May 07, 2009
At a Russian Nuclear Power Plant
(Inside)
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April 30, 2009
Post-it Note inventor watches Sticky Note Experiments
(More Inside)
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March 11, 2009
The untold story of how Friederich von Hayek caught inflation by the balls
This is a bull named ‘Inflation’ — named “Inflation” because the beast never stopped growing. There on the left is Nobel Prize winner Friedrich Hayek, who’s got Inflation by the balls. The picture was taken by Australian driller Ron Kitching after Mrs. Kitching objected to the idea of a picture of Hayek on top of Inflation. The picture was taken in 1976.
(From Taking Hayek Seriously)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Inventions & Discoveries Here
March 11, 2009 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 10, 2009
U.S. Patent 5,920,923
In July 1999, Penn Jillette was granted a patent for the "Jill-Jet", a hot-tub jet specially angled for a woman's pleasure.
He has credited Debbie Harry of Blondie for suggesting the idea, as the two of them were once in a hot-tub and Harry made a remark about changing the jets for a woman's pleasure. Jillette liked the idea enough to pursue patent application at the USPTO under the patent title "Hydro-therapeutic stimulator".
The abstract of the patent claims “A spa of a type including a tub for holding water and a user, in particular, a female user. The spa has a seat for supporting the female user in a seated position, a circulation pump having an inlet connected to the tub for drawing water from the tub, and an outlet connected to the tub for discharging the drawn water back to the tub. A discharge nozzle is located within the tub and connected to the outlet, mounted to the seat so that the discharged water from the circulation pump automatically aligns with and is directed to stimulation points of the female user when the female user sits in the seat". An article in the June 2006 issue of Playboy shed additional light on the invention.
Originally, it was to be called the "ClitJet", however he stated that "Jill-Jet" was more suitable because it included his name in the title
A Huge Depository of Unusual Inventions & Discoveries Here
January 10, 2009 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 18, 2008
TV Intros
The GP-219 Gauss Pistol is a self-contained, two-stage coil gun, a real electromagnetic pistol
Hundreds of TV Intros
Paul Di Filippo Mail art. (Thank you, Casey)
Nuclear sliderules & Weapons Effects Calculations, at The Oak Ridge Historical Instrumentation Museum. (From Dinosaurs and Robots)
Einstein by Asaf Hanuka
Everyone Deserves A Roof (EDAR) “provides shelter to the homeless in an innovative cost and usage effective way. The EDAR unit is a purpose-specific, special four-wheeled enclosed device, very roughly reminding one of a covered shopping cart”
A Huge Depository of Unusual Inventions & Discoveries Here
December 18, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 28, 2008
Glass drops & the pain index
The Schmidt Sting Pain Index, from mild irritation to "blinding, brilliant pain". (Like a Sonic Palpometer for insects)
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The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 19th century, to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls; others had canvas walls over a wooden frame. (From Pruned)
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Prince Rupert's Drop are a glass curiosity created by dripping hot molten glass into cold water. The glass cools into a tadpole-shaped droplet with a long, thin, tail. The water rapidly cools the molten glass on the outside of the drop, while the inner portion of the drop remains significantly hotter. When the glass on the inside eventually cools, it contracts inside the already-solid outer part
The modern candle wicks as marvel of engineering (YT)
(Pix above from Michellious)
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November 28, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 18, 2008
Gears and pulleys
A gear is a component within a transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel which has linkages ("teeth" or "cogs") that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage. Depending on their construction and arrangement, geared devices can transmit forces at different speeds, torques, or in a different direction, from the power source. Gears and pulleys
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Pencil Art by Ghost Patrol. (From Picdit)
A Huge Depository of Unusual Inventions & Discoveries Here
October 18, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 02, 2008
“Inventor” of email
Ray Tomlinson is a programmer who implemented an email system in 1971 on the ARPANet. Email had been previously sent on other networks such as AUTODIN. It was the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to the ARPAnet (previously, mail could only be sent to others who used the same computer). To achieve this, he used the @ sign to separate the user from their machine, which has been used in email addresses ever since.
The first email sent by him is not preserved and had content he describes as insignificant, something like "QWERTYUIOP". This is commonly misquoted as "The first e-mail was QWERTYUIOP".
At first, his email messaging system wasn't thought to be a big deal. When Tomlinson showed it to a colleague, he said "Don't tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on."
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Also, Shai Agassi’s Better Place, developing an electric car network in Israel, that may change the transportation infra-structure
Artist Scott Weaver has built a 9′ tall model of San Francisco using 100,000 toothpicks
Dee Williams really wanted to downsize. So Williams built herself a house so small, it would easily fit inside a suburban kitchen. She powers her three light bulbs with solar panels. The propane she cooks and heats her place with costs about $8 a month
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August 2, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 25, 2008
The Do Nothing Grinder
A Nothing Grinder, also known as a Do Nothing Grinder or a Bullshit grinder, is a toy produced by regional woodworkers in New England, and is often sold in gift shops.
The device is a classic example of adapting elliptical to linear motion along two axes. The base of the device is a square block of wood with two perpendicular routed grooves. Two shuttle pieces move back and forth in the grooves. The mitered grooves are made in such a way that the sliding shuttle parts are captive and cannot be removed. These shuttle pieces are attached by a pivot joint to the center and end of a lever. The unattached end of the lever has a handle which the operator turns in an elliptical motion. As the handle is turned, the shuttle parts slide past each other almost effortlessly, achieving absolutely no purpose other than entertaining the operator and tracing out a perfect elliptical path.
As a device other than a toy, the mechanism can in fact be used for something useful, such as drawing or routing ellipses, mainly in wood.
