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This thought struck me as I was trying (fruitlessly) to repair one of those umbrellas that fold twice, after having the one of the ribs bend and lose a rivet: Wouldn't it be great if all these fragile, weak and troublesome pieces of metal could be replaced with SMA (shape-memory-alloy) wires. Each of
these wires would be heated electrically, either by a battery or a thermopile between the hand holding it and the cold outside of the umbrella. When turned of ( or when the hand puts it down) the wires fold up to their original, closed shape.
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Annotation:
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Wouldn't it have a tendency to open in warmer weather? |
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You'd have to keep it in the fridge. Unless you wanted it to double as a parasol. |
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Are we now going to see a flood of Nitinol products, where the meal is used as an magic solution to straighten anything that routinely gets bent? |
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$5 & $10 umbrellas certainly are made of "fragile, weak and troublesome pieces of metal," but replacing them with heated Nitinol is going to take you right out of the $5 & $10 range. Why not buy a more robust (and therefore more expensive) umbrella in the first place? And Nitinol is not going to stop you losing rivets. So, fishbone, sorry. |
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Anno from early 20th Century Halfbakery: |
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"Yes, horses can be troublesome, weak pieces of work, fall ill and are prone to injury, but replacing them with a mechanical contrivance driven by exploding chemicals will be a danger to the public, a recipe for disaster and due to the sheer expense involved in the production of such an intricate device will, I fear, remain the sole preserve of the well-to-do. |
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In short, why not simply buy a fitter (and more expensive) horse in the first place? And internal combustion is not going to stop you losing a wheel."
DrCurmudgy, Jan 31 1904 |
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That was my grandfather, coachmaker to Prince Albert. And it was spelt Curmudgeonly. |
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I was trying to blend "curmudgeon" with Curry", and OK, it didn't work too well. |
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Professor Sir Alfred C. Curmudgeonly, to you. |
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