What ideas or inventions have you made up?

Page 2 of 3 [ 45 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

smudge
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Sep 2006
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,716
Location: Moved on

15 Aug 2021, 5:21 am

Wow, you guys are really clever!


_________________
I've left WP.


ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,381

15 Aug 2021, 8:50 am

Just remembered the humane mouse trap I made in 1991. Inverted bread bin propped slightly open at one side by a short stick, thread tied to stick, other end of thread wrapped round the shaft of a small battery-driven electric motor, 2 pieces of cardboard covered in tinfoil sandwiched together to form a pressure-operated switch as a floor under bread bin. Bait under bread bin. Mouse goes into bread bin to get the bait, weight triggers switch, motor turns on, winds up thread, pulls stick away, bread bin falls shut. That worked, a commercially-made humane trap didn't.

Also a time-operated lock for a safe-box, to control my use of tobacco. I stored my tobacco in it and set the timer for whatever time I'd decided I should allow myself a cigarette. Going cold turkey had failed every time, but controlling my tobacco consumption by delaying the time I started smoking every day did work, because the demand it made of me was more emotionally acceptable. Of course theoretically I could have just have gone out and bought more tobacco at any time, but as the demand not to was more reasonable than going cold turkey, I didn't succumb to that temptation. Rather a light smoker than a heavy smoker.



skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,295
Location: my own little world

15 Aug 2021, 7:04 pm

When I was in the fifth grade in the mid seventies, we had a school assignment where we had to write about inventions we could think of for the future. In that assignment I actually invented the EZPass concept. It's a shame that I could not have been the one who actually created the system we use now.


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 59,887
Location: Stendec

15 Aug 2021, 7:43 pm

skibum wrote:
When I was in the fifth grade in the mid seventies, we had a school assignment where we had to write about inventions we could think of for the future. In that assignment I actually invented the EZPass concept. It's a shame that I could not have been the one who actually created the system we use now.
The “EZPass” concept was based on the Identification, Friend or Foe (IFF) system - a radar-based identification system designed for command and control. It uses a transponder that listens for an interrogation signal and then sends a response that identifies the broadcaster. It enables military and civilian air traffic control interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the interrogator. IFF may be used by both military and civilian aircraft. IFF was first developed during World War II, with the arrival of radar, and several friendly fire incidents.

Are you saying you are a WWII veteran, as well?


_________________
 
No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.


Dox47
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jan 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,577
Location: Seattle-ish

15 Aug 2021, 9:28 pm

I had a bunch in my younger days that I was never able to make happen on my own, that I later saw done by other people. The one that makes me laugh is those stupid shoes with the roller skate that pops out of the heel that were popular some years ago, I'd been tinkering with something like that back in grade school cause I had these really clunky clamp on rollerblades, and had the idea to make them fold into a normal shoe with a thick sole. Mine were a little different in that I was trying to make a four wheeled roller blade fold like a butterfly when not in use, but same basic idea.

The other one from around that time was electro-pneumatic paintball guns. I had a bunch of different models that I tinkered with, including an extremely mechanically complicated one called an AutoCocker (very original name) that used a 3 way valve attached to the trigger bar to reroute CO2 through a piston that operated the bolt of the gun; my idea was to replace all that with an electronic solenoid and fire control chip in the pistol grip, along with the battery to power it, which would also allow electronic tuning of the firing rate and trigger pull of the gun. Maybe two years later a model called the Angel came out that did exactly that, though I think their design was a bit different, I think they used an electronic valve control rather than running the entire gun off an electric solenoid.

Later, when I got into real guns, I learned that various people in the gun business had been experimenting with electronic fire control for some time, but the ATF is terrified of allowing it out into the open market because it makes converting a gun to fully automatic trivial and undetectable, and so it's never really been developed. I've actually seen a kludged together AR15 with paintball gun parts crammed into where the fire control group normally would be that the ATF confiscated from someone, so teenaged me's idea is still out there getting some use, lol.


_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson


IsabellaLinton
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Nov 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 68,652
Location: Chez Quis

15 Aug 2021, 9:48 pm

skibum wrote:
When I was in the fifth grade in the mid seventies, we had a school assignment where we had to write about inventions we could think of for the future. In that assignment I actually invented the EZPass concept. It's a shame that I could not have been the one who actually created the system we use now.


I had the same assignment in the early 80s. I invented earmuffs that could play music without any cords, wires, or cassette tapes. The teacher said it was too unbelievable. :P


_________________
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.


Texasmoneyman300
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2021
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,317
Location: Texas

16 Aug 2021, 1:51 am

I came up with a idea to peg currency to the oil to gold ratio.I dont know how that would actually work.



ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,381

16 Aug 2021, 10:14 am

I thought I'd had an original idea when I dreamed up the notion of using labour hours as the unit of currency, but apparently it had already been done. Don't know why they abandoned it.



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 59,887
Location: Stendec

16 Aug 2021, 10:24 am

ToughDiamond wrote:
I thought I'd had an original idea when I dreamed up the notion of using labour hours as the unit of currency, but apparently it had already been done. Don't know why they abandoned it.
Because it did not work.

I remember a "Sweat-Equity" movement in Chicago a few decades ago.  It was started by contractors who would swap (for example) a new roof for a full copper re-pipe, or a new lawn irrigation system in exchange for re-wiring a garage.

