wearable led throwies
The months have moved into double figures and it’s starting to be properly dark in the mornings as I cycle to work. I need new lights. My bike currently sports a grand total of 4 leds. Not enough.
I used to have a 3 led bike light sewn into the lower back of my cycling fleece. It worked pretty well, made sure I didn’t forget my lights. But it was a bit clunky, and people laughed at it.
Introducing GLOWIES - the clicky wearable mini led for cyclists.
A simple, single, red LED held on a plastic clip which ‘pin fastens’ through your waterproof / fleece / jersey. (I know this could break your waterproof goretex perfection, but hey, it’s just that last inch of fabric, all it’s protecting is your shorts!). A swappable watch battery provides the power. So far so simple. So what’s new?
I haven’t seen anything like this with a simple switching mechanism. Making them wireless would be too much hassle, and too expensive. Making little switches on them would be an amazingly fiddly process when you have January fingers, and would get gunked up. No - we need a simple, inexpensive, ‘do it with gloves on’ solution. And who better to provide this than our friend the magnet.
With every pack of glowies comes a trigger magnet. This goes on your keyring or something. You just wave the trigger behind the glowies to turn them on, and in front of them to turn them off. An internal switch is then … well … switched to the appropriate position. Simple. The real benefit is obviously that the switch itself is sealed inside the glowie, so can’t get gunked up.
Creative types could draw flowers with them. Rock gods could spell ‘MAIDEN’ across their back in sinister glowing red. But more importantly, I could run a nice row of red lights across my back to make sure cars see me on roundabouts and country roads. And they wouldn’t have a flash mode. I hate flash mode.
Popularity: 23% [?]
bike saddle post locator
I’ve been cycling a lot recently, requiring me to leave my bike locked up outside the office, outside shops, all over the place.
I’m always paranoid about theft, so I lock the bike. I pop off the front wheel and lock it too. Just to be safe. I don’t pop off my saddle as often as I should though. Usually I can’t be bothered. Not because it takes time to remove - but because it takes time to put back in exactly the right place. That doesn’t mean it won’t be stolen someday though.
Introducing the bike saddle post locator thingy.
I line up my saddle post using the line of grease and grime that builds up. But if I’m in a hurry it can be a smidge too high or low, and a smidge to the right or left. This can have a serious impact on certain parts of a chaps anatomy if he’s not careful.
The locator is a collar you attach to the post which fits exactly where you want your post to rest (the excellently drawn white thing above). You just push down until you feel the clunk - and drop the quick release. Job done. No brain input needed. You could do it in the dark. Easy.
That deals with the height. The rotational alignment is handled with a lug pointing downwards at the back of the collar. This fits between the fastening bars for your quick release. Angled to be a universal fitting, it simply drops between them to get everything aligned. Bingo.
I’ll need to prototype to see if the act of tightening the quick release scuppers this part of the plan. On a test with a big screwdriver and some duck tape it looked okay though.
I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find anything like this. The fabrication would be easy, it could be a cool color. It could weight almost nothing. It could have an LED in it, or a mount for a light. It MUST exist.
And while I could replace the quick release with a straight bolt, then I’d have even more hassle getting the bike into the back of the car than I do now. And yes I could just leave the bike rack on the car at all times, but that’s just not very green. Is it.
CC bike post pic thanks and credit to http://flickr.com/photos/rulerofheck/380537663/ (saved me washing my own).
Popularity: 24% [?]
stairbags
Staircases are dangerous places. Especially for small people. That’s why the world needs stairbags.
Used instead of ugly child stair gates – stairbags are small, elegant, beautifully designed pouches that you install at various points on your staircases. If they sense a child falling they expand, filling the space with fluffy clouds of synthetic inflated balloon joy for the clumsy child to relax in until they wait for adult assistance to arrive.
Advantages: You don’t need to open them every time you pass. You don’t need to remember to close them every five minutes. You don’t need 2 hands. You aren’t tempted to step over them, causing you to break a leg as you fall down the stairs. They look cool.
Why spoil your minimalist heaven with clunky gates? why measure and install with screwdrivers? Why open and close a gate every time you need the loo? – just peel the sticky back and place on wall.
They could be as unobtrusive as an air freshener. Actually, they would be less obtrusive because they wouldn’t smell.
The deluxe model could SMS your mobile when activated if you’re house is so big you can’t head the BANGSWOOOOSH deployment noise.
The deterrent factor could be accommodated by the airbag unit saying ‘No‘ as small people approached the stairs.
The standard model should probably play an alarm – loud enough to draw attention, not so load as to freak out fallen child. Perhaps an alarm AND some nursery rhymes in a soothing voice. Or just a voice saying ‘apple crumble’ repeatedly to distract the trapped small person.
Also available in stumbly elderly relative size!
They could also be used to catch burglars!
Waterproof models could even be fitted to showers for old people who may slip and smack their head on a tiled floor.
Add some LED lighting to these on a trigger from the motion sensor and you have a safer staircase for everyone in the dark, not just when falling. Cool red lasers could make you feel like sneaking downstairs for a biscuit in the middle of the night was a Mission Impossible.
Some airbag manufacturer has to be able to make money out of making these! The car market must be saturated, even cheap tiny Mazdas have about 9 in them.
Thanks for the CC image base for the diagram above to http://flickr.com/photos/kikisdad/25543650/
Popularity: 8% [?]
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About Steve
Steve invents things while travelling to work on the train. He sketches them in his moleskine notebooks. Instead of actually making them (and becoming a billionaire overnight) he posts them here for the good of mankind.
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