one’s vehicle and hot water splashed on so that it forms a loose-fitting, see-through skin.

On cooling, the skin is rigid enough to stand on its own. Tags can be glued on the inside (later to support the inner fabric). No more carrying enormous packed tents inside the vehicle.

This shell allows the vehicle to be driven to a campsite and used as a tent within seconds after arrival. If you need to open doors at some intermediate destination, the shell is light enough to be rotated upwards like a visor.

Big parts of that place called The Built Environment are equipped with electrical wall sockets.

Today’s invention is a portable laptop stand which consists of two electrical plugs, each of which is attached to a carbon fibre strut. The struts are entwined and attached at the other ends to a small plate which allows eg a laptop to rest securely on it.

One of the struts contains an electric cable which allows the laptop to be both supported mechanically (via the sockets) and provided with power in rooms which would otherwise be inhospitable work/entertainment environments without much spare floor space (eg hospital corridors).

I’ve been reading about the explosive booby traps in Afghanistan which these days are called IEDs. Detecting them often relies on spotting minute changes in a regularly patrolled section of territory.

Today’s invention is a reuse of the idea behind IOTD #46:
“…to detect the almost imperceptible differences between two ‘alike’ images, all you have to do is ‘fuse’ these’ by crossing one’s eyes a little and visually superimposing them. Areas of disparity then all stand out simultaneously as twinkling regions.”

A troop would record a number of movies of their patrol using a robot cart carrying several cameras and following a preprogrammed path.

The next day this would be repeated with one or two soldiers viewing today’s and yesterday’s scenes through a stereoscope. Any disparities would be immediately visible and highlight possible hidden bombs.

Most spectacle lenses are now made of plastic for weight and cost reasons, but it’s still damn hard to find a pair which a) fit and b) look sensible.

Today’s invention is to make both the lenses and frame of spectacles in a single piece, by rapid prototyping techniques (which are already used to make stand-alone lenses).

There would be a standard, integral hinge formed between the legs and the front section holding the lenses. Dyestuff could be added to the non-lens areas and filter particle material to the lens regions.

This approach would allow consumers to design their own frames online (including a sizeable variation in bridge width) and superimpose the result on their facial image before ever ordering the glasses.

Having recently been impressed with a laser system which shines on the road and delineates a safe zone around a bicycle, today’s invention is of a similar ilk.

It consists of a laser which is fitted to a motorcycle and which flicks backwards and forwards on the road ahead.

The laser is driven by a microcomputer on the bike which knows about the dynamics of the machine and its exact position on the road (via cameras which detect the central white line).

This allows the optimal racing line to be illuminated so that an inexperienced rider can steer the machine as would a professional racer (or a police rider).

Given that the average rider will be in the wrong gear to adopt this line most of the time, the onboard processor might be called upon to illuminate the best possible line ie -considering the current position, gear, speed etc.

If it weren’t for the aerodynamics, golf would hold little fascination for me.

As a golfball is struck by a driver, it compresses along the axis of impact and then elongates again as it leaves the club face.

Oscillatory motion (of a similar amplitude to the size of the surface dimples) persists for an appreciable part of anyone’s best shot.

This is a different flow regime from the textbook, steady-flow case in which a turbulent boundary layer is formed by the dimples which reduce drag.

The energy of the ball in practice is partly dissipated internally as heat and the turbulent boundary layer will repeatedly break off into extra vortices -which means that it must travel less far than a non-flexible ball.

Today’s invention is therefore a golfball with diametrically-opposed coloured dots. Between these, on the inside, is a very stiff reinforcement bar. When the ball is struck along the axis defined by the dots, it will be subject to less total frictional energy loss in flight and thus provide extra yardage.

Extra benefit would be provided by a clubhead which itself was dimpled.

When the groceries get delivered, there is always a temptation to just upend the bags or crates straight into the kitchen cupboards. I’m discouraged from doing this, however, by the fact that old products can thus be left unused for long periods.

Today’s invention is a simple shoebox-like insert for cupboards which has a U-shaped interior. This allows incoming stock to be pushed into the left hand side (grey items) and, because the floor of the box is polished, each items bears on its neighbour and easily drives an older item towards the front on the right hand side.

If you want a series of items from within a box, just push them around by hand.

New products might be inserted through a flap or brush-type door, in order to avoid confusion about which end was the entrance. It would also make sense to use one box for one type of good eg tinned tomatoes, although there is an interesting serendipity element to cooking with whatever emerges from a given box. If that item is presently unwanted, simply reinsert it in the left hand side.

The boxes could be folded together from eg a plastic sheet of parts which would allow them to fit anyone’s cupboards. A similar system might be used in shops (but with a one-way entrance to stop people grabbing fresher items from the left side).

Generally, I dislike soft-top cars compared to their robuster, roof-reinforced relatives. I was looking in disbelief at the complexity of a particular BMW convertible the other day…the folding mechanical lid seemed to work smoothly enough, but the resulting hard top was covered in seams and the otherwise smooth shape of the 3-series was lost completely in a patchwork quilt of panels.

Today’s invention is therefore a convertible roof consisting of two components, each an arc of a cylinder.

These would lock together along one pair of edges to allow open-topped motoring. They would then be rotated in opposite directions so as to join the other two edges overhead.

Each tube could have a reinforced window section, without greatly compromising strength and providing some of the drama of gull-wing doors. The drive would be via gears embedded in the circular end of each cylinder and be potentially fast enough to raise the roof in the event of a rollover.

For ease of access, I’d like to see the roof joint in the left hand image also act as a hinge and thus allow both sections to rotate upwards, like the wing casings of a scarab.