#1446: RearBan

Today’s invention is a way for a lecturer to ensure that people don’t all sit at the back of a theatre.

All the flip-up seats are initially locked in the up position (apart from those in the front row).

A sensor mat at the door of the room counts people entering (approximately).
When the number of people inside approaches that of the number of seats in the front row, the second row of seats is released so they too can be flipped down.

The process repeats so that the theatre fills from the front (or in any other pattern the person giving the talk requires).

#1445: Rollway

Today’s invention is an airport runway which consists of a bed of tightly packed rollers. Each of these can be rotated at a variable speed and is provided with a controllable, vertical spring and damper.

This arrangement, although more expensive than tarmac, has certain advantages.

  • It allows planes to do without heavy, complicated, fuel-sapping undercarriages (using reinforced fuselage skid strips instead.
  • It maintains the runway free of debris and ice
  • It provides a much safer and smoother landing (including a surface profile and springiness tailored to each individual plane)
  • It can help power take-off, in either direction, thus reducing noise
  • Any fuel spillage is drained away rapidly.

    • #1444: PeekPanel

    I’ve been watching various electronic displays during the recent snowy conditions in the UK. These rarely have wipers of any kind.

    It seems to me that today’s invention should be a public information display which senses how much of its output is being obscured by snow or mud or whatever and squeezes the message into the part of the display which is not yet affected.

    This could be done by mild distortion of the characters so as to fit the clear part of the screen and/or by preferentially showing those data which have been previously tagged as most salient (perhaps cycling these so that all of the message is seen sequentially).

    #1443: BumpMaps

    Today’s invention is a smartphone application which allows realtime measurement of the frequency with which potholes are being driven through in a given region.

    Motorists would attach their smartphones firmly to the dashboard. Every time a pothole was driven through, the vertical acceleration would be detected and the location sent to a central database belonging to the roads authority in question.

    When displayed on a map, effects such as temporary ramps could be excluded from consideration, allowing holes in the road to be prioritised for repair on the basis of the number of drivers affected and the severity of the bumps.

    #1442: ChariotRacer

    Most people will never compete in a major sporting event and yet many will pay heavily just to be present at one.

    Today’s invention is a way for ordinary people to be more involved -not quite competing but close to the action.

    It is a wheeled platform which allows a spectator to stand on it and be propelled alongside eg runners in a track race or even swimmers in a pool (without interfering too much with the race itself). They would thus not only be participants in the making of sporting history, but also gain a better insight into the almost superhuman performances of professional athletes.

    Spectators might pay a large amount to actually be among the competitors or be chosen by lottery.

    #1441: Thrustum

    Obsessive as I am about tracked vehicles (almost as much as helicopters and electric paramotors), today’s invention is a new form of trackless, cross-country vehicle drive.

    The tracks on tractors, tanks etc would be replaced by a large number of conical drive elements (each heavily-textured to provide grip). Each cone (frustum) would have a hard rubber ring at its base. On the left side, this is shown as acting as a wheel, on the right side the cone is lowered into position for optimal grip on rough terrain.

    This arrangement allows wheeled operation for high speed, manoeuvrability and low damage on roads. It also enables the vehicle, with lowered, conical wheels forming a drive strip on each side, to get nearly as good grip as with tracks, but with much less susceptibility to damage.

    Each of the cones could be individually powered and independently sprung, raised and lowered.

    #1440: MilkShake

    Parcels tend to get handled roughly in transit -especially when marked ‘fragile’, it seems.

    Today’s invention makes use of this sad fact to supply the energy required to make a speciality product.

    Light but sturdy plastic containers would be filled with milk, sealed, placed in cardboard boxes and shipped around eg the US. After a day or so of rough handling, they would arrive at the point of sale -as butter.

    #1439: Skipogo

    Today’s invention is a combination of two old favourites -the pogo stick and the skipping rope.

    The rope is replaced by a rigid hoop, the ends of which are attached to the pogo stick’s handlebars and which are driven overhead by a small motor.

    The direction and speed of the motor can be determined by the user or set to operate randomly, so that the user is challenged to jump the stick over the rope -and thus improve their fitness and coordination.

    #1438: RocketRound

    Today’s invention is a way to boost the speed of a tank.

    The vehicle in question carries a number of shells containing solid rocket propellant. This would be specially formulated to allow relatively slow-burning, sustained-thrust output.

    When an extra burst of acceleration is required, the tank’s main gun is rotated to point behind it and a series of these special shells is fired. The resulting exhaust from the gun barrel provides enough drive to eg force a tank through some barrier or out of boggy terrain.

    #1437: FallPhone

    Cats can adjust their moments of inertia as they fall from a height so that they tend to land feet first.

    Today’s invention exploits this thinking by equipping eg cellphones with mutipart batteries (or other masses) which can be driven rapidly from place to place within the casing.

    If a phone (or other fragile, portable electronic device) is dropped, for example, the accelerometers on board, which would normally just switch it off before impact, detect the axes of spin and move the battery masses so as to orientate the device (since rotational momentum is conserved).

    This ensures the phone will always land on a small, impact-absorbing pad at one end and thus avoid being damaged.