Friday, August 7, 2015

Inventing Inventions


The story of inventions is a long one, complete with the epic (the wheel) the barbaric (the rack) the silly but enjoyable (the hula hoop) and the challenging (chess). I am sure astute readers could give many more examples. As humans, inventing is what we do.

In my opinion, however, two inventions stand out for their simplicity and utility. Moreover, they have been adopted world-wide with a speed that astounds. I have entitled them The Trident and The Easy Turn.

First, The Easy Turn.

When driving, making a left hand turn at a busy intersection can be difficult, given that oncoming traffic must cease before the turn can be attempted.* In addition, there could well be an impatient driver behind you who has not needed to make such a turn, but is nevertheless captive until you succeed in your endeavour. Worse, no end of road rage incidents have resulted from this impasse.

The Easy Turn resolves all this by creating a short extra lane set aside for just such a purpose. Suddenly, you are no longer the cause of fury on the part of the driver just behind you -- he remains in his own lane, and proceeds happily on his way. In addition, a further bonus sometimes appears in the form of a secondary invention called "the little green arrow" which, when shining, allows for an advance start on making the turn.

Wonderful.

Now, The Trident.

This invention is commonly seen in banks and airports, where an initial single line debouches into several, each leading to a teller (in a bank) or a baggage handler and ticket taker (in an airport). Thus you are not now faced with what became known as "the line-up" gamble, where you tried to pick the line most efficient and fast-moving, and where you invariably found yourself confronting glaciation. Now, if there was one hold up at one point, the others were still operative and the line was moving as fast as it could.

Again wonderful. And a salute to those who first thought of these techniques. In my view, this is Nobel Prize stuff.

In conclusion, I would be remiss if I did not also pay homage to one of the world's most esteemed inventors, Alexander Graham Bell, and his concept of the telephone. If I recall correctly, the first telephonic words were spoken on March 10, 1876, from Dr. Bell to his assistant Thomas Watson: "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you. Someone is offering us a free Bahama cruise."

Or words to that effect.

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* This would be a right turn in some wayward jurisdictions, given an unaccountable desire to drive on the left side of the road. - Ed.







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