American Inventor

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Nothing good on the tube last night so Mrs Dis and I watched "American Inventor." Honestly, the show really lost me when I saw the judges panel. It included the "token-critical-English-guy", George Foreman as well as two other judges I never heard of before. Though I did look them up this morning and all of them are innovators in their own ways.

However, we decided to see if the show would give us a chuckle or not so we stayed tuned in for a while. There were several interesting ideas introduced but one stuck with me. It was called a "Wallbanger" and it was developed by a 21-year SWAT team member, Marcus Wall.

The "Wallbanger" allows police officers to blow a door open from the side rather than stand in front of it with a battering ram. He has the patent for it and he presented it using a training video. It doesn't look like a regular door smasher. It actually looks like an elongated metal detector with the end-disk fitting on the door. I guess the charge is set off by a trigger at the other end.

As far as I know this disk can also pivot as well. This alleviates the officer standing in front of the door in order to blow it open.

SWAT teams and law enforcement agenices would find this useful for sure. I'm not so sure about military units mainly because their tactics for house-clearing differ a bit from SWAT tactics. However, it would depend on the tactical situation. I've seen video footage of military personnel using standard battering rams as well, so you never know when a device like this would come in handy.

The English judge wouldn't endorse it mainly because he coudn't see the potential for a huge market. However, the other three could see the potential in not only market value but in lives saved as well.

I went to the American Inventor website but couldn't find a link to this idea. However, there are some opinions on the net about it and they're all very positive.

Cheers.

[jkr]

I've watched this once or twice & had the same reaction immediately. Why does every show of this type need a nasty British judge?

I did see one fine idea that ,like the one you saw yesterday, is a real life saver. A firefighter demonstrated a device that would quickly extinguish a burning Christmas tree. He used a film to clarify how this works. Amazingly to me, this didn't get unanimous approval with Pat Croce saying no. Even the British guy liked it.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

jkr said:

I've watched this once or twice & had the same reaction immediately. Why does every show of this type need a nasty British judge?

I did see one fine idea that ,like the one you saw yesterday, is a real life saver. A firefighter demonstrated a device that would quickly extinguish a burning Christmas tree. He used a film to clarify how this works. Amazingly to me, this didn't get unanimous approval with Pat Croce saying no. Even the British guy liked it.

Didn't see that one, JKR. Sounds like the real deal though. If it is efficient enough to extinguish a tree then the applications would endless.

There was also a very simple thing-a-ma-jig introduced as well. It was an attachment that could be fitted on the swinging basket of a coffee perculator that allowed for tea to be made in the same fashion as coffee. I was surprised how simple it was and the potential for it is huge. However, they didn't make the inventors test it out in front of them, which I found odd.

One idea that was rejected just might fly. It was that ex-army cook who made a cake slicer that would divide it into 50-odd pieces. Two of the judges turned him away, which was enough. However, I think there'd be a market for it in large kitches, cafiterias and catering. The inventor even took cash in lieu of his military pension and sunk it into researching his idea. Hope it works out for him.

Cheers.