Today’s invention is a clock with no central mechanism.
Instead, the hands would each be located on a central axle, but be propelled by a small car at the distal end, driving in a circle at a speed of 1 revolution per hour or 12 hours.
These vehicles could be radio-controlled on eg a clock-tower face.
In the event of some malfunction, each vehicle could be replaced much more easily and cheaply than repairing elaborate clockwork.
Imagine a rifle which allows an infantryman to direct the fire of very large calibre weapons on board eg helicopters and tanks.
Most grunts or squaddies have difficulty with aiming their weapons precisely enough to harm the enemy at anything beyond the normal ‘pray and spray range.’
Today’s invention is a system which allows a soldier, possibly with sniper training, to fire a device towards an opposition installation. This would be like a very large flare, designed to be clearly visible to the people on the receiving end.
Instead of exploding, it would communicate a message. If the targetted troops hadn’t surrendered within say five seconds, a shell would automatically be fired at the location indicated by a transmitter on the flare.
This would encourage even experienced soldiers to discontinue the conflict in the face of such unequal odds -and thus save some lives.
The four-poster bed has been around since at least mediaeval times. The canopy and associated drapes provided a room within a room which offered extra privacy and thermal comfort.
Today’s invention is a novel variant on this approach.
A bed would have a horizontal canopy with a vertical skirt of sound and heat insulating material.
When sensors indicated that the bed’s occupants were asleep (using cheap heartrate monitors) the whole canopy would move down to a much lower height above the bed to create a sound insulating, warm cocoon.
The height of the canopy could automatically vary throughout the night, in order to maintain an optimal sleeping temperature inside, and withdraw to full height just as anyone began to wake up.
In this way, occupants would be unaware of the bed’s behaviour on their behalf and central heating bills could be massively reduced in cold climates.
Today’s invention is a multi-tube fuselage design for airliners.
This would be subject to the same drag force as a conventional wide-bodied jet. Although the bundlebody perimeters would be twice as long in total as that for the conventional machine, the wall thickness in each case could be made half as thick, due to the enormous increase in pressure resistance which comes with narrow cylinders.
Each narrow cylinder would have local space in which to store one’s baggage (ensuring that any terrorist explosions are isolated in effect and that the crew, flying in another cylinder, are better protected).
The narrow tubes would be easier to support in the event of a depressurisation incident.
Aircraft could be much more easily configured, on the ground, by detaching some tubes, to cope with sudden changes in passenger bookings. In addition, the views for all passengers would be improved.
We have all heard about the phenomenon entitled ‘Google Bubble‘ -in other words the tendency of certain search engines to intuit one’s interests based on previous searches and thus supply strongly filtered (tuned) data when next you search.
Instead of seeing this as just a potential problem, several gurus in a particular field will have bubbles from which extra information may be gleaned.
Today’s invention is a scheme in which a handful of subject experts agree to license their search results over time (anonymously) so that topics they are looking into can be recorded.
These are then combined to illustrate regions of common interest (blue), priority areas (yellow), potential controversy(green), as well as highlighting unexplored subdomains of their field (red).
It seems that IOTD gets a namecheck in connection with how ideas drive growth -here: “The Great Courses“.
Today’s invention is therefore dedicated to my friend, and notable academic, Scotte Page.
Much has been said about windscreen wipers. Today’s invention is a system which has a camera monitoring the onset of the vehicle driver’s next eyeblink.
When that happens, a superfast windscreen wiper is activated, so that the dreadful, rhythmic thrashing that occurs on wet days goes unseen and thus avoids limiting his/her field of view.
I just read this (weirdly ungrammatical) item and thought I’d rush out today’s invention before some global sports equipment manufacturer can patent it.
If it’s indeed true that splaying fingers and toes allows one to swim significantly faster, then the same can be applied to oars, paddles and maybe even propeller blades.
Today’s invention is therefore a rowing blade that has the same wetted area as usual but which consists of separate ‘fingers.’
Self-organisation is one of the most fascinating phenomomena, especially when the rules are simple and the behaviour useful.
Today’s invention ticks at least one of these boxes.
It is a linear tray for glasses.
A handle contains a hairdryer. This is attached to an airtrack of the kind used in Physics classroom demonstrations.
When one of the glasses, which have magnets on either end of their bases, is removed, the fan senses this and instantly switches on. This activates the air track, so that the remaining glasses move, under the action of the repelling magnets, so as to redistribute themselves evenly along the length of the track.
This ensures that the centre of mass of the glasses is always approximately just above the handle, making serving easier.
(A short circular track would be possible too).
I used to love to watch Fred Dibnah demolishing giant buildings using burning railway sleepers or a handful of blasting powder.
Demolition is still big business, but knocking down buildings is a noisy, slow process, given that concrete is usually heavily reinforced with steel.
Today’s invention is therefore a relatively cheap, quiet and rapid way to take a building down.
A folding four-legged spider is passed into a ground floor room via a window. This is opened out and each of four footplates set against the corners of the room. The legs run up to a central core which is in an elevated position.
Sudden,downward pressure on the core forces the feet outwards, tensioning and displacing the walls just enough to punch holes in the corners and destabilise the whole structure,
This pressure could be generated by dropping a large mass or firing a single explosive charge (It might even be possible to use a hydraulic, drill-like mechanism to corkscrew the core towards the ground).
This will cause the upper floors to descend and the edifice to collapse.
When the rubble is later removed, the spider can be extracted and reused.
Odd as it may seem, I get most of my ideas whilst lying in bed. Other people I know are at their most creative when having a shower.
The time taken for them to wash is therefore only a tiny fraction of that spent in the cubicle. All that time, water is running down the plughole.
Today’s invention aims to reduce this waste.
It is a shower system which allows one to shower normally for the first five minutes. After this time, clean(ish) water is pumped from the shower tray and used to feed the shower in the usual way.
This offers a good combination of cleanliness, conservation and creativity.