It started to fall apart when some people decided that an astrological chart had the same labor-equivalent as a diesel engine overhaul, or giving feng-shui advice had the same labor-equivalent as remodeling a kitchen.


_________________
 
No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.


ToughDiamond
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Sep 2008
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,381

16 Aug 2021, 11:16 am

Fnord wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
I thought I'd had an original idea when I dreamed up the notion of using labour hours as the unit of currency, but apparently it had already been done. Don't know why they abandoned it.
Because it did not work.

I remember a "Sweat-Equity" movement in Chicago a few decades ago.  It was started by contractors who would swap (for example) a new roof for a full copper re-pipe, or a new lawn irrigation system in exchange for re-wiring a garage.

It started to fall apart when some people decided that an astrological chart had the same labor-equivalent as a diesel engine overhaul, or giving feng-shui advice had the same labor-equivalent as remodeling a kitchen.

Ah, the use-value factor. That affects what people are prepared to pay for a product. So I guess a pure labour-value system of pricing can't work in a free market - there would always be sellers who get away with overcharging, and sellers who must either undercharge or barely make any sales at all. So "all" I need to do is to figure out what to put in place of the free market, and I'll have another invention to add to my achievements 8)



JustFoundHere
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 Jan 2018
Age: 60
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,142
Location: California

16 Aug 2021, 4:09 pm

Small mundane inventions, ideas, and practices are also important.

I had cleaned-out my storage-spaces of stale dry foods, and immediately wanted to keep these foods from being added to the landfill.

As these foods are dry organic goods, they can be easily incorporated for composting- that is added to the green bin. Such foods include Granola-like bars, crackers, cookies, rice, and the one non-food item, wine-corks.

I've also repurposed (in a way) stale bread, and old cheese. I had once lived in a place on a septic system, and got into the practice of periodically adding organic, yeast containing foods like bread, and non-longer wanted alcoholic beverages into the garbage disposal in the kitchen sink drain. Adding enzyme-ladden organics (including commercially available enzymes) helps septic system functioning. I've maintained this practice; without applying commercially available enzymes.

Another practice, which seems almost comical:

I've cleaned-out piles of old books, and found that the library has surpluses of certain types of donated books, and hence prefers not to accept donations of such books.

Before tearing-off the book covers, and placing books into the recycling bins, I locate old-book pages that are blank. I pull out the blank pages and repurpose (even blank pages with print on one side) for not just scratch paper, but sometimes old book pages (with the correct paper sizes) that can be applied to printer paper.

"Yes, yes, I know that printer paper made from recycled paper is cheap and available enough!"

Again, a comical practice which can be applied within one's home, makes environmentally friendly (however small) contributions, and may yield a laugh or two is hard to pass-up!

Are similar to above mentioned inventions, ideas, practices, etc. etc. more often than not ideas stemming from the Autism Spectrum?



Dear_one
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Feb 2008
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,717
Location: Where the Great Plains meet the Northern Pines

16 Aug 2021, 4:17 pm

I saw a problem with USB memory accessories for a laptop. If the drive was the usual "thumb" size, it was in danger of being knocked off when in use. If it was the minimum size, it's protective cap was so small it was hard to find, and the whole assembly was slower to find in a pocket, etc. So, I made one cap the size of a normal thumb drive that holds three small ones, one each for work, home, and loan.
b



Fnord
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2008
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 59,887
Location: Stendec

16 Aug 2021, 4:22 pm

Dear_one wrote:
I saw a problem with USB memory accessories for a laptop. If the drive was the usual "thumb" size, it was in danger of being knocked off when in use. If it was the minimum size, it's protective cap was so small it was hard to find, and the whole assembly was slower to find in a pocket, etc. So, I made one cap the size of a normal thumb drive that holds three small ones, one each for work, home, and loan.
b
Just for fun, I constructed a plastic cap about 3cm long to hold an an HP v221W 32GB thumb drive (image below).  I laugh whenever someone tries to plug the cap into a USB socket.

Image


_________________
 
No love for Hamas, Hezbollah, Iranian Leadership, Islamic Jihad, other Islamic terrorist groups, OR their supporters and sympathizers.


Texasmoneyman300
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Feb 2021
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,317
Location: Texas

16 Aug 2021, 5:06 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
I thought I'd had an original idea when I dreamed up the notion of using labour hours as the unit of currency, but apparently it had already been done. Don't know why they abandoned it.

ya i think i may of have read about that being implemented somewhere in some point in history possibly.Although i dont know how that work in the modern area of outsourcing,globalization,automation,robots and artifical intelligence which are all resulting in wage stagnation in real terms.I dont know if technically a labor backed currency would be a fiat currency or not though.I heard that the idea of that labor backed money was to help everyone have a job.



Mountain Goat
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

16 Aug 2021, 5:11 pm

I have invented a few things. Simple couplings.


_________________
.


Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

16 Aug 2021, 7:52 pm

Humane substances that deters pests but doesn't kill or harm pests. It probably already exists, but with the way so many people use inhumane traps and guns to kill pests makes me wonder if humane pest detergent does exist. Inhumane traps and poison should be made illegal and should not be sold at any store, and effective pest detergents should be invented instead. I believe that every creature on this planet has just as much right as humans to live, and laws against killing any animals, even insects, should be stricter.


_________________
Female