Creative Ideas From The Past

This idea from April 1963 might be useful for those who like to do a portage – fold in wheels that can help you carry your boat or canoe.

The lightweight wheels can be carried in a small boat or canoe, making lake to cabin hauling or lake to lake portaging much easier. This idea which was patented; the wheels would be hinged to a frame and clamped to the gunwales.

Thumbscrews would lock them in riding position and then could be released to enable them to swing inboard, one on top of the other.

One downside is that there could be slightly less room for storage of all the rest of your essentials.

Also this idea may not be quite as relevant now given that modern day canoes can be made with very light materials.

A HEAT-DISPERSING FAN flat enough to hang between the wall and radiator where heat gets pocketed. It would operate much as a car heater does.—A. K. Baldentceck, Kirkwood, Mo.

A tripod flashlight mount, adjustable for height, that would swivel at various angles and lock. This would leave both hands free for the workman.—H. G. Frank, Teaneck, N.J.

A non-tangling cord an on an electric drill and similar shop equipment. Why can’t they be sold with the self-coiling wire now commonly used on telephones?—W. C. Fox, Nampa, Idaho.

Made short enough to fit inside a capped soda bottle, this plastic (or plastic-coated) straw would rise to sipping height when the bottle was opened. A bell-shaped float would supply lift, rising on gas bubbles. To sink the float when the bottle was being filled, the inventor suggests filling it with ice or sugar.

A scuba diver might travel under water faster and easier – and with less turbulence – on this snake-like craft. By lying on a frame and manipulating a crank, he’d undulate a rubbery sheet beneath him. The inventor claims the flexing would simulate the movements with which a fish or reptile propels itself.

June 1963…

Flag signals shallow water. At low tide or in unfamiliar water, you’d navigate more confidently if you had a flag-ended feeler like this pivoted to the hull of your boat.

Opposed springs normally would hold the arm upright. On contact with an obstruction, the flag would dip, alerting you to shallow waters and therefore help you avoid a fouled prop or scraped bottom.e safely closed by leaving the net up.

July 1963…

A false bottom makes the pool safer.

An electric motor, plus a system of pulleys and guide rails, would raise this protective net from its normal position at the bottom of a pool so that, in an emergency, anyone in the pool could be immediately brought to the surface.

When unattended, the pool could be safely closed by leaving the net up.

June 1963…

Electric basin heats water. A sink like this at your country cabin might give you hot water convenience on a boiler-less budget.

The basin would nest in a tank fitted with a coil heater. Two taps would feed a mixer faucet from a single inlet, but turning the hot tap would route the flow of cold water through the heating tank.

April 1963…

A curved push-broom for sweeping large areas such as schools or factories would make the task much easier.

Flared ends would keep the sweepings from escaping and save you the need of overlapping the area you’d just swept.