#1139: BagStairs

Falling down is the second biggest cause of accidental death (after car accidents).

Today’s invention is therefore an airbag which can be located in a pod within a bannister or handrail.

Sensors in the stair treads would determine where the next footfalls should occur…if this pattern were noticeably disrupted suddenly or if there were a sufficiently hard impact on a tread-based sensor, it would automatically fire the airbag inflation mechanism.

The inflation process could be less violent than in a vehicle, so as not to upend other people in transit, but still allow cushioning, slowing and arresting of the victim’s fall.

A fall would trigger other bags lower down the staircase (especially one on the bottom landing).

#1138: SteadyPointer

Laser pointers tend to jitter all over the screen -especially in the hand of a nervous presenter.

Today’s invention is a laser pointer which allows the shaky presenter to press a button when the red dot is roughly in the right place.

Motion sensors in the pointer then lock the beam onto that location -shining the laser at that point irrespective of where the presenter’s hand is wandering (within reason).

Another button press and the pointer can be (unsteadily) moved to the next required location.

#1137: Shareading

Poor Mr Murdoch. Now it seems that his old world of online newspapers is going to start charging for access to certain content (again).

Today’s invention is an alternative prop for the existing advertising-based business model, which is currently so under pressure.

The idea is to allow readers to move to the next page of a news (or other) online item only once they have clicked to share it with someone else.

#1136: ClipFilter

In order to minimise the possibility of an automatic weapon jamming (when someone’s life might depend on it), ammunition needs to be highly consistent.

Today’s invention is a device which fits in the intake end of a magazine. This allows rounds to be passed through it into a magazine itself. As this happens, each round is rotated about its long axis under an internal light and asymmetries detected -using the equivalent of a cellphone camera.

As the rotation occurs, each bullet is also weighed to ensure that the amount of propellent is within specification. If a problem is detected, a round would be ejected onto the floor.

Since jamming often only occurs after a bad sequence of rounds, this device might be used to randomise the bullets by weight and asymmetry in order to reduce the accumulation of dynamical errors (when using cheap ammunition) which contribute to jamming.

An upgrade to this idea would be to fit it to the lower end of a magazine with an open trough into which bullets could be dropped a handful at a time. This would to allow rounds to be added rapidly (and tested) without swapping magazines.

#1135: Readaids

e-books are now starting to sell.

Today’s invention is twofold:
1) When reading any kind of text, I’d find it much easier to follow if the characters named had a small facial image inserted automatically and consistently in the text (via eg image search).

2) I’d like to be able to see a map, for any book, of the dwell time on each page. This could form a simple linear graph and it could be communicated back to eg Amazon with the results averaged so as to characterise the kind of reading required (ie painstaking, accelerating pace, stopped halfway through etc).

#1134: Chewbrush

People often chew the ends of their writing instruments.

Today’s invention is a disposable cylindrical sleeve which fits on the end of a pen or pencil.

Bristles, like those on a toothbrush, extend radially outwards from the sleeve so that chewers can clean their teeth and massage their gums -rather than grinding plastic or wood splinters into their mouths.

After use, the sleeve can be discarded and replaced. Sleeves might be flavoured and/or pretreated with mouthwash.

#1133: ChargeChamber

Various electronic devices (which shall remain nameless) seem to be developing a reputation for bursting into flames during charging.

Today’s invention offers a way to ensure that such charging can occur safely when unsupervised. It’s a ceramic-lined, airtight suitcase, big enough to accommodate items as large as a laptop+transformer or cordless drill battery unit etc.

This would have a power socket moulded into the casing and accessible from inside (with a cable running outside to a mains socket).

The case would contain temperature sensors and a smoke alarm which would activate an internal halon extinguisher in the event of an overheating problem.

#1132: Warrantimer

Normally, product warranties tend to be limited by the period for which an item has been in use.

Today’s invention is to provide a warranty based on the number of times which a product (or some subsystem) has been used.

This could be made to work in products such as washing machines, by counting electronically the number of door openings or wash cycles undertaken.

The memory device used to record these data would have to built so as to detect any attempt to interfere with its sensor wiring but, once created, it could be embedded in a generic armoured casing and applied to many different systems.

This type of device could be reprogrammed to give eg a variable warranty period for remanufactured or pre-owned products.

#1131: BagPad

Computer mice are often no longer used in conjunction with laptops and many optical mice can operate happily without using a mat.

Today’s invention is for people who still like the combination of laptop and mouse (whilst not wanting not to scratch the surface they habitually work on).

It’s a laptop sleeve which is also usable as a mousemat.

I’d have the sleeve open to one side, leaving the machine sitting on the inner surface of one side of the case, whilst the inside of the case lid acts as the mat on one side of the machine.

#1130: Cartalert

Shopping trolleys in a wintry supermarket carpark are hard to see amongst the various milling pedestrians and manoeuvring vehicles.

Today’s invention is to equip each trolley with a head-height lamp on a stalk, ideally rotating like those on ambulances. These carts cost about £400 each, so the addition of a lamp would be still a small extra.

Such trolleys might also be given indicators so that cars could be made aware of which way they were going to turn (Once in motion, these can be hard to change direction and motorists need to give them a very wide berth indeed….especially if the ground is icy).