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Safety Soap

Fall protection for the shower
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One of the most common sources of injury in the home is bathroom slips and falls.

I propose a new safety device to combat this problem. Safety Soap will look and feel like normal soap on a rope, however instead of a traditional rope this product has a safety curtain airbag built into the rope. Using much the same mechanism as is found in emergency life vests and in automobiles. Built into the core of the soap there is a small accelerometer that monitors the movements of the wearer. If falling related motion is detected the unit fires the airbag which forms a cone about the wearers neck (See illustration link). This cushions the impact and then like a normal air bag quickly deflates.

The wearer can then pick them selves up and breath a sigh of relief when they realize how close they came to serious injury.

jhomrighaus, Aug 21 2006

Illustration of Safety Soap. http://www.bimmerbo...inal/safetysoap.JPG
[jhomrighaus, Aug 21 2006]

[link]






       of course if the soap aint on the floor...
po, Aug 21 2006
  

       What if the soap squirts out of your hands fast enough to activate the switch?   

       You could drown.   

       I'd be very interested to know how you plan to fit a fully functional airbag into a standard bar of soap.
Mr Phase, Aug 21 2006
  

       And how would it work over what I assume would have to be multiple deployments over the lifetime of the bar of soap?   

       (How's that 5 series treatin' ya? I've owned a 7 and a 6, but not a 5. If I buy another, it'll probably be a 5.)
half, Aug 21 2006
  

       [half] best car Ive ever owned ;-) I would love to get a 6 someday, but im just a poor middle aged guy.   

       [Mr Phase] If you review the text you will find that the airbag is located in the rope and not in the soap.   

       [2 fries] The soap is around your neck and so is not expected to be able to fall more than a few inches. Activation will require a more sustained motion that is consistant with a fall(ie not going up first then down, also not straight at the floor butsay in an arch) Also as stated this would be like a car airbag and remain inflated only momentarily so there is no risk of drowning. besides if soap were to fall to floor the rope would go with it and so would not be around the neck.
jhomrighaus, Aug 21 2006
  

       ...soap, sitting usefully yet safely on edge is for some reason knocked off of perch (perhaps by someone reching blindly for a toiletry behind it. Soap falls. Soap senses fall and activates airbag while in fall, knocking bather sideways, stumbling. Bather falls and hits head on side of shower, knocked unconscious. The parmedics find him hours later and breath a sigh of releif when they find that the soap was protected by its own airbag from the fall and didn't have one of those big unsightly dents in it...
jellydoughnut, Aug 21 2006
  

       I saw your masterful illustration and was wondering how the soap is of any use in that configuration. As shown you can *safely* wash your neck upper chest.
jellydoughnut, Aug 21 2006
  

       [jelly] dont ask me how its useful, what I know, is that they have been producing and selling soap-on-a-rope for a very long time. Perhaps its for people that wash with a Washcloth(wonder where that name came from)   

       As to the knocking off shelf thing, I would think that a minimum amount of motion in a minimum amount of time could be established(say, constant motion for at least 5 seconds before going active) should solve that issue.   

       besides this is a half baked idea, its not universally practical by definition.   

       "half-baked, adj. - foolish; totally unsound; "an impractical solution"; "a crazy scheme"; "half-baked ideas"; "a screwball proposal without a prayer of working""   

       If you were one of those people worried about falling in the shower you would be willing to wear such a thing I would hope.
jhomrighaus, Aug 21 2006
  

       I'm not sure soap-on-a-rope is supposed to be used specifically around one's neck, as that would seem to limit its functionality.   

       I'd suggest installing a shower head in an inflatable moonwalk bouncy thing. Like living in an airbag.
jellydoughnut, Aug 21 2006
  
      
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