Category: Possible inventions

There are numerous systems in which disc brakes indicate that they are approaching their wear limit by making a screeching noise.

Today’s invention resembles this technique but is in the form of a recordable surface on one’s brake discs, not unlike an old LP record played by a stylus.

As an electric vehicle or bicycle nears pedestrians standing on the pavement it should slow down. The braking would thus alert people not to step off the pavement.

Drivers and riders could record a personal message, in their own voice, saying eg “My blue bike is approaching. Look both ways!”

It’s a stupid disgrace that we have so many different, non-standard batteries for everything from laptops to cameras. Having found hardware I’m happy using, I want to do so for much longer than the manufacturer would probably like.

This urge to hold on to quality products, rather than pitch them out early like fashion items, is surely set to continue in these increasingly frugal times.

So, today’s invention is a software tool which recognises the type and condition of one’s laptop battery. Since it won’t be possible to buy a new one of these in six months’ time and since they cost a lot too, the program calculates exactly what usage/charging pattern is allowed to maximise the overall life of the battery unit.

This would probably mean that it would demand occasional stoppages in work together with instructions to connect or disconnect from the mains.

These hiatuses might be turned to advantage -especially if they could be coordinated with a low-power screensaver indicating one’s offline todo list.

Today’s invention is a snooker/pool table which collects the balls at the end of a game, beneath the playing surface, as usual, but then detects which balls are which by running them past a camera with appropriate recognition software on board.

It then pumps the balls back onto the playing surface via a tube.

The tube has a whole-table-sized frame (not just the usual triangle) attached to its outlet end and this directs the balls to their correct starting positions for whichever type of game is about to be played next.

The frame is automatically withdrawn beneath the table and a new game can commence.

Airline seats, unless you can afford business class+, are a source of great discomfort. From a ticket buyer’s point of view, the major issue is a lack of room to wiggle one’s legs occasionally in transit (which can have health implications such as deep-vein thrombosis).

How about providing 16% more legroom (on average)? That’s the estimated decrease in seat utilisation across the US, since the onset of the current financial reality check.

Today’s invention is to make more use of the existing floor rails in airliners. A single, floor-level, catch (a little like one of those clamping tie-racks) would release a block of seats to slide, under the influence of springs between them. The fraction of unbooked ones would be pressed up against a bulkhead, leaving others free so that their interseat distance would be automatically equally distributed (and increased).

The catch would then be re-engaged, locking all seats in their new, more comfortable locations.

I’m interested in using physiology to reduce crime: specifically those crimes in which someone is being threatened with injury if they fail to hand over money -or information.

It seems that if you are really scared, it can be reliably detected by an increased heartrate and a decreased skin temperature. There is very little that one can do consciously to change these effects if one is being menaced (assuming you haven’t been schooled in meditation).

An example might be when someone is taken at knifepoint to an ATM and told to withdraw some money. If the system is equipped with sensors which can detect unusual readings indicative of fear, then it will override even the correct pin number entry and refuse to dispense cash.

Such systems would require a touchpad to detect the variation from normal of an individual’s values, a fingerprint reader and a sign that says “This bank is protected so that withdrawals are prevented if customers are under threat”. In this way a polygraph-like device is used to protect a potential victim, rather than incriminate a suspect. This could also be applied to transport under threat of hijacking.

I’d suggest equipping such systems with a camera, activated when fear is detected, in order to gain evidence against an aggressor.

According to a recent edition of the Harvard Review, if you alert people to some behaviour undertaken by others in a similar situation, then they too will tend to conform to that behaviour. The classic example is saying ‘most people who stayed in this room reused their towels’. The example cited has to be true, of course.

Websites like Amazon encourage people to make online purchases in this way by collecting and publishing data about how many bought what from each page.

Today’s invention is a system which applies this to support bricks and mortar shops in a mall, for example. It would simply consist of an electronic display at the doorway stating “We are proud that X% of people who shopped here today are returning customers” (a figure derived from the credit and store card data from tills across the establishment).

This would predispose folk to being in buying mode and help promote sales under difficult conditions.

Today’s invention is a low-efficiency ceiling fan (they all are).

This takes the form of a number of belts which each form an ‘L’ shape and which are driven by a small motor within the central fixture. As the main body of the fan rotates, at varying speed about its vertical axis, so the belts will be flung outwards to a lesser or greater extent, creating different circulation patterns within the room.

The circulation of the individual belts preserves their life and, being coated with a somewhat sticky material, allows them to catch flies as they rotate. These would be scraped off into a small tank within the fan’s hub and the belts could be easily removed for washing.

No headgear will stop a bullet, but helmets are intended primarily to deflect eg shrapnel or falling masonry.

Today’s invention is a new form of helmet. A hardened outer shell is located, as usual, on a tight-fitting padded liner.

In this case, if the shell is subject to small, radial impacts, it will move inwards and collide with the raised brow-bumper.

In the event of a more tangential strike, the shell is free to rotate about the top boss, allowing otherwise penetrative impacts to glance off. The boss might contain a spring and damper mechanism (in both axial and radial directions) in order to dissipate a higher proportion of the ballistic energy.

Now that in-transit working is the norm and even sensitive documents need to be read or drafted when sitting beside strangers, the issue of confidentiality is taking on new importance. Today’s invention attempts to address the issue of such shoulder surfing, for low-level industrial espionage, using (apparent) screen reflectivity as a tool.

I sometimes find myself staring at the reflection of someone’s face in the window of a train, in a way that I wouldn’t ever stare directly at someone’s face. When they happen to look at my reflection, I tend to avert my eyes almost automatically.

Now imagine a laptop screen, made of low reflectivity material. Overlaid on the material you are working on, at either side of the screen, are two images of your face (one as seen by the passenger on your right and one as seen by the one on your left). Note that we work on screen with emotionally-neutral reflections present all the time and manage to ignore these pretty successfully.

When a neighbour begins reading material on your screen, they will suddenly become aware of your apparent reflection looking at them fixedly (perhaps with a frown).

Instead of using static images, the deterrent effect could be maximised by using a movie…in which you have recorded both occasional blinking and teeth baring. If you found yourself sitting next to someone particularly attractive, you could quickly load the movie of you smiling (to the correct side) and giving an occasional wink.