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Let's drop in on Wily and
look over his shoulder at his latest project.... |
Coin Operated Telescope |
It was almost lunch time when
Wily got a call from San Francisco. A company there had been building
and selling coin operated telescopes for many years. Hundreds were
used around the city and several hundred more were used elsewhere.
Wily listened as the caller described their telescope. The company had
been using a mechanical system to accept coins and activate the telescope’s
clock mechanism. The act of inserting a quarter into the slot and
turning the dial opened an eyepiece shutter and started a clock. Once
the clock timed out, the shutter would snap close again. Their telescope
used a mechanism very similar to those used in city parking meters.
This system served them well but the company felt it was time to switch to
an electronic system. Over the years, the cost of the mechanical
system kept getting higher and higher. They thought that by going to
an electronic system,..... |
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Wily Widget,
the Lone Inventor
with Gadget & Gizmo |
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WHAT
THE WORLD NEEDS NOW is a....Tritium Power Generator |
Energy harvesting seems to be
the rage these days. All kinds of devices are being used to capture a
tiny bit of power from ambient light, heat, vibrations, sound and stray RF.
I often wondered if the beta type radiation of tritium gas could be used as
an energy source, when no other form of energy can be harvested. Small
plastic vials containing a bit of gas and some visible light emitting
phosphor have been used for many years.... |
story
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Inventor Name
Fraud
By: Dave Johnson
Some 40 years ago, I was just junior
engineer, fresh out of college. I was working for a small company,
which at the time was refurbishing big truck generators and starter motors.
(It was the only job I could find at the time.) The owner of the
company wanted to expand his business into other areas. He liked the
idea of a little factory, churning out some unique product. He was
very familiar with big trucks and construction vehicles. He wanted
something that could be installed onto those .
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New Products 2009
New product announcements are made nearly every
day. I subscribe to many trade journals and each is filled with
hundreds of flashy advertisements. But, only a few of those product
ads catch my eye. Since I’m a circuit designer, I especially like
those components that trigger many new application ideas in my mind.
Sometimes it is the smallest products that are the most useful. I
often discovered new products in surplus electronic catalogs. The
surplus companies often buy up stock that came from companies that went out
of business. Bad marketing or bad management may have killed a
perfectly good product idea. Their loss can be your gain if you can
spot the bargain.
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Long Range Motion
Sensor
By: Dave Johnson
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Some time ago I
bought an infrared LED flood lamp. As shown below, this thing has 140
infrared LEDs. It is powered by a 24v DC supply and was originally
designed as a nighttime security camera illuminator. Black and white
security cameras are most sensitive to infrared light, which is invisible to
human eyes.... |
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Motor Speed Controller
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I got a call from one of my old
clients. A few years earlier I had designed a brush type motor
controller for them, which was used in a medical product. The motor was
powered by two lithium batteries and had a simple dial type speed control
knob, which could set the speed from about 10% to 100% full speed. Once
set, the controller would try to maintain that speed, even as the motor was
loaded down..... |
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Disappearing Letters on Key
Boards |
A while back my wife bought a
keyboard. She liked some of the features, which included many keys with
specific commands for the Internet. But, after just a few months of use
the poorly painted letters on some of the keys started to fade. Of
course, as expected, this keyboard was made in China where poor quality is
almost a requirement.... |
story con't
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Long Life
Solar Powered LED Light
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I got
a call from a lighting company a while back. They had a
request from a construction company for an unusual solar powered
LED light, which that was to be used on a new office building.
The LED light was to be mounted permanently into some fixtures
on either side of some steps leading up the front door..... |
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