IDEA: tamper proof mail self destructive envelope - Method 1

Hi,
a tamper proof bag or envelop usually comprise of a resistant material with the flap or opening permanently closed [1]. Some mechanism is in place to validate that the purpose opening is permanently stained upon opening. However, this will not protect the content from being accessed.

My idea is to use a self destructive envelope that will render the document unusable when being accessed without authorisation. Of course an exothermic reaction of any kind, i.e. fire -- although effective -- is too dangerous and illegal for posting. However, some material decompose and change when exposed to water rapidly. One mechanism is to use washable ink which immediately runs when exposed to water. The envelope will detect tampering and releases an ink destructive agent using a rapid distribution system such as a slightly pressured water pouch.

To detect the penetration of the envelop the envelop material has woven or printed strands of an electrical conductor in horizontal and vertical strips seperated by a thin insulator. When either of these layer is torn the electrical properties ( resistance, capacity or inductivity ) change and can be detected.

A simple printed-on number pad can be used to disarm the mechanism upon receiving of the item. Then the envelope can be unsealed without impacting the ink. Unfortuntely, the ink will destroy over time hence the document needs to be treated on the receiving side to permanently fix.





[1] United States Patent 3895755, http://www.wikipatents.com/3895755.html

IDEA: electric potato peeler

Hi,

the mind idle as it is during potato peeling, I wondered how to improve on the potato peeler. The first draft is a machine in this crude diagram.



In my first draft, the idea is inspired by an electric beard razor. Unlike the razor which moves whilst the face is kept still this device moves the potato with the devices held firmly in one hand.

There are three parts to this idea. The cylindrical tube like frame allowing the potato to be pushed against by hand. A set of several spring mounted cylindrical blades pushed against the potato to perform the peeling function. The third part are the spring mounted sprocket like wheels that roll the potato in the hand.

The user would hold the potato lightly in the cusp pushed against the tube end. The spring mounted sprocket will push the potato along and the spring mounted blade cylinders perform the cutting of the skin. With a bit of practice I believe on can move the potato so that it gets shaven evenly all around.

Unfortunately, just like the manual peeler small folds and small concave dents will not be processed very cleanly either. But I can imaging that given the right speed and traction of the sprocket the peeling can be done quite fast.

IDEA: road surface that assists regenerative breaking

Hi,
the car industry has worked on the regenerative break idea for a very long time [1]. And this work does take fruition in some vehicles now. Surely it will be soon mainstream for modern cars.

However, in this brief, I am considering the idea of assisted regenerative breaking through the use of the road surface. The general approach is likely to collect the momentum of the vehicle through the surface material and store it somehow. The stored energy can be used to accelerate the car again. The most suitable location for this are controlled stop points such as traffic signals, exit of motorways and intersections.

When vehicles are required to decelerate, the road should absorb the energy. This can be achieved through displacement of a liquid perhaps embedded oil pockets or water bellows. The displacement pressure can be used to generate electricity. Once the car needs to accelerate the road surface need to be firm and flat.

Another more direct option is to use a lever mechanism to use the momentum of the car to lift itself ready to use its own weight for the subsequent acceleration. Vehicles might climb a suitable raised ramp to raise up. A sea-saw movement of the ramp will then accelerate the vehicle again as it appears to move downhill.

Interesting with this general approach is that the driver is expect to perform either deceleration or even a full stop rapidly in order to transfer most of the energy or does not use the break at all. The system needs to be responsible for gradually slowing down a vehicle instead of the vehicle itself. This is a considerable advantage when imposing a stop at a red light.


[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_brake

REQUEST: car stereo with instant replay facility

Hi,
for several years now there were requests for an instant replay [1][2] and some claims of a product that has such a function [3]. Commuting with the car, I often hear something on the radio but given traffic and other interruptions I miss it. Traffic news being the most important one.

Considering you can now get a record and replay facility in Greeting Cards and childrens toys the chip set should be cheap enough to make it into the mainstream radio. I guess that with hardware costs in bulk should be minimal, someone gave the circuitry away for free even back in 2007 [4]. Even radios that have an MP3 player built in playing from your handy USB stick or MP3 player don't offer any functionality of replaying radio broadcasts for the last 5 minutes.

