Home Posts tagged "transport" (Page 3)

Tag: transport

#1299: BounceBike

Today’s invention is a bicycle which requires the rider to undertake some quite athletic non-pedaling movements.

A spring links the rear wheel to the frame as shown.

First, the back wheel’s brake is locked electronically (red) and the rider leans backward, extending the spring (A).

Then, the front wheel is electronically locked and the rider lunges forwards, so that the spring pulls the rear wheel forward (B).

This repeated combination of body movement and electronic control of braking allows forward motion (like an inchworm) to occur.

#1298: TrackBackup

Whenever a tracked vehicle has its tracks damaged, the crew are left vulnerable.

Today’s invention is therefore to equip such a vehicle with some road wheels which, when a track breaks, are capable of running directly on the ground.

These would each have independent motors, for maximal survivability.

The speed of movement might be very slow and uncertain on soft ground but in many circumstances this would be sufficient to escape, since each of the motors could be driven in such a way as to provide for rudimentary steering.

#1296: Injectorseat

I have wrenched my back several times getting a child into a childseat from outside a car.

Today’s invention is a childseat attachment which allows the seat to hang securely on the window frame of a car door. This lets a parent place their child in the seat without stooping and stretching.

The child is then belted into the seat and the door closed, allowing the seat to be detached, through the open window, through the very small distance onto the car seat.

The car door can then be reopened and the childseat attached to the car seat via the main belt in the usual way.

#1295: LandingSight

I am paranoid about the safety performance of commercial airlines (despite their being statistically safer to travel with than driving to the airport).

If there is some kind of an emergency landing required, I’d really rather not have to rely on the pilot peering out the window in the hope of making a splashdown on a calm Hudson River.

Today’s invention is to provide pilots in an emergency situation with a visual display (based eg on Google Earth) which shows the real-time best landing site (taking into account fuel load, engine conditions, terrain flatness, population density and control systems integrity).

Flying over land, this would provide a moment-to-moment visualisation of where to put down.

In a real emergency, where flight crew were unconscious, this map could talk to the autopilot landing program and increase the chances of getting down in one piece. In a real disaster, it might help the plane to crash with minimal damage on the ground.

#1294: LiverGivers

Today’s invention links two of my pet themes, motorcycles and organ donation.

It takes the form of fabric badges in the shape of icon-ified body organs which can be attached prominently to a Motorcyclist’s leathers.

You can only wear badges corresponding to organs you have signed up to donate, in the event of a fatal road accident (corneas on one’s helmet, a liver badge on the torso). This might give some small pause for thought, when cranked over in a 70 MPH corner.

These would appeal to the bravado instinct of bikers, having something of the quality of medals, as well as helping to integrate them into societies where they are seen as a threatening sub-culture (ie Surrey).

#1293: BikeBubble

Another one I can’t seem to find in the great book of patents granted…

Today’s invention is a transparent, inflatable weather cover for a motorcycle (or other small, open vehicle (as a former winter biker, I remember how cold you can become, long before the conditions get too icy to ride).

This would take the form of a collection of connected bladders made of paddling pool material and wrapped around the bike (with a zipped access port for the rider to get on board). There would be a plexiglass screen at the front, attached to the bike, just for better forward visibility.

The cover would be inflated (hard enough to avoid buffeting at speed) by a small, motor-driven air pump (which could be used for the tyres as well). There might be vents at the front, for an air cooled engine, but it would work better as a cover-all for oil cooled machines.

When the bad weather abates, the pump would be run in reverse to ‘vacuum-pack’ the bladders tightly against the machine.

#1280: FramePipe

Motorcycle exhausts are never really an attractive feature of any machine.

Today’s invention is to use the frame of a bike as a conduit for exhaust flow from the engine. This would work particularly well in those machines with large-section box frames (into which various filters might easily be fitted, without significantly increasing ‘back-pressure’ on the engine).

There would be an outlet from the frame, somewhere at the rear of the machine.

This would also lessen the weight of a bike (even if some local strengthening were required and a silencer attached to the exit).

#1272: PedalPad

A friend of mine recently cycled 81 miles in a race. The vibration through the seat was so prolonged and intense that he was doubtful about fathering any additional children (for an hour or so post-race, anyway).

Bicycle saddle designers have attempted to deal with this problem by creating all sorts of slots in seats, gel packs etc.

Instead, today’s invention takes the form of a frontal pelvis pad which a rider straps to himself before getting on a bike with no saddle at all. The pad is held in place using a strap under the buttocks, but nothing goes near one’s pudendum.

The pad has a stub rigidly attached which engages with a slot on an upwardly-curved crossbar. This allows a cyclist to stand up on the pedals as usual but when later he wants to sit down, his weight is instead supported by leaning forwards and down on the pad (as well as some tension in the strap).

If the cycle crashes, the stub disconnects from the slot just as his feet disconnect from the pedals.

#1271: TiltTurn

I’m sick of hearing how the g forces on racing drivers require them to spend six hours lifting weights with their necks every day before selling some more after-shave and watches (and that they still have to strap their helmets to the vehicles during races, just to get around corners).

Today’s invention is a gimbaled driver’s seat which rotates during high speed cornering, so that a driver’s body is more closely aligned with the direction of centripetal acceleration, thus lessening any asymmetrical stresses and allowing safer cornering.

#1269: BitStop

Thinking about electric vehicles and mechanisms for swapping batteries, the idea took off in my head that existing methods of supplying fuels to vehicles are fairly primitive.

Instead of pumping petroleum-type fuel as a continuous stream, why not provide it in discrete units?

Today’s invention is a vending machine for standard-sized jerrycans of fuel. Users can find these located on the edge of town. They roll up, exchange a used can for a new one using their credit card inserted in a slot in the machine. (If their current can isn’t quite empty, they get a credit for the weighed remains, which are automatically pooled within in the machine to fill other cans. These amounts eventually amount to a whole ‘free’ unit of fuel).

The can is then stabbed into a connector on board their vehicle. The refuelling time could be under one minute. Once a week, say, a van arrives and replaces a whole machine with one full of new cans.

This has the added benefit that the fuel is kept sealed away from people. It’s also available in smaller, safer amounts, supported by many fewer staff, more locally and with less high-street queueing/disruption.