This idea is along the same lines as "Dummy Car", which I came across while searching for prior art. There are some notable differences, however, as well as an added level of convenience, which I believe will set my idea apart.
This is an idea for those of us who don't have the luxury of a garage or driveway, and have to park in the street in front of their homes. It consists of a pair of rolling garbage bins with a couple extra wheels. While your car is parked in its spot in front of your house, and the bins are not in use, the bins sit together in the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street, looking to all the world like a perfectly normal, innocuous pair of garbage bins, but with 4 wheels instead of the usual 2.
When your vehicle leaves the spot, the bins go to work. As soon as their low-profile IR sensors detect the absence of your vehicle, they turn about and roll away from each other, looking to all the world like a pair of duelists, and unfurling a bright yellow, black- striped kevlar strap between them like those retractable queue rails they use at banks. The strap is 20 feet long, but you can program them to only move apart to the length of your vehicle, if you wish, and they'll keep the strap taut.
Once they have reached their programmed distance from each other, the bins pivot about and roll down the prepositioned ramps to the street. Once in place, the wheels lift up, dropping the weighted bins to the ground, where they're nigh immovable.
Upon receiving a signal from your visor-mounted remote control, similar to a garage door opener for those of us who have them, they lower the wheels, raise themselves off the ground, roll back up their ramps, and back together, concealing the strap and looking to all the world like a perfectly normal, innocuous pair of garbage bins...-- 21 Quest, Oct 01 2009 Dummy Car http://www.halfbake...om/idea/Dummy_20CarI remember that! Ah... those were the days [Jinbish, Oct 02 2009] Flocking Road Cones http://www.halfbake...king_20Road_20ConesThe same technology, but used for good, rather than evil. [hippo, Oct 02 2009] Dynabolt http://www.google.c...as_nhi=&safe=images [normzone, Oct 02 2009] "Space-saving trash cans"...but not really remote controlled.-- phoenix, Oct 01 2009 Perhaps this could be extended to cordon off your entire route to work, denying the rest of the population the use of a whole length of road rather than just the bit outside your house?-- Twizz, Oct 02 2009 When I read the title I envisioned trash cans that brought themselves out to the curb on garbage day.-- hooloovoo33, Oct 02 2009 I won't lie, I have *appropriated* several traffic cones for this purpose. It is a bit of a pain to put them out, however, and this solves it.-- CaptainClapper, Oct 02 2009 Yes, because the bit of road outside your house is your own private property. Also, where do you live that puts garbage bins actually on the road itself- this is something I have never seen.-- vincevincevince, Oct 02 2009 Bins on the street across all of Canada soon. It started here a few months ago with the new recycling/yard waste programs.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 02 2009 People routinely leave chairs in parking spaces outside their shops around here. I routinely reverse right over them. If you need to reserve a space to yourself, then apply to the council and pay for the privilege, if they think you should be allowed to do so,-- vincevincevince, Oct 02 2009 Where I live, the city owns the sidewalk and our trash bins must be kept off of it save for trash day, and then no more than 12 hours after that. Interesting idea, but not very universal.-- bdag, Oct 02 2009 I get the idea, but I can't see it as working, even if it works as you state. Unless they also drop down a manhole to surround, people will ignore them and police will ticket them or remove them. //dropping the weighted bins to the ground, where they're nigh immovable.// Is that for a person? Because I live in the US and here people drive ENORMOUS vehicles and almost nothing is nigh immovable. I always used to carry tow straps in my Land Rover and would have made quick work of your "immovable" trash cans.-- MisterQED, Oct 02 2009 To address a few questions that were raised... yes, they go on the street in most parts of the USA, right against the curb. Yes, I meant immovable by people. Sure, it's possible that you could move it with tow straps, but most people wouldn't go to such lengths. As has been stated before, cones usually work just fine. I've used them, too, and they've never been moved. This wasn't intended for use outside businesses, where parking can be very competitive. This is to keep your annoying neighbor's friends from blocking the whole damn street when he throws a party, forcing you to park several houses, or even blocks, away just to get home.
I've found this issue to be