Inventions free: antiaquaplanning, jet brakes, may be more

Inventions free: antiaquaplanning, jet brakes, may be more

Author
Discussion

Hugo a Gogo

23,378 posts

233 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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my invention: powerful 'laser beam whiskers' that would dry water off the road ahead of the wheels

Watchman

6,391 posts

245 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Spiral escalators. I've been mulling this one over for about 30 years now.

MitchT

15,843 posts

209 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I've had a couple ...
  • Whiskers, like cats' whiskers, that tell you if a gap is wide enough to drive through.
  • A periscope that enables the driver of a car to see over an SUV or MPV parked next to them when trying to exit a parking space safely.

fatbutt

2,643 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Bennet said:
Anyway. Here's my mad, unworkable car invention: Laser Whiskers

If you're an old woman or nervous driver, and you're sat looking at a gap in the traffic but you can't decide whether or not your car will fit through the gap, you press a button on your dashboard which illuminates two forward facing laser pens that are gaffa taped to your wing mirrors, pointing slightly downward. If you can see the laser spot on the obstruction, you can't fit through the gap. If, instead, you can see two laser spots on the ground on the far side of the obstruction - floor it. Your car fits through fine.

As a bonus. It would also look awesome in fog.
Not a bad idea but its very difficult to find lasers of sufficient power to be useful that will pass safety and operational tests. Think about all the problems aircraft are having with laser pointers

can't remember

1,078 posts

128 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Hugo a Gogo said:
my invention: powerful 'laser beam whiskers' that would dry water off the road ahead of the wheels
If you make them really powerful they will not only dry the road but also widen a potentially tight gap rather than just warning you it's too narrow to fit through.

fatbutt

2,643 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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To the OP, keep working on the ideas though. A number of years ago I sketched up airbrakes on cars that disrupted airflow enough to give additional braking and was told by a close car nut mate of mine that they'd never be allowed because if they failed you'd have an instant reduction in braking. Made sense, so I dropped it. Tell that now to McLaren, etc.

I came up with a 'dashcam' back in 1995 that continually recorded on NVRAM chips from a position behind the mirror so in the event of a crash you'd have the last 10 seconds or so before the system turned off (triggered by the airbag sensors). Couldn't afford the £50 to get it registered at the patent office. How many dashcams are out there now?

And electrically assisted turbos back in the early 2000's.

And...

And.

The point is, keep going. Register the ideas somewhere. Some ideas will be daft. Some ideas won't be. And the odd one or two will be gold. There will always be more people telling you no or that its not worthy than telling you to go for it.

I now register all my (decent) ideas and the odd few have been granted patents. Not made a penny out of any of them but who knows, one day...

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

126 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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fatbutt said:
To the OP, keep working on the ideas though. A number of years ago I sketched up airbrakes on cars that disrupted airflow enough to give additional braking and was told by a close car nut mate of mine that they'd never be allowed because if they failed you'd have an instant reduction in braking.
Not that much of a "classic car nut", was he?

Mercedes were using them for real at Le Mans in the mid 50s, to make up for the advantage the Jaguar disc brakes gave.


fatbutt

2,643 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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TooMany2cvs said:
Not that much of a "classic car nut", was he?

Mercedes were using them for real at Le Mans in the mid 50s, to make up for the advantage the Jaguar disc brakes gave.

Wow, I've never seen that before. Excellent smile

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I have an invention, i shall call REVDIS (Repetitive Exterior Visual Directional Intention System)

It consists of a small lever, mounted on a horizontal plane just behind the handwheel, and when pushed up or down by the driver, automatically causes large, bright orange electric lamps to flash on one the side of the car. Correctly operated, this enables a competent driver to signal his intended direction to other drivers when negotiating road features. This will bring a massive increase in road safety, and allow a great volume of traffic to flow smoothly around said road features.


In a further embodiment of the system, the lamps on BOTH sides of the vehicle could be set to flash simultaneous, and such signals would allow anyone to safety leave their car anywhere without causing an accident. Those same flashes also automatically nullify all and any parking laws , restrictions or and even common courtesy for the applicant......







Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 26th April 19:51

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I have an invention, i shall call REVDIS (Repetitive Exterior Visual Directional Intention System)

It consists of a small lever, mounted on a horizontal plane just behind the handwheel, and when pushed up or down by the driver, automatically causes large, bright orange electric lamps to flash on one the side of the car. Correctly operated, this enables a competent driver to signal his intended direction to other drivers when negotiating road features. This will bring a massive increase in road safety, and allow a great volume of traffic to flow smoothly around said road features.


In a further embodiment of the system, the lamps on BOTH sides of the vehicle could be set to flash simultaneous, and such signals would allow anyone to safety leave there car anywhere without causing an accident. Those same flashes also automatically nullify all and any parking laws , restrictions or and even common courtesy for the applicant......







Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 26th April 19:51

fatbutt

2,643 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Stuzza

138 posts

88 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Watchman said:
Spiral escalators. I've been mulling this one over for about 30 years now.
Here you go... http://gizmodo.com/feast-your-eyes-on-the-worlds-l...

anonymous-user

54 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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i invented a new type of walking stick, won an award never patented , could have , basically a company does it for you and you get a cut. It was a walking stick that always had contact with the ground, basically a restricted ball joint.

Car wise, I thought about a variable tyre width, basically as the speed progresses the diameter decreases allowing for a less rolling resistance. it works using a bunch of wires that push a rubberised section of tread in and out.

The Moose

22,841 posts

209 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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My idea was (motorcycle) tyres with heating elements throughout that keep the Tyres compound at its stickiest temperature when being ridden and heats up/cools down in the optimal manner for that compound.

The idea being a compound would be developed alongside that worked best a little hotter than you'd normally get on the road so people have optimum grip.

fatbutt

2,643 posts

264 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I always thought a cheap-to-manufacture mobile phone with two buttons on it (emergency services and specific call center) that has a sealed cheap battery and good for a few hours use would be a great thing to have in a sealed emergency bag. Sell it for something daft like £10.

Stick one of them in the emergency kit in the car and you're sorted. Now you have on-star which does the same thing but what about this approach without any sign-up fees and you can also put it in your emergency kit if you go hiking, skiing, etc.

Disposable safety smile

AER

1,142 posts

270 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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Max_Torque said:
I have an invention, i shall call REVDIS (Repetitive Exterior Visual Directional Intention System)
Are you going to fit your prototype to the i3 or the 335d?

tongue out

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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fatbutt said:
I always thought a cheap-to-manufacture mobile phone with two buttons on it (emergency services and specific call center) that has a sealed cheap battery and good for a few hours use would be a great thing to have in a sealed emergency bag. Sell it for something daft like £10.

Stick one of them in the emergency kit in the car and you're sorted. Now you have on-star which does the same thing but what about this approach without any sign-up fees and you can also put it in your emergency kit if you go hiking, skiing, etc.

Disposable safety smile
there is one, the SpareOne Plus Emergency Mobile Phone.

also I remember the paper mobile from 2001 , never came about.

kowalski655

14,631 posts

143 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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Max_Torque said:
I have an invention, i shall call REVDIS (Repetitive Exterior Visual Directional Intention System)

It consists of a small lever, mounted on a horizontal plane just behind the handwheel, and when pushed up or down by the driver, automatically causes large, bright orange electric lamps to flash on one the side of the car. Correctly operated, this enables a competent driver to signal his intended direction to other drivers when negotiating road features. This will bring a massive increase in road safety, and allow a great volume of traffic to flow smoothly around said road features.


In a further embodiment of the system, the lamps on BOTH sides of the vehicle could be set to flash simultaneous, and such signals would allow anyone to safety leave there car anywhere without causing an accident. Those same flashes also automatically nullify all and any parking laws , restrictions or and even common courtesy for the applicant......







Edited by Max_Torque on Wednesday 26th April 19:51
Audi/BMW drivers will be in a quandary about getting these fitted...they will want them for the latter use but never the former

OverSteery

3,606 posts

231 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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A Teaspoon placed in a glass on the back seat of your car makes a handy audible gauge for road bump severity.

should I apply for a patent?

fatbutt

2,643 posts

264 months

Thursday 27th April 2017
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The Spruce goose said:
there is one, the SpareOne Plus Emergency Mobile Phone.

also I remember the paper mobile from 2001 , never came about.
Cool, glad someone did it!

As for the paper phone, I've got one of these on my desk: https://www.seeedstudio.com/RePhone-Kit-Create-p-2...