Patent Pending Blog - Patents and the History of Technology

Illusion Locket, a al "The Illusionist"

In the 2006 movie "The Illusionist",  starring Edward Norton as a turn of the century magician in Vienna, Austria,  Norton makes a special locket and gives it to his love.  The locket opens to display a picture, and may also be turned to form a heart shaped locket.  When the heart shaped locket opens, a different picture is displayed.   The functioning of the locket appeared for just a few seconds in the movie, and the scene was created by the use of two lockets and special effects.  The locket in the movie only opens when in the heart configuration.  That brief glimpse of a magical locket inspired lots of people to try to buy one, and inspired a number of craftsman to try to make a locket in the real world that worked in the same way.

Link to the locket as seen in the movie:

A short video of the locket in action:

Duplicating the action of the locket from the movie in the real world was actually a very difficult task, and the lockets made were all crude, and only partially functional.  An ebay search will turn up quite a few which "kind of" work, but not really.  That changed when Jim Anderson designed a locket that actually works similar to the magician's locket,or even better.  Pictures show its operation below. All these pictures are of the same locket. 

It uses tiny magnets that both repel and attract other tiny magnets, which cause the locket sections to float over certain positions, and snap into place in other positions.  It also uses an intricate ball socket that allows the locket to achieve the seemingly impossible, and required some intricate machining.

Jim sells these lockets at Illusion Lockets.  They are available in many types of wood and other materials.  They come with a small punch to punch out round portraits from prints. 

Pitotubes - Its Rocket Science for Your Packing

 

Alisa Caviness-Driscoll is the founder of AMD Travel Accessories, Inc. and the creator of Pitotubes. Alisa grew up living and sailing in the Caribbean and continued exploring the world with 15 years of discovery in the travel industry. Alisa's experience as a flight attendant fed her passion for travel and put her in direct contact with thousands of business and leisure travelers.

The Challenge

In her years of travel, Alisa has heard one common complaint from all of her globetrotting friends. Whether it's shampoo, lotion, or that pricey perfume, "the top came off and it got all over EVERYTHING!" Men and women on business or leisure travel have all had the experience of personal care products leaking in expensive bags and ruining valuables. It's no way to start, or end, a trip.

The Solution

Alisa's idea was simple...find a travel bottle that is airplane proof and capable of withstanding ALL the rigors of travel. After spending a year at cosmetic and personal care packaging tradeshows and countless hours at market research, Alisa realized that the product she was looking for didn't exist. And so the lifelong traveler's entrepreneurial journey began. With the help of the industry's finest engineers, Alisa created Pitotubes.

The Benefits

Pitotubes are sleek, luxury, airless travel bottles that transport personal care products with elegance and ease. Travelers of the world can now customize their shaving kits and cosmetic bags with our signature bottles. Simply transfer your personal care products into the Pitotubes and forget about searching for travel sizes or cleaning up after the big spill.Alisa says, "My energy and inspiration comes from inventing and enhancing products that all travelers of the world want and need." AMD Travel Accessories, Inc. was launched in 2004 and continues to develop new and exciting products for fellow travelers.

Corkscrewed and the Rodenator

There is a new reality show on the tv these days, called "Corkscrewed: the Wrath of Grapes".  In the show the two producers of the reality show "American Idol," Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick, buy a vinyard near Paso Robles California, and proceed to have everything go wrong with their plan to be vintners. Their grape contracts are cancelled, the heat kills their owls, and gophers start to take over the vinyard.  The rodent disaster is saved when an inventor from Idaho drives in to save the day.  That man is Ed Meyers, President of an Idaho company that sells a rodent control product called the Rodenator.

The producers feel a little sorry for the furry critters for a few minutes, then when they think of the $6 million they have  riding on the harvest, they are all for nuking the gophers, at which time Ed is happy to provide the pyrotechnics.  Ed is shown in three episodes of the show that I have seen, and solves at least one of their many problems.

The Rodenator is a portable device which mixes oxygen and propane, and sends a swirling mixture into the rodent burrows.  A spark from the device ignites the gases, and the borrows for up to 300 feet are blown up, instantly killing the gophers, ground squirrels, or other borrowing pest. The Rodenator website has more information about the device, including videos of the device in action.

Pool Cover Decking System

If you have a swimming pool, or know someone who does, you may have encountered this problem.  Powered pool covers on a roller are great for keeping debris out of the water, and to keep the water warm.  But they make one side of the pool just about unuseable.  The side that has the roller is unsupported its entire length, so it is springy, and the pool owners usually don't want you to sit on the edge because of its weakness.  Wouldn't it be nice if it could be made solid and strong enough to support people walking on the deck, sitting on the edge, and allowing that side to be used normally?  It would basically be a movable pool cover deck that offered full support, and allows you to enclose your pool cover.