I really wonder why the car industry is not keen on this ? Maybe it is the copyright -- which don't look very expensive to me in the first instance for the USA [5]. I don't read the fine print though it does specifically exclude non music storage -- ideal for recording traffic news.

Will it ever happen ?

[2] http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/TiVo_20Car_20Radio
[3] http://www.spacenewsfeed.co.uk/2005/9_1_2005/9January2005_57.html
[4] http://www.scary-terry.com/dsr/dsr.htm
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Home_Recording_Act

REQUEST: computer mouse with squeese control

Hi,
usually I am "at one" with my mouse. The mouse moves via the familiar movement of my hand to the position required. Since a few years mice have now a scroll button which help endlessly when scrolling up and down a page "underneath" the mouse.

Depending on my mood and the stress or excitement, however, the mouse pointer sometimes feels too slow when flicking through the pages. Eventually, I reduce the mouse resolution to be faster. Then I notice that the mouse tends to overshoots the target position or pages too fast.



My request is to install a pressure pad on the side of the mouse that works as a speed dial. Harder squeeze translates into a lower resolution of the mouse pointer and thus faster movement. Holding it lighter translates into a higher resolution of the mouse pointer and more precise movement. Apple has gone some ways with this mouse [1] but their 'squeeze' button is a button rather than a speed dial.

An interesting variation is to use the downward pressure of the hand palm on the mouse for the same purpose. Low pressure for low resolution and high pressure for high resolution.

[1] http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=Apple+Mouse&hl=en

IDEA: toaster with butter well for the perfect coverage

Hi,
as it is Sunday - here is my 'decadent' idea. According to a superficial search in google there is no toaster that also does apply the butter after the toast cycle is done. As this appears to be the most common of spreads and traditionally applied manually with the knife. This could be a chrismas present for those who do have everything else -- or just hate to break the toast applying cold butter.

Technically, the butter flows almost at room temperature. Therefore the application of a thin layer of butter can be done fairly easy. So leaving with some options, such as roll on, spray on or even a fully flowing well.

Rolling on can be tricky being that toast warps under the heat. A well to run the toast through does apply too much butter for me. Spraying butter appears to be a good way. Practically, I would think a double height toaster would do the trick. The bread enters a semi-conventional four slice toaster. On finishing the toast cycle it will drop out on the bottom. Whilst dropping through it will fall through a blade of butter spray.

The butter is heated at the same time as the toast flowing into a reservoir. Then gas is applied (maybe from a carbonate gas cartridge or generated using a mini compressor or various other means) to the butter propelling it onto the toast. To control the amount of butter you could finely adjust the butter pressure or let it fall through several times.

Cleaning is likely be done using some kitchen towels strategically mounted to catch the excess or some baking paper box.

Is it healthy ? Maybe we need less butter with the spray on as it would be distributed very thinly. But, I readily admit, this is a more decadent idea of doing toast the posh 'Sunday' style. Health is less of my motivation -- otherwise I wouldn't use butter.

Applying low fat cream cheese likely requires a completely different approach. But that is the topic of another 'decadent' post.

REQUEST: trip statistics in cars

Hi,
I like to know what the per gallon statistics are for my car. Just yesterday, filling up my car at the petrol station, I realised that the car manufacturers missed a trick with the trip mileage counter. Once the car is filled up I always wonder how I did driving wise. And not just from the current trip but from my last trip(s) as well -- since I usually reset the counter after filling up.

It doesn't take much computational power away from the systems to store the statistics. It also does only require a simple user interface -- simply displaying the mpg number at the same time as the mileage would do. Ticking once on the reset button goes back, keeping it down for 10 seconds resets the current counter.

The only slightly expensive affair is to measure the volume in the petrol tank more accurate. That can be done with weight sensors on the tank or some electronic capacitance [1] sensors. I would think the standard float based gauge will not be accurate enough.

There is a fairly straight forward thing to do. I wonder why there is no pressure on the car manufacturer to offer these kinds of statistics if they can help us to drive more consciously.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_gauge