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New Inventions Featured at the BIS
kjh1 writes "BBC News is running an article covering the British Invention Show (BIS) and some of the (quite useful) inventions that will be on display there this year."
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For example, "The Keyed Chain" was invented about 15 years ago here in the US. I know because I had one in my parents home when I grew up (they still have it). You reach your arm in the door with the key and unlock (and release) the chain.
I'm not trying to be cynical here, I'm just pointing it out.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Why can't people offer an HTML version fo their PDF/.doc documents? Really it's not too hard to click "Save as web page" instead of "Save".
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
One of his more entertaining ideas was "The Great Egg Race". Build a machine out of ordinary household junk. Any household junk you like. The only requirements are that it be able to carry a raw egg across a course without damaging or breaking the egg, and to do so in the least possible time. The only motive power allowed was a tiny elastic band.
The idea was simple, ingenious, and triggered several fairly successful (yet geeky) competitive tech shows and inspired The Power Game - a national contest between schools along similar lines.
(The first "Power Game" was a simple variation of the Egg Race, involving dropping coins along a race track at specific points. Missing the target was penalized heavily. The following year, competitors were asked to build near-frictionless mobile platforms that could carry a person over the longest possible distance around a complex course. Oh, and the platform had to be made of cardboard.)
To be honest, it matters little if the BIS, any geek television show, or any techie contest, ever shows anything much. What matters is whether they inspire people to come up with things that maybe are useful. Nobody could accuse the entrants of, say, the Great Egg Race or the Micromouse Championships of producing something fundamentally worthwhile. At the same time, I'm willing to bet that many more of those people who have built things that are useful have been inspired by demonstrations of how to do a great deal with very little, than those who are fed a diet of "nobody could do that, it's too complicated!" or "only big corporations can invent!"
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Although I do agree, it's annoying that its a PDF document in the first place. Either way, here you go:
British Invention Show FAQ PDF > HTML google cache
She's built like a steak house, but she handles like a bistro....
I'm not sure what the laws are like where you live (or where your hypothetical mouse problem is, anyway), but around these parts, catching animals and then releasing them elsewhere (on property you don't own, and presumably any property not contiguous with where they were caught) is illegal. I suppose if you owned the woods around your farm or business, you could still do it, but it would still be somewhat silly to just let them go on your property again.
Steven N. Severinghaus
The "expandable airport walkway" is found at smaller airports today. Santa Barbara, California, has several.
Tilting-ramp mousetraps have been around for years and are quite effective.
Retractable parking posts are widely used. Most are solid (there's now a big "security" market for the things) but there are lightweight ones that can be driven over.
Everything else listed has been found by someone else, so I won't rehash that.