A Ketchum, Idaho (home of the Sun Valley resort) structural engineer, Mike Bouiss, had an idea on how to fix that.  He built a deck that hides the pool cover, and is a rotating pool cover deck that is fully supported by a cantilevered lip, and flips open for access to the pool cover, roller, motor, and other equipment.  With the BB Deck, the edge of the pool is fully usable on the edge where that pool cover is stored, and one can walk on the rotating deck .  The deck can conceal the pool cover in a very aesthetic fashion, and provides a tray lid alternative in the form of a rotating walk on tray lid which can enclose your pool cover.  Photos and diagram are from Mike's web page, BBDeck.com.

Hamster Music

Cornell student Levi Lorenzo wanted to do a project about MIDI music technology,  so the project he came up with was to build a hamster controlled music generator.  The hamster controller uses 6 hamsters to control 3 rythmic tones.  One hamster controls the "rythmic qualities of the melodies", and the other controls the note sequence.  As the hamsters wander back and forth in their passages, the music created changes according to their position.  The music is actually not bad!

On Levi's web page, there are links to more information, sound recordings, and a video of the hamsters making music.

What I've Learned in Life

I've learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets.

I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just
jackasses.

I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.

I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.

I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.

I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty
things.

I've learned age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.

I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities or polititians.

I've learned that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one
of your kids did it.

I've learned that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.

I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the ass are permanent.

Swimming Pool Cover Innovation

If you have a swimming pool, or know someone who does, you may have encountered this problem.  Powered pool covers on a roller are great for keeping debris out of the water, and to keep the water warm.  But they make one side of the pool just about unuseable.  The side that has the roller is unsupported its entire length, so it is springy, and the pool owners usually don't want you to sit on the edge because of its weakness.  Wouldn't it be nice if it could be made solid and strong enough to support people walking on the deck, sitting on the edge, and allowing that side to be used normally? 

A Ketchum, Idaho (home of the Sun Valley resort) structural engineer, Mike Bouiss, had an idea on how to fix that.  He built a deck that is fully supported by a cantilevered lip, and flips open for access to the pool cover, roller, motor, and other equipment.  With the BB Deck, the edge of the pool is fully usable on the edge where that pool cover is stored.  Graphic and diagram are from Mike's web page, BBDeck.com.

Our Shrimp is Bigger Than Your Shrimp!

Idaho is still wild enough that once in a while a new species is found.  Last week, a new species of fairy shrimp was found in some dry lake beds that are seasonally full of a few inches of water.  This species of fairy shrimp is huge, as fairy shrimp go, measuring in at a whopping 3 inches. 

The playas, as these mud holes are called, are on military land, so the local idiots on their 4 wheelers and ATVs can't go tear them up, so that's good. 

I think I saw a movie where things like this were a foot long, and would clamp on your face and lay eggs in your stomach.

Courthouse Shootings

The recent court house shootings bring up the issue of how law enforcement officers, be they police, sheriffs, or bailiffs, can have a handgun, have instant access to it, but the bad guys can't access it.  Can these shootings be prevented?  And how do you prevent such tragedies? There is an answer, and it is made by a Boise company, Tactical Design Labs, the subject of a recent post on this blog.  Mike Lowe of TDL has designed a security holster that allows such speedy access that it can be used in quick draw competition.  At the same time, the bad guy just can't get it out of a holster.  After seeing the way this holster works, I can say that it is the answer for preventing court house shootings.

I recently talked to a police officer who had used it.  He was left handed, and had tried the right handed version at a demonstration.  He said he could draw a handgun faster from the TDL holster with his weaker hand, his right, than other officers could draw their handgun out of competing security holsters with their stronger hand.  It allows absolutely unimpeded access to the gun, and provides absolute prevention of access by bad guys.

There are a number of security holsters on the market, but TDL's is the only one that works!  Every Sheriff, Police Officer, Bailiff, MP, SWAT team, special forces, and military handgun carrier should have one. 

Automatic Trolling Device

This is a device a client of mine has developed. He does a lot of lake fishing from boats, and has very good luck in catching nice fish. He has developed a trolling device that helps to do that. You put your rod and reel in the rod holder, and as the boat slowly plies the lake, the trolling device moves the rod back and forth, with pauses settable by the user. This back and forth movement , combined with the motion of the boat, causes the fishing lure to have an erratic, stop and go, slow and fast motion. The fish can't resist it!!

The inventor is in the process of licensing the invention, and if you want to manufacture or sell this device, contact me for the inventor's number.