GazEtc

Mother-son team patents cup holder for crutches

Donna Ford from Malibu, California and her son Jack have received a new patent (8,146,614) on a cup holder for crutches. The invention was inspired by Ms. Ford's own difficulty carrying around her coffee after an injury.

The Inventor was on crutches for approximately 4 months and needed to carry coffee to the office and around the home while on crutches without the use of hands, without relying on others to carry items for her, and with minimal spillage. With assistance from her 8 year old son Jack, who wants to be an inventor when he grows up, the Inventor used packing tape on her first day on crutches to hold a plastic cup holder from her son Jack's seat in the family van, and modified the holder to use temporarily while on crutches.

The Fords' patent application, originally filed without an attorney, conveys a refreshing enthusiasm.

Jack and the Inventor are very excited about their first invention and Jack insisted that inventor file for a patent on the new invention created by her with her son Jack's assistance.

Eventually, the two inventors hired a patent attorney, who ensured that Jack signed the formal documents required to be named as an inventor.

The patent attorney also helped make the arguments that the Fords' patent should be granted even though theirs wasn't the world's first crutch-mounted cup-holder. But, being a patent attorney, he couldn't resist the urge to take out the fun part of the application -- Jack's excitement about the packing-tape prototype -- and replace it with unhelpful background information. 

Crutches are known in the prior art. Crutches are often used to aid the mobility of a person with a temporary disability, such as a broken leg.

New invention makes applause louder, easier

As athletes reach ever higher levels of performance, aided by new technologies in sporting equipment, the performance of spectators has not kept pace. When it comes to spectator participation, the most effective performance-enhancing technology is probably the vuvuzela,  a plastic trumpet so reviled it has been banned from many sporting venues. Two inventors from Maryland have developed a more sporting alternative: applause-enhancing gloves.

In their new patent (8,225,425), the inventors describe a phenomenon that may be unfamiliar to dedicated vuvuzeleros.   

[I]t is not uncommon for spectators to express their pleasure by clapping hands or applauding.

Even those who are already familiar with applause may not fully appreciate the athleticisim it requires. 

[R]epeated and intense applause can lead to fatigue and a reduction in the volume and intensity of subsequent applause. Vigorous hand clapping is difficult to maintain for an extended length of time. During the winter months, gloves or mittens mute the applause. In addition, the physiology of a spectator's hand affects the quality of the applause. A young child cannot generate an applause that is as loud as that of an adult. 

The patented gloves give voice to the applause of the tired, young, and bundled masses by fitting each palm with a hard, hollow dome (12). When the palms are clapped together, "a loud and distinct sound is generated which is greater in volume and of a higher pitch than that achievable by conventional hand clapping." 

The inventors note that the soft portion of the glove can be made of a "fabric that is unisex."

Nike "air" technology in a baseball glove

Nike received a patent this week on a new new baseball glove with the "air" technology made famous by its shoes. The patent (8,220,071) describes a glove with an L-shaped insert (170), which Nike calls the "palmar force attentuation system."

The insert can be filled with air, foam, or even sulfur hexafluoride, a gas so dense that you can float a boat on it (also, it tends not to leak).

The insert is specially shaped to "enhance flexibility and tactile sensation" while it protects against the "discomfort associated with impacts with balls."

Designed for pitchers, catchers, etc.

Patent reveals dark side of pigeon racing

Two inventors hope to put an end to cheating in Taiwan's great annual pigeon races. As described in their patent (8,128,470), which issued last week, the races offer a strong incentive for foul play. 

Pigeon racing competition is an annual great event in Taiwan and is famed for its huge purses offered to owners of the winner pigeons. This makes more than thirty-thousand pigeon owners participate in the contest every year . . . . It is thus not hard to expect how tough the competition would be. 

The patent is most notable for explaining what is already done to keep pigeon fanciers honest, which involves a mix of high tech and tradition. To begin with, each pigeon is tagged when it is just a chick.

A baby racing pigeon, generally on the sixth day of its birth, is allowed to wear a pigeon ring. . . . After wearing the pigeon ring for one or two months, each racing pigeon must be brought to the pigeon-racing association where the racing pigeon is registered and an electronic data file is established for the pigeon.

The data file for each pigeon includes "feather images," so you can't transfer the ring to another pigeon. Unless the pigeons look the same.

The pigeon ring itself has a wireless RFID tag, like runners wear. A "pigeon clock" registers the pigeon's arrival at the "pigeon camp," i.e. the finish line for that pigeon. A GPS system is built into the pigeon clock. This keeps owners from "illegally relocating the pigeon clock to another camp," marking an early finish time, and then carrying the birds "by vehicles through the highway" to another camp. 

The inventors want to keep this high-tech part of the pigeon racing system. They are more concerned about the traditional, low-tech portion.

[A] small piece of newspaper is cut in two such that one half is placed inside the numeric ring and the other half is put into files for records. . . . When a racing pigeon reaches the destination, the half piece of newspaper placed inside the numeric ring is taken out and compared with the other half piece stored in the records to see if the two pieces match, so as to prevent illegal substitution of racing pigeons. . . .

[T]he second mechanism requires much manual operation to carry out comparison and verification of the two half pieces of newspaper, it often causes cheats and unfair competition results.

The inventors' solution is to replace the newspaper system with two-dimensional bar codes, like QR codes. These codes are encrypted, so pigeon racers can't just go on the Web and get one, like I just did.

This is the QR code for this post.

Combining the wireless RFID tags with the paper-based QR code is "is equivalent to having two pigeon clock devices for double verification performances, thereby effectively preventing cheats in the pigeon racing competition," and probably reducing squabbles between owners.