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May 25, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
April 20, 2008
Elevator problems
...The tenants of a large office building complained about the increasingly poor elevator service. A consulting firm specializing in elevator-related problems was employed to deal with the situation. It first established that average waiting time for elevators was too long. It then evaluated the possibilities of adding elevators, replacing existing elevators with faster ones, and introducing computer controls to improve utilization of elevators. For various reasons, none of these turned out to be satisfactory. The engineers declared the problem to be unsolvable.
When exposed to the problem, a young psychologist employed in the building's personnel department made a simple suggestion that dissolved the problem. Unlike the engineers who saw the service as too slow, he saw the problem as one deriving from the boredom of those waiting for an elevator. So he decided they should be given something to do. He suggested putting mirrors in the elevator lobbies to occupy those waiting by enabling them to look at themselves and others without appearing to do so. The mirrors were put up and complaints stopped. In fact, some of the previously complaining tenants congratulated management on improvement of the elevator service...
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What do with an outmoded technology? Turn it into entertainment. A plethora of services using photo booths have sprung up. In the UK, Boothnation offers customized booths for use at events
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Victorian Science Fiction: How To Make Rivets
Wallace and Gromit fan patents one of his inventions. A boy of five is thought to be the UK's youngest person to patent an invention after coming up with a labor-saving broom to help his father sweep leaves
Crab-Fu Steam Works
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April 20, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 13, 2008
Just a burger
For the third time in the last four years, the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers earned the top spot in the 21st annual national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest on Saturday (April 5) at the Purdue Armory.
This year's task was to assemble a hamburger consisting of no less than one precooked meat patty, two vegetables and two condiments, sandwiched between two bun halves. More than 1,500 people attended the event
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Unordinary Spines by photographer Gina Bailey. More locations
Re-post: The Statue of liberty formed by 18,000 soldiers (July 1918. Click on pix twice to biggify)
Thank you for your latest submission to the Institute, labeled "211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull." We have given this specimen a careful and detailed examination, and regret to inform you that we disagree with your theory that it represents "conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in Franklin County two million years ago."
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March 09, 2008
Why Extra Fingers?
Polydactyly, a congenital abnormality, is the presence of more than the normal number of fingers or toes. Although the condition is usually not life-threatening or even particularly debilitating, most people in Western societies have the extra digits removed surgically, usually while the child is about 1 year of age.
According to wikipedia, the condition is usually inherited as an autosomal dominant characteristic and has an incidence of 1 in every 500 live births although the frequency is higher in some groups (for example among the Amish).
It seems that the painter Raphael employed some models with Polydactyly and that at least in four instances, he unmistakably incorporated them into his paintings
13 People with Extra Body Parts
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March 9, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 25, 2008
Rockwell Automation's Retro Encabulator
Here at Rockwell Automation's world headquarters, research has been proceeding to develop a line of automation products that establishes new standards for quality, technological leadership and operating excellence. With customer success as our primary focus, work has been proceeding on the crudely conceived idea of an instrument that would not only provide inverse reactive current, for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters.
Such an instrument comprised of Dodge gears and bearings, Reliance Electric motors, Allen-Bradley controls, and all monitored by Rockwell Software is: Rockwell Automation's 'Retro-Encabulator'. Now, basically the only new principle involved is that instead of power being generated by the relative motion of conductors and fluxes, it's produced by the modial interaction of magneto-reluctance and capacitive diractance.
The original machine had a base-plate of pre-fabulated amulite, surmounted by a malleable logarithmic casing in such a way that the two spurving bearings were in a direct line with the panametric fan. The lineup consisted simply of six hydrocoptic marzelvanes, so fitted to the ambifacient lunar wane shaft that side fumbling was effectively prevented. The main winding was of the normal lotus-o-deltoid type placed in panendermic semi-boloid slots of the stator, every seventh conductor being connected by a non-reversible tremie pipe to the differential girdlespring on the 'up' end of the grammeters.
Moreover, whenever fluorescence score motion is required, it may also be employed in conjunction with a drawn reciprocation dingle arm, to reduce sinusoidal depleneration. The 'Retro-Encabulator' has now reached a high level of development, and it's being successfully used in the operation of milford-trenions.
It's available soon; wherever Rockwell Automation products are sold.
"The turbo-encabulator in industry" is the contribution of J.H. Quick, graduate member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London, England, and was first published in the Institution's Students' Quarterly Journal vol 15 no. 58 p. 22 in December 1944
More: Forum discussion on competing products
From Damon's Daemon
Also: Homemade 400mm binoscope science inventions
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February 25, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
February 20, 2008
The art of walking
Walking as art. (From Hanuman)
The anatomy of an illusion - and what it tells us about the visual system
The Vrolik Museum: 150 medical pictures; 400 anatomical drawings; 2,000 pharmacy slides and pharmacy teaching collection; 6 psychological apparatus; 530 items of experimental medical equipment; 10,000 anatomical, embryological and other specimens; 600 abnormalities; 10,000 oesteological specimens; 100 models; 7 plaster models. (From Athanasius Kircher Society)
Lessons in Calligraphy and Penmanship from The International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers and Teachers of Handwriting
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February 20, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 12, 2008
How good ideas can change the world
…"The cleverest idea I've seen in years"… The PlayPumps system produces clean waters in poor, rural communities in Africa. It is generated by a water pump and fueled by children playing on a merry-go-round. (From Guy Kawasaki)
Enigma-Like Ciphering Machine Patents
A real Clockwork Orange in action. (May take awhile to download)
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February 12, 2008 in Science & Inventions | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack