Invention Of The Day – Page 187 – Just another break-step productions sites site

#1020: ArcLight

When big vehicles make slow turns, sometimes the process can be dangerous.

The diagram shows the area between the dotted and solid curved lines which is swept out by an articulated lorry.

Today’s invention is to equip these vehicles with a number of roof-mounted spotlights which shine eg red light onto the ground. These are directed, by data on of the current steering wheel position, to illuminate the road area which is about to be swept through.

If people or other vehicles find themselves located in this brightly coloured light, it’s time to pull back to safety.

This system might also be useful to learner drivers, for whom every vehicle feels like a behemoth.

#1019: ToeToToe

Running on a treadmill tends to lack much competitive ‘edge’. Certainly, it’s no spectator sport. Today’s invention is therefore intended to offer indoor runners a new form of challenge.

Two running machines would be placed with the runners facing each other. The rollers supporting the belts would be connected by an ‘active differential’ gearbox.

This would be electronically controlled so that as one runner speeds up, so he or she increases, slightly, the resistance of the other’s machine (or even the gradient of the belt).

The gearing would be programmable so that runners of different types could compete against each other. The first one to press the ‘yield’ button would disconnect the machines and lose the competition.

A sprinter, for example, might try tactically to wear down a marathon runner quickly by accelerating away, but if that failed he would then find himself in for an unusually prolonged race.

#1018: ScareShoal

Now that tidal energy looks like it may be commercially viable in certain locations, there is increasing pressure to ensure that devices such as subsea turbine blades create as little damage as possible to the local fish population (the danger is that thrashing blades might well form currents strong enough to drag fish towards them and chop up significant numbers).

What is needed is an underwater scarecrow. Rather than just use a source of loud noises (whose vibration probably disturbs marine mammals too), today’s invention is a simulated predator.

This would take the form of a sinuously moving multi-section raft on the water surface, moored to the turbine in question. This could be caused to wave backwards and forwards by a small motor and would look from below like the silhouette of a large hunting fish, such as a shark.

#1017: DishDrive

Today’s invention is a way automatically to ensure that one’s satellite dish or tv aerial are optimally orientated.

The receiver in question would be fitted with a couple of small motors, one for each degree of freedom (ie probably no more than two).

These would be controlled by having a camera observe the screen and compare the degree of difference between a known, testcard image and the one currently being broadcast. The system would then run the motors until any disparity was minimised.

This could be arranged to occur continuously and thus maintain picture quality even during stormy atmospheric conditions.

#1016: sCARab

Today’s invention is a small, radio-controlled vehicle with rubber wheels containing powerful magnets.

These allow this small car to travel automatically over the outer metal surfaces of a normal car, checking for indentations or other damage. This could work well as a monitor for hired vehicles, being able to detect dents rapidly -damage that a driver might fail to even notice.

The sCARab could also act as a camera platform, snapping anyone in contact with the host vehicle and then hiding under the floorpan whilst calling the owner or police.

Such a device, equipped with a coloured paint pen and eraser, could create a constantly-changing pattern on the surface of the vehicle.

#1015: Lensfinder

For those new to inserting contact lenses, today’s invention is a way to ensure that the lens has been correctly fitted.

The contact lens case would contain a small bulb and battery. This would be held to the wearer’s temple briefly and the bulb lit.

The outer edge of the contact lens on that side then forms a brightly-glowing arc in the visual periphery, indicating not just the presence but also the precise location of the lens. The arc also shows, by its profile, whether the lens is facing inwards or outwards. Future lenses, with circumferential asymmetry, might also indicate their rotational position on the cornea.

Do this in a dark room and an even more prominent after-image of the lens edge forms which can then be used to show up subsequent relative relocations of the lens on the cornea.

#1014: HideHues

Today’s invention is a way for military vehicles to camouflage themselves in real time.

Each tank or truck would carry some cans of suitable natural shades of paint on board. To avoid detection, each vehicle would use an onboard spray gun to subtly change its exterior shades -so as to minimise its visibility during different parts of the day, or season.

This repainting might even happen so fast as to mimic the motion of shadows on the surface, further breaking up the contours. If detected, rapid repainting with dazzle shades and shapes might help disguise the direction and size of the vehicle in question.

There could also be a small robotic scoop that could flick local earth over the finished coats, in order to improve their textural effectiveness. The paint itself would be rainproof but capable of being scrubbed off later using eg some diesel fuel.

#1013: NinjaNoise

Silencers on military firearms are really intended to modify the sound of firing, rather than mask it entirely -thus making it less obviously a sign of an attack in progress.

Today’s invention is a digital recorder and loudspeaker which is coordinated with the pulling of a trigger.

When a shot is fired from a ‘silenced’ weapon, a very loud masking noise is played. This might be the slamming of a door or the barking of a dog, depending on the current context. For automatic firing, a naturally repetitive sound would be selected.

Recordings might even be made of ambient sounds in the current locale, in order to avoid drawing attention to the attack.

#1012: Pressfresh

Washing hands with liquid ‘sanitiser’ requires the user to press a springloaded valve on a plastic bottle to get the soap out (I have seen some proximity-switched ones, but they were broken and not really domestic items anyway).

Today’s invention is simply a new base design for these dispensers which avoids the need to finger the (often revolting) trigger mechanism.

This allows one to press on the upturned bottom of the original container with a clothed elbow and catch the soap in the other hand -without knocking the whole apparatus onto the floor.

#1011: Deflatulence

It offends me to see giant lorries trundling across the countryside half-empty.

One of the worst examples of unnecessary, air-filled packaging is the toilet roll.

Today’s invention is a process which takes each pack of conventional rolls and flattens them so that their cylindrical cardboard tubes contain no air. Packs would be shrink-wrapped in the usual way before transportation -a volume saving of at least 20%.

To use each roll, simply open the central tube and insert the normal axle of the ‘holder’ (a conical, mandrel-like device or even a cylindrical, spiral spring could be purchased by purists who demanded perfectly cylindrical rolls).