Almost every day the phone rings at Design 1st with an eager inventor on the line yearning to learn more on design, patenting and prototyping their product idea. This is one of the many exciting parts of working at Design 1st – discussing new ideas and talking to passionate inventors.
Over the past year, we’ve had various inventor clients complete the product development phase and proceed to market. We’ve also come across a number of innovative product ideas that probably had many inventors thinking, “Boy, why didn’t I think of that!" Whenever we share these creative inventions with the Design 1st team, the industrial designers and mechanical engineers usually toss ideas around on how’s its manufactured and what would make it better. Lately we keep discovering new inventions and gadgets that we feel we must share, here’s a list of the Top 5 coolest ones we’ve found!
1. The Bug-A-Salt
With the Bug-A-Salt, a shotgun that fires ordinary table salt makes for a fun and easy way to take care of nasty insects around the house. With a range of around 3 feet bugs are quickly eliminated and will remain whole for easy clean up.
2. The Hot Tug:
The “Hot Tug” combines the relaxation of a hot-tub with the ambiance of a boat ride. Built to fit 6-8 people the boat holds 2000 liters’ of water that is heated up via a wooded stove located on board. Simply fire up the wood stove a few hours before you decide to ‘set sail ’, hop in and relax!
3. Spring Loaded Ice Skate:
Launch Skates are the brain child of David Blois a Toronto based inventor who had the idea to create a more efficient hockey skate using springs. The innovative skates use the force of a skater’s step to compress a spring, storing kinetic energy that is released once the skater takes a stride. David’s invention went on to win a 2012 Popular Science Invention Award.
4. Laser Gun Alarm Clock
When the first decision of your day is to hit snooze and go back sleep, more often than not you’re in for a rough morning. The innovative “Gunshot Alarm Clock” has found a creative solution to this problem by allowing you to shoot your annoying alarm back into snooze mode. When the alarm goes off, a target pops up that you have to shoot with a laser gun to turn off the alarm.
When sipping a beer casually just doesn't do it for you, the Knockout is the answer. A combined beer bong and tabacco water pipe the Knockout creates a smooth, fast and effortless way to relax. Invented by a trio of Ottawa friends, the Knockout won the 2013 Munchie Award hosted by Snoop Dog and is receiving Pre-Orders today.