#1268: Bladebank

Today’s invention is a small clamp which allows two (two-blade) disposable razors to be held together to simulate the shaving performance of a multi-blade razor.

I’m not sure I believe that anyone ever needs more than two blades, but for those who are into multiblade razors, this could offer a significant cost saving.

If the clamp were designed so that each razor was at a small angle to the other, this might have the beneficial effect of decapitating a cylindrical hair from two different directions, so that any remainder is noticeably thinner.

#1267: Skinsaver

I know a lot about blisters, having just bought a pair of these.

Today’s invention is a form of protection for blisters. It consists of a collection of felt cylinders (blue), supplied as a column with each cylinder joined to the next using a small cord.

The cylinders have an adhesive underside allowing them to be applied around the blister (whatever its size) as shown.

This creates a support ring which minimises the pressure on the blister while it heals. The support in turn minimises the tendency for the blister to be squeezed so that even more outer skin is painfully separated from the inner layers.

#1266: Rocksteady

There are many alternatives to icecubes available.

Today’s invention is one such approach. A novelty item (such as a shark’s fin or a sinking ship) is moulded in glass and has embedded within it an iron core.

This allows the ‘cube’ to be held firmly in place in a conventional glass by an external magnetic disc applied to the base.

The novelty cube would be chilled in a freezer before use and allow the glass to be used without diluting or contaminating the drink (as may happen if you use eg cold stones).

There would be no possibility that the cubes will interfere with eg straws or come out -until removed by hand for cleaning purposes.

If you want eg mulled wine which stays warm, heat the cube first. A more advanced version might have a ‘cube’ containing an led which lights up in response to the magnetic field from below.

#1265: FlexiFlex

Today’s invention makes use of ‘plastic zip’ technology in resealable plastic bags. The insulation on each conductor also embodies a C-section side channel which can accommodate another wire, as shown.

This allows the formation by a user of ribbon-like cables. These can be very flexibly made into different combinations, and routed through multiple separate spaces or very flat apertures.

Cutting away parts of the C-section, allows the cables to link together to form conductors with a closed ring structure of three or more cores (in a triangle, square etc arrangement). This provides the resulting wiring with some added strength, as well as the ability to act as a conduit for other cables.

#1264: Seatsaver

When sitting on a straight-backed chair I have a tendency to rock backwards on the back pair of legs. This pretty quickly breaks the structure of even the strongest seat.

Today’s invention is a pair of skids which attach firmly to the feet of such a chair. These have a slippery underside which makes it hard not to just slide backwards if one begins to lean backwards.

Even on a super-frictional floor, the horizontal extensions make it almost impossible to rock the chair onto either its front or back pair of legs -thus protecting it from the kind of inadvertent damage which I have visited on many fine items of furniture.

This also saves the user from the embarrassment and potential danger of actually falling over backwards.

#1263: BarrAsh

Following the recent furore about volcanic ash in the atmosphere, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has decided that 2mg/ m^3 is the airborne ash density below which it’s ok to fly.

Military aviators are a lot less cautious about air quality. They also have a range of countermeasures they can employ when being pursued by their opposition. Having seen the damage which ash can cause in a jet engine, today’s invention is a countermeasure based on this.

When followed by a jet aircraft, the target plane would start to inject some of its own ceramic engine outlet components into its exhaust stream, so that they burned (like an ablation shield on a space capsule).

This would periodically cause visible, dense puffs of silica ash (locally >>2mg/ m^3) to be ejected and cause any pursuing aircraft to avoid the clouds. The clouds themselves would remain airborne, a little like barrage balloons, until normal turbulence dispersed them.

#1262: SignalSip

Energy drinks apparently start to help one’s muscles work as soon as they make contact with the tongue.

That weird finding, via which the receptors of the tongue somehow inform one’s flagging muscles that ‘help is coming’, is the basis of today’s invention.

For those who find their lives threatened by exhaustion (such as soldiers, explorers or firefighters) it takes the form of a steel water bottle with a lockable lid (and an inaccessible, recessed valve).

The lid contains a timer device which opens a spout for say one second every half-hour (as determined for the operation concerned). This allows someone to take very short slurps of the sugar water inside, enabling them to keep going whilst preventing them from simply draining the contents.

It might even be possible for a version of the bottle to open the spout in response to radio signals from base, in order to maximise the chance that the bottle carrier can get him/herself back home in one piece.

#1261: UnPencil

In olden days, people used to make marks on paper using pencils. Some arty folk still do.

Today’s invention is an eraser, made of stiff white rubber, in the form of a pencil.

Since erasers are always getting dirty with graphite, and you want to be able to perform precision rubbing out using a sharp eraser tip, the pencil-shaped eraser can be kept pointy using an ordinary pencil sharpener.

#1260: Divertrack

What happens when a runaway train is careering down the track into the path of an oncoming engine?

Derailers are devices which can be carried to a place on a track and installed so as to protect eg people working in the vicinity. If a train approaches without warning it is automatically derailed (usually onto a fairly safe, flat patch of ground).

Today’s invention is a derailer which is carried by trains themselves and which, in the event of an impending crash, is rapidly lowered into place to allow the train to leave the track.

It takes the form of a pair of curved rail sections normally carried above an engine and hinged so as to be able to drop down in front of the engine’s front wheels rapidly and detach from the vehicle.

These could be made of some comparatively expensive but lightweight material and be long enough to direct the engine off the track, whilst leaving the rear section still on the rails.

#1259: Atissue

Sitting on public transport frequently involves me in being blasted by the sneezes of neighbouring travelers.

Fortunately, it turns out that there are now antiviral agents which seem to work in limiting the development of cold infections.

Today’s invention is a handkerchief which contains this anti-rhinovirus in powder form.

When you sneeze into the hankie, a wave of antiviral particles is projected off the other side and fills the space between passengers, limiting the power of the virus to make people ill.