Here is the fifth article in the series The Secret of Invention published in the popular Bulgarian magazine "Young Designer", in 1984. There I have considered more "tools" used by inventors in solving creative tasks.
Expanding the "Toolbox"
In addition to methods already discussed:
- Shattering
- Merging
- Periodic operation
- Turning the harmful into useful
- Dynamization
... there are more universal methods for solving inventive tasks.
6. METHOD OF COMPENSATIONAccording to this idea, the unwanted quantity is suppressed by adding an "anti-quantity" with the same value to it. The method is widely applied in all fields of technology.
a) compensating for gravitational attraction (the weight of objects)
Did you know that the elevator car you travel in every day is almost weightless? This is due to the so-called "counterweight" that compensates for the weight of the cabin (Fig. 1). Thanks to this, electricity is saved and the use of a relatively low-power motor is possible (with full compensation, only frictional forces are overcome).
Thanks to the counterweights, the rail barriers become light as a feather. Again, with their help, people from ancient times extracted water from their wells without much effort (Fig. 2).
Where it is impossible to hang an anti-weight, it is created by other means. Examples of this are air balloons, airships, airplanes, helicopters, submarines, etc., which move in the respective environment thanks to an artificially created lifting force.
"Anti-weight" can be created using magnetic forces. The so-called magnetic suspension reduces the friction in supports and rotating bodies (flywheels, turbine rotors, etc.) many times.
b) compensation of mechanical oscillations
Until recently, the fight against noise was carried out only by passive means - absorption of noise with a variety of porous materials. But here an active method was proposed - noise suppression with "anti-noise". For this purpose, loudspeakers are placed near the noise source, which emit noise of the same amplitude but with the opposite phase. The result is... silence.
c) compensation of electrical quantitiesAn example of this is the differential amplifier, which amplifies only the useful signal and suppresses the interference. Another example is the separation of the variable (Fig. 3a) or constant (Fig. 3b) component of a mixed signal.
d) The value of a quantity is measured by compensating it with a reference quantity.
This is how all types of weights work. Extremely simple electrical measuring devices can also be constructed in this way. How, for example, would we measure the voltage in an electrical circuit without an accurate meter? Of course, by the compensation method (Fig. 4). The zero indicator NI is reset with the potentiometer P. The voltage value is read on the potentiometer scale. If the zero indicator is implemented with LEDs, the entire device can be mounted in a pen housing.
7. METHOD OF THE SINGLE USE
Our century can rightly be called the century of disposable items. They quickly entered the household and replaced the solid objects of the recent past. Such are, for example, the plastic cups in which we drink coffee, cola, tea (and irresponsibly throw away afterwards); the plastic packaging for all food products, medicines and miscellaneous items; disposable pens, gas lighters, deodorants, paints, varnishes and others in aerosol packaging. New disposable items are constantly appearing, some of which seem downright absurd - disposable toothbrushes, thermometers, trash cans, etc. Perhaps electronic wristwatches, calculators and pocket radios will also become disposable when their cost becomes commensurate with that of the batteries that power them. Of course, there are also more serious applications of the method - for example, disposable weather probes or rockets.
8. METHOD OF "MATRYOSHKA"The popular Russian matryoshka dolls, which are placed inside each other, successfully illustrate the essence of this method. The idea is very old - even in ancient times, Russian craftsmen made wooden vessels that were placed inside each other. And even now, tourists widely use matryoshka dishes (cups, pots, etc.). The benefit is obvious - space is saved. Telescopic antennas for radio receivers are also a kind of "Matryoshka". The weather "matryoshka balloons" proposed by the Soviet inventor Ermakov are several multi-colored alloons, nested inside each other. By bursting successively at different heights, the color of the balloon changes (handy for monitoring air flows).
And here is an application in electronics - an LED indicator of the "glowing dot" type (fig. 5a). Its operation is based on the fact that the IV curves of LEDs SD1-SD10 are located one inside the other, similar to Russian "Matryoshkas". This was achieved using silicon diodes D1-D9.
9. METHOD OF SELF-SERVICE
The object serves itself by performing auxiliary operations. A typical example of this is a car engine. In addition to its main task - driving the car, it also performs operations necessary for its proper functioning - charging the battery, driving the fuel, oil and water pumps.
An interesting illustration of the method is the self-propelled cart set in motion by the load. Under the action of its weight, the platform of the cart descends, and the rack connected to it turns the wheels. After unloading, springs return the platform to its initial position.
The self-service method has been perfected by the inventors of perpetual motion machines.A generator and electric motor connected electrically and mechanically (Fig. 6) are completely self-sustaining and should run forever. That this is impossible is known to each of us today.
10. METHOD OF UNIVERSALITY
The object performs several functions, which is why there is no need for other objects.
The concrete mixer-car simultaneously mixes the concrete and transports it. Water fishing vessels are intended for fishing, processing and transport of fish.
A significant simplification of the devices is obtained if the reversible properties of some objects (electric motors, loudspeakers, piezo elements, etc.) are used. In some radio telephones, for example, an electrodynamic speaker is used, which also performs the function of a microphone. The radar antenna and echo sounder piezo element can receive and emit signals.
11. "UPSIDE" METHOD ("TURN ON ITS HEAD")
Instead of the action dictated by the task conditions, the opposite action is performed. How were the reversible properties of piezo elements discovered, for example? By the "upside down" method. Let's assume that initially only the straight piezo effect was known - the occurrence of an electric charge during mechanical deformation of the piezo crystal. The question "What will happen if we do the opposite?" has led to the discovery of the reverse piezo effect - mechanical deformation of the piezo crystal under the action of an electric field.
Until a few years ago, pocket electric flashlights had an invariable design - a straight placement of the lamp in the reflector (fig. 7a). But now there are also flashlights with a "reverse" arrangement of the lamp (fig. 7b), which are thinner.
Inventor's "toolkit" contains more than 100 methods for solving inventive tasks. Naturally, we do not have the opportunity to consider all of them, so we limited ourselves to the most universal of them. Each inventor can create his own methods. The only condition is that they are sufficiently universal (that is, the method discovered in solving a certain inventive task can be used to solve tasks in completely other fields of technology).
How are methods used to solve inventive tasks in practice? In the simplest case, they apply directly - after specifying the conditions of the task, we "open the toolbox" and look for the most suitable one. But there are more rational ways to use the methods. One of them is called algorithm for solving inventive tasks (ARIZ) and was developed by the Soviet inventor Henrich Altshuler. ARIZ divides the creative process into three stages: analytical, operational and synthetic. Each of them contains separate steps, the sequential implementation of which brings the inventor closer to the technical solution of the task. Detailed sacred information about ARIZ can be obtained from the attached literature.
(to be continued)
Eng. Cyril Mechkov
The Secret of Invention
The Inventor's Tools (examining the set of tools used by the inventor when solving inventive problems)
Expanding the "Toolbox" (considering more "tools" used by inventors in solving creative tasks)
Invention in Action (illustrating the basic principles of invention through examples from my inventive practice)
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