h a l f b a k e r yBaker Street Irregulars
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Imagine this,
You parked you car, fed your coins into the parking meter, but somehow you stayed away too long, result ..parking ticket.
Now, with the invention of Meter Feeder, that is a thing of the past. The meeter feeder is a device youplace on the top of your car nearest the parking meter, and
secure it be locking the attached strap into the window/door [edit 08 21 2002 device is left in the car, with the nearest window left open .5 cm]
Step one. Stick the Locating dot above the coin slot.
Step two. Feed coins into parking meter
Step three. Enter time on parking meter into meter feeder via attached keypad.
The meter feeder will begin counting down the minutes just like the parking meter, when it senses that there is only 2 minutes left, it extends its meter feeding arm, finds the coin slot using the locating dot, and feeds a pre set number of coins into the parking meter. The meter feeder has a PIR detector to avoid extending the meter feedin arm into the path of an oncoming person.
Especially useful for two hour parking meters.
[link]
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Step four: get ticket for feeding meter. |
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HAd this idea years ago, except that the device clamps to the meter itself, like the face-hugger thing in "Aliens" senses the pointer/flag position, and at the right time, stuffs a coin in the slot, and, if necessary, turns the knob. Of course, it is meter-design-specific, so you're out of luck if your city uses a variety of meters. |
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Does it cost less than a $5 parking ticket? |
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I guess everything is relative..
Where I live, its OK to feed the meters, just don't let it run out on you, and its not just a $5.00 parking ticket, you're likely to get towed. |
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Just smash the parking meter with a hammer until it breaks and claim you tried to pay the meter but it was previously smashed with a hammer. |
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1. Insert 1 coin into meter.
2. Insert nozzle of slow-rate polyurethane foam can into meter (available fro builders suppliers).
3. Spray liberally. |
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The liquid permeates the meter and then resuting foam expands, completely jamming the mechanism. The meter never runs down. It works best if you use the narrow nozzle (straw) from a WD-40 can which will fit into the coin slot, allowing the liquid to penetrate deeply. |
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Electronic meters can be disabled by a similar process using a micture of hydrochloric acid and saturated salt solution, but it takes longer to work. |
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The only downside to that approach (legal reprocussions aside) is that tomorrow when you go to take that spot, there's a "No Parking" cover over that meter. So, you go down the block a bit and jam up another meter, and the next day that one is also out of order... |
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Did an informal poll in Miami Beach today, as a result, I have started working on a prototype |
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[FooToo] This device doesn't care what type of meter it is, as long as the coin slot faces the car, and it counts time down in minutes. |
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$5? Is that all? $35 is minimum in LA (Street Cleaning), up to $365 (Wheelchair Space)
Damn, that reminds me, I left a dime barely wedged in a meter in Beverly Hills tonight - gotta go back and get that 10¢ as soon as I'm done noting this <snicker>: Meters here also have coin/key insert and time increments facing away from car. On street side, it's either clear on the digital units, white on uhhhhh, analog units or red/yellow, respectively for expired meters. 10 whole cents - why, I could've bought a perfectly good uhhhhh...... |
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Having looked up the specs on the digital meters, the FCC approvals for EMC only rate them for bog-standard ESD protection - a decent ESD gun with the wick turned up should be able to fry one with a single pulse. |
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Or you could attach one of FarmerJohn's famous lighting rods, and hope...... |
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How 'bout old fashioned stickers placed over the meter flag window that indicate all paid up and good to go. |
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What about a credit card swiper on meters? Then it only charges once you get back and stop the timer. I always either put too little or way to much money in the meters. |
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