Today’s invention is a streetlamp which has the light located at the base of the internally polished shaft.
This arrangement is topped by a lightweight, aerodynamic, curved mirror onto which the light is shone, so that the area around the base is illuminated.
Using this approach, lamps are less vulnerable to vibration and vandalism but the main benefit is a saving on wiring and maintenance costs, since the lamps can be replaced at ground level, without recourse to a ‘cherrypicker’.
I’m afraid it’s back to weaponry.
I was thinking about how rifling is a fairly inelegant solution to the problem of maintaining the accuracy of a bullet’s flight. Today’s invention is therefore an alternative mechanism to promote greater accuracy.
A round is injected into the (unrifled) barrel of an automatic weapon -but the whole barrel is spinning (powered either by an onboard motor or by the exhaust gases from a previous round).
The round seals in the barrel and spins with it. A firing pin acts in the usual way and the propellant drives the bullet down the spinning bore -expelling it with an optimal rotation rate determined by the distance to the target, the windspeed, the cartridge size, etc.
Today’s invention is a networked game which takes advantage of touchscreen technology.
A player attempts eg to move as many tokens as possible to a ‘goal area’ to one side of the screen.
In this he is opposed by a real-life player elsewhere whose actual hand appears to be sending tokens to a goal in the opposite direction (moving on the other side of the screen).
When the players’ fingers contend to play the same token, it moves in the resultant direction of their attempts. The winner is the player with the greater number of goals.
Today’s invention is a way to create computer-generated printed shapes on a roll of transparent tape.
These shapes are printed accurately so that when the roll is manufactured, translucent images of 3-D objects appear within the body of the tape (each made up of printing on successive ‘slices’ of tape).
This could be used to draw attention to an otherwise unattractive product, for marketing purposes.
I’m keen to help these people come up with an alternative to the waste associated with disposable cups.
Today’s invention is therefore a reusable cup which takes the form of an annular bracelet or wristlet. This would be made of thin injection moulded plastic (like normal throwaway plastic cups). Such items are stable and unlikely easily to be knocked over in use. They would also fit existing cup holders.
This design can be conveniently worn under a shirtcuff or trouserleg, when empty, so that it’s always available. It would be slipped off and the annulus filled with beverage. Two such bracelet cups might be nested so that the outer acted as insulation for the liquid-filled inner. A lip is provided to enable easier drinking.
When the user has had enough, to clean the cup, a string is attached through another lip in the base (not shown). This allows the cup to be whirled around (outside) in order to drive all liquid from the cup and air dry it for reuse.
Hatchbacks are a great idea (especially in this form).
When it comes to reversing them, however, life becomes complicated.
Today’s invention is therefore a small modification to all such vehicles. When reverse gear is engaged, the hatch is unlocked and automatically raised so as to be only slightly higher than the roof of the car.
This allows the driver to see behind him or her very much more clearly (and also acts as an extra signal that a reverse manoeuvre is in progress).
I’ve been reading about the McLaren sports cars (great design, but a website so annoying I’m not going to post the link).
Today’s invention is for high-performance, mid-engined vehicles like these.
Since many are equipped with an inverted wing section to increase downthrust, this should actually be the vehicle’s radiator.
Coolant could flow directly from the engine, up the support struts on the leading edge and down the rear pair. This would raise the centre of gravity only slightly whilst greatly improving heat removal from the engine (and possibly allowing the car’s frontal area to be reduced too).
I was struck, when passing some parked cars the other day, by how many of them had been left with lights on.
Today’s invention is a way to reduce this problem for people whose vehicles don’t yet have a lights-left-on alarm (or who are in such a rush that they fail to notice it).
People who spot lights left on can text the licence plate to a well-publicised number. This is linked to the licensing computer which automatically issues an alert to the mobile phone of the owner.
An alternative might be to plant a receiver in the car’s lighting circuitry, so that, if it is parked, the lamps can be automatically disconnected.
Apparently there is a new danger in the business of flying. People are increasingly reporting that their laptop screens are being cracked by the decision of the person sitting ahead of them suddenly to dump the seat back into the lazyboy position.
This used to be infuriating enough, but imagine having a seventeen hour flight with some snoring stranger in your lap -and a smashed laptop aaarrgghh!
Today’s invention is a cardboard tube which fits over the end of all armrests and obscures the ‘reverse’ button. To release it, you have to slide the tube off. This action takes a couple of extra seconds and exposes a sign on the other end of the armrest, which attracts the attention of the person behind.
The sign would say “look out, seat back about to descend!”
Today’s invention is a device intended to allow a tank to escape the battlefield when its running gear has been damaged.
A motorised set of spare wheels (or tracks) is attached to a frame stored eg at the rear of the vehicle.
When a track has been destroyed, the turret rotates, engages with this frame (perhaps using the main gun barrel, if appropriate), rotates to the damaged side and provides enough traction to shed the damaged components and retreat rapidly.
