#1308: ReelRoll

Consider the remarkable inertia-reel seatbelt design.

Today’s invention is to apply that to the humble toilet roll dispenser.

A pair of arms inside the toilet roll would be flung outwards as the toilet roll was rotated when the end of the paper was pulled. These would cause the cardboard liner to stop and the paper to tear off.

With more certainty than is available by just pulling on the end of a conventional paper toilet roll; the more sharply one pulls the inertia reel paper, the shorter the length of paper dispensed.

#1307: Orbitube

Last week I was asked by someone about weightlessness and it sparked a curious train of thought. A body travelling around the Earth will be in orbit if its velocity is given by v^2 = rg. What if this occurred not in space, but at sea level? A velocity of sqrt(6.4E6 *9.81) = 8km per sec (Mach 24) would be hard to achieve due to air resistance.

Today’s invention is therefore a pipeline joining cities which are far apart. This is in the shape of a perfectly circular arc bolted to the ground and made of sections of pipe which are sealed so that the whole pipeline can be evacuated.

Airlocks allow a capsule to be inserted and a series of external railguns accelerates this to huge velocity (and brakes it again at the far end).

During transit, the capsule will experience microgravity (possibly useful for in-transit materials processing). This arrangement would allow a small payload of cargo to get from New York to Melbourne in 35 minutes.

(Suddenly opening the downstream end would provide a way to inject satellites into a higher, conventional orbit).

#1306: QorQuit?

Today’s invention is an app which allows a smartphone user to decide whether his waiting in a queue will allow him to be served before some deadline by which he has to be elsewhere. If it does, he stays, if not, he can save some time by leaving early.

After entering data about departure deadline, level of impatience and desire to be served, the app would continually evaluate the stay/go decision based on manually registering every time someone gets served or chooses to leave the queue. The longer the queue, the more reliable the model of whether to stay or leave.

There would also be incorporated the effect of mental inertia ie the tendency to want to stay in proportion to the waiting time already ‘invested’.

At the very least, such an app would make the waiting seem less onerous.

#1305: SlideSurprise

Today’s invention is a waterslide made with articulating sections and at the bottom end of which is an inflatable boat.

Water is directed into the top end and diverted to either side of the tube periodically. This deflects the slide and diverts the boat, accommodating the slide’s bottom end, around the pool. The boat, being rubber, presents no danger to people swimming in the larger pool.

Users jump in and experience some surprise when they eventually emerge safely into the water-filled inflatable boat which has since changed its location.

#1304: Viewires

Today’s invention is the transparent plugtop.

This allows the interior of an electrical plug to be viewed, so that a user can check that the wiring is correct before plugging in the attached appliance (there might even be coloured lines on the plug’s inside surface with which the wires could be compared).

The fuse rating could also be easily seen as well as any internal scorchmarks or cable fraying.

This could be incorporated in new plugs or as a replacement for existing plugtop front plates.

#1303: SpaceFab

I’ve been thinking about how to get hold of a desktop manufacturing kit lately (without having $750 easily to hand).

This led to today’s invention: microgravity desktop manufacture.

There are lots of difficulties in trying to arrange additive manufacture processes within the Earth’s gravitational field. Depositing particles means placing them atop layers of other particles, which often enforces an unnatural sequence for eg 3-D printing. This makes creating ‘undercuts’ pretty complicated.

In a spacecraft experiencing the microgravity of Earth orbit, a desktop manufacturing system could consist of a robotic cell, open to the vacuum of space, in which droplets of epoxy-like material could be extruded by a computer-controlled nozzle.

These could be placed precisely anywhere in 3 dimensions, allowing easy fabrication of undercuts (and even wholly internal, unattached features).

Useful perhaps for building new components en route to distant planets.

#1302: SmokeSkin

Today’s invention is a set of light, transparent, hollow panels corresponding to the body panels of a particular car.

To the narrow space within each is attached an inlet pipe at the front edge and an outlet pipe from the rear edge. These are used to pump smoke through the narrow space from a central reservoir.

The smoke can be made to change colour rapidly (as happens with eg a distress flare or firework). This provides something close to programmable colouration for the vehicle.

Streaklines in the smoke flow can also create the illusion that the vehicle is travelling faster than it really is, thus adding drama to driving slowly and perhaps reducing accidents.

#1301: Penalty boxes

Penalties are always controversial as well as dramatic in soccer.

To add to the drama, today’s invention involves displaying a big-screen image of the target goal, with a numbered grid superimposed (say two rows of four boxes).

Spectators would have two minutes to text the number of the square they wanted the shot to be directed at (and perhaps even win bets or prizes if a score was deemed to have occurred via their chosen box).

The penalty taker and goalkeeper could each choose to respond to this advice or ignore it, but either way the crowd could claim increased influence over the game (especially as statistics were amassed about the preferences of individual players).

(A sneakier version might involve showing the crowd’s preference to only the goalkeeper or the penalty taker).

#1300: FallSpring

A friend of mine recently had a minor bike accident in which the small passenger in the child seat at the rear might have been hurt.

Fortunately, everyone was fine, but even when wearing a helmet and properly strapped in, there remains the danger that a child will automatically extend its hand(s) as the bike is toppling onto the ground.

Today’s invention is a springsteel band which is normally compressed at the back of a bike seat, as shown.

When a tilt switch is activated by the machine toppling, the band is released and forms a round spring, restrained at two points. This cushions the impact with the road and prevents any damage to extended hands.

#1299: BounceBike

Today’s invention is a bicycle which requires the rider to undertake some quite athletic non-pedaling movements.

A spring links the rear wheel to the frame as shown.

First, the back wheel’s brake is locked electronically (red) and the rider leans backward, extending the spring (A).

Then, the front wheel is electronically locked and the rider lunges forwards, so that the spring pulls the rear wheel forward (B).

This repeated combination of body movement and electronic control of braking allows forward motion (like an inchworm) to occur.