Not The intended Use by inquisitive dragonfly
January 22nd, 2008 12:35 PMExample from fiction: the old BBC sci-fi sitcom "Red Dwarf" once featured a Tension Sheet. This was a small square of bubble warp, painted red and printed with the words Tension Sheet. The inventor supposedly made a fortune.
Example from real world: cable ties. Nothing more than simple strips of Velcro-type substance, but marketed as useful only for the tidying of a computer desk.
The general challenge: Learn to ignore the marketing ploys. "I don't care about what anything was designed to do; I care about what it can do!" (movie quote, Apollo 13).
The specific challenge: Devise a means of hanging a wall-mount spice rack over the edge of a cupboard, because putting holes in cheap plywood is in violation of my lease and common sense.
The solution: Velrco-type cable ties. Specifically, those cable ties designed to loop through themselves for greater security.
cable meets spice rack
The top wire of the spice rack takes the place of the cable. Since it is far skinnier than any electronics cable would be, there is a long "tail" for hanging, and the spice rack will be in arm's reach.
cable meets cupboard
The tip of the tail is screwed in to the top of the cabinet, where no realtor would ever look for lease-violating holes.
14 vote(s)
JJason Recognition
5
susy derkins
5
Bex.
5
Lincøln
5
Levitating Potato
5
teucer
5
Tricia Tanaka
5
Augustus deCorbeau
5
Lank
5
niallsb: Forevolution
5
Shea Wolfe
5
NyQuil Driver
5
Sushin
5
William Vervalsing
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(none yet)5 comment(s)
Vote for making useful stuff, and for spice racks in general and for dragonflies demonstrating the process.
"Convince everyone that these are completely different products, so that they buy one of each."
It seems to me (not that I'd remember it) that once there was a time when the way to sell more of your products was to convince the buyer that they were versatile, capable of solving many different problems. An expectation that perhaps the buyer would think up ways to use your device in a new and creative fasion.
Now, we get specialized tools for specific jobs. How many things do you own that read "No user-serviceable parts inside," or its equivalent? Somehow tools have become a single piece with a single function; we are expected to neither know nor care how something is made, how it works, or what other purposes it could be put to.
I am reminded of the Tektronix 561A oscilloscope I acquired last year. When turned on, you'll see a faint orange glow from the vacuum tubes leaking out through the ventilation holes. On the inside, next to the power supply, you can find a sticker with a warning. Not about the danger of high voltages, however, or about how you shouldn't attempt to service it yourself. Rather, it cautions that when making repairs, only silver-bearing solder should be used. It then goes on to explain that occasional use of normal tin-lead solder is OK, but that repeated use may cause the joints between the solder and the ceramic strip connectors to fail. Next to the warning, you'll find a tiny roll of silver-bearing solder.
Vote for the Tension Sheet!
*pop*
An excellent philosophy