[Closed] Dragons Den - Tell us about your inventions

servo assisted rim brakes - using the fact the the pads are pulled round the wheel to pull them harder onto the rim.

Why not have pedals, coated with a wrap of stealth rubber, and then shoes with small pins in them, much like a golfing shoe......

Try walking on rocky ground with them.

TJ, sure that's been done. I believe they were found to be extremely 'grabby'

APF

I would think so apf

Why not have pedals, coated with a wrap of stealth rubber, and then shoes with small pins in them, much like a golfing shoe......

Try walking on rocky ground with them.

A little lever that retracts the pins....
See, simple. I shall sit and await the call from Shimano and 5.10 etc...

I don't know any mountain biker that wouldn't want to carry around a chainsaw, if only camelbak did a bag big enough. But pine no more, my fellow riders who also need to chop down trees for emergency north shore and other such japery, for the Phone chainsaw is coming soon!

I can't help thinking that the friction heat that is caused by braking could be used for the warming of sausage rolls somehow. Buggered if I can think of a way to do it though.

When I was at school I invented an automatic gravy/porridge stirrer in CDT class (Craft design & technology).

It was essentially a pan lid with a motor attached to the top, with a hole drilled through attached to a stiring implement. I got an A so was chuffed at the time, dont know where it is now though.

If I could only design something for the rear end of my hardtail that would make it both more comfortable and allow me to ride straight through rock gardens without having to rely on any skill whatsoever. 😉

Not MTB related, but my DD idea would be high quality baked beans - along the lines of Covent Garden Soup, but maybe even a bit more upmarket. So you could serve them at a dinner party with no hint of embarrassment.

I 'invented' washing powder tablets a good two years before they were released.

I invented common sense, prudence and confidentiality and as such would un-invent and expose my inventions to potential imitators by simply answering a question such as yours on a very popular internet based forum.

For that reason, I'm out 😆

I came up with an idea (not bike related) using air knives to dry your hands, rather than those stupid hot air driers; it was while I was on industrial placement at a pet food factory & was working on a project to improve the drying of cans.

After graduating I kept thinking about buying a 2nd hand hand drier and ripping it to bits to get the blower parts I needed to make a trial.
Never got round to it and then one day opened the paper to see that Dyson had done pretty much exactly what I had been thinking of doing for about 10 years, but never getting round to.

I was a bit gutted by that - should have had more self belief & just got on with it!

When I was about 10 and I'd just learnt about how a gearbox and a clutch works, I thought to myself, why not have 2 clutches and two gearbox's, odd and even gears split between the 2, to allow ultrafast seamless shifting......
Being about 10 meant that I didn't have the R&D facilities that the VAG group does and so the idea only made it as far as a crudely drawn biro sketch on an A4 piece of paper.
Fast forward 15 years or so and I see one of the audi design engineers had as much vision as my 10 year old self. 🙂

TandemJeremy - Member
servo assisted rim brakes - using the fact the the pads are pulled round the wheel to pull them harder onto the rim.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/suntour-self-energising-se-cantilever-brakes-rear-prod68/

I have an idea for something that will be very useful but can’t afford to get it prototyped. If anybody works in plastic injection moulding and wants to share in the profits my e-mail is in my profile.

Me and some colleagues at work have come up with an idea that is nearing the end of the patent process at the moment - critically, we also have a licensing agreement with a large multi-national in place to exploit it, so there will be cash at the end of it. Not large pots of money, but it means the companyy won't have to worry too much about income levels for many years to come...... so I can carry on surfing here and call it 'work' 😉

Can't say any more than that (and it is mind-numbingly dull/specific as well!) at the moment, but actually quite satisfying/exciting 🙂

"[i]I don't know any mountain biker that wouldn't want to carry around a chainsaw, if only camelbak did a bag big enough.[/i]"

Dakine Builders Pack...

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Got an MTB specific idea currently being prototyped... Need to make sure it works before getting thousands made. Will let you all have a ride on my yacht when I make my 1st million!

Harry sent you an email BTW.

I came up with a system to put damping into tyres. We spend £££ on expensive shocks, but then have 2" of undamped travel at the end of the chain and think nothing of it.

My bodged prototypes showed some promise. Several years to get off my arse and get a patent showed that someone had had the same idea in 1922! Then lots of other patents with variations on the theme every subsequent ten years....

I still think it's a great idea though, but there must be a reason why none of the patents has produced something that has come to market.

Not MTB related, but back when round teabags were all the (marketing) rage, but technically quite rubbish, we invented tetrahedral teabags. The theory was you'd get an air-bubble at one corner, so the tea would hang in the middle of the mug (round ones sink, and square float on top).

The bar stewards @ pg tips started selling "pyramid" ones (which are actually tetrahedrons), about 1-2 years later. If we'd patented that, we'd be billionaires.

I am in the patent process so i aint saying nuffink.

Suffice to say, it's AMAZING and even Al will quiver when he sees it.

For the DJ heads. Letter box shaped to fit vinyl

Also why hasn't anyone created an app for your phone so you can find your friends at festivals. It uses a map of the festival and will show your last gps location (or current)

I worked with a bloke in 1984 who's idea was for a flat screened pc no bigger than an A4 notebook with a touchscreen.

Barry Hunt where are you now?

I made myself a heated bathroom mirror about 20 years ago.

I can have a nice long hot shower and still get out and shave using a mirror that isn't misted up.

No commercial use but a little luxury I enjoy.

BigJohn - someone's seen a commercial use...

[url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/heated-mirror-panel-410-x-580mm/77859?cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-Datafeed-_-Bathrooms%20and%20Kitchens-_-Heated%20Mirror%20Panel%20410%20x%20580mm ]http://www.screwfix.com/p/heated-mirror-panel-410-x-580mm/77859?cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-Datafeed-_-Bathrooms%20and%20Kitchens-_-Heated%20Mirror%20Panel%20410%20x%20580mm[/url]

I worked with a bloke in 1984 who's idea was for a flat screened pc no bigger than an A4 notebook with a touchscreen.

Barry Hunt where are you now?

possibly and sadly could be in the same place as the man who mastered it?

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That guy had a ponytail until a few moments ago

Years and years ago put a digitizer, pc and maps together, tied into a ships controls to navigate, patented it (so might have been the 1st), called it ORAC after the Blakes 7 computer! But technology etc swept over it.

Still waiting for another one.

My old man designed the Kent head (of Ford fame) for his racing car, sold the design to Ford after turning down a % per head deal - if only !!

trickydisco, the ability to do what you suggest for Festivals etc exists through Google Latitude.

3 DAY LYCRA KNICKERS - make the leg holes the same size as the waistband and every day turn them through 120 degrees.

Ask the wife if she thinks it's a brilliant idea !!

3 DAY LYCRA KNICKERS

The 54 Hours Girdle

Me and some colleagues at work have come up with an idea that is nearing the end of the patent process at the moment - critically, we also have a licensing agreement with a large multi-national in place to exploit it, so there will be cash at the end of it. Not large pots of money, but it means the companyy won't have to worry too much about income levels for many years to come...... so I can carry on surfing here and call it 'work'

At the start point of something very similar, although I am pondering if I should Patent.

My idea is automotive related which I have not been able to find anything like this which has been done before and would look to license it out.

Rough figures are based on last year number of cars sold;

Uptake = 1%
License per use = £10 (haven't the foggiest if this is too much or too little)

Annual income circa £20,000.

^ Just for UK sales.

Anyone on here work in the automotive industry??

For the DJ heads. Letter box shaped to fit vinyl

and a cushion at the front door to stop the record smashing when it hit the floor?

what about a foot pedal toilet, that lifts the seat so you dont have to touch it? I am sure the japanese must have done that by now?

alternatively just leave the toilet seat up and get nagged by the Mrs?

@kevj - it has helped that I have a friend who works at the patent office who I could lean on for inital advice before taking things forward. If you do go down the patent route, be prepared for the long haul and the costs - whatever it is you have come up with will have been done before (though not necessarily exactly as you imagine it, or in the same field, but you will tread on someones toes), so having a decent patent writer, legal advice and relationship with the patent office helps.

I would say your numbers (as you suggest) are just guesses at this stage - if it's a good enough idea, people will pay. Our licensing agreement will yield 20x what we thought it was worth on a similar thumb-in-the-air study and will be good for 15+years, at least.

Good luck 🙂

Designed an anti noise system when I was 6/7. Dad said it would never work. About 8 years later it was on Tomorrows World 🙁

Been lots more ideas over the years but stuff has always got in the way of developing them.

Do have a couple of nanotechnology patents in the UK and USA though.

PS I did just finish my carbon fibre chain-suck preventer for my C456 😀

For the DJ heads. Letter box shaped to fit vinyl

and a cushion at the front door to stop the record smashing when it hit the floor?

how high is your letter box? 6ft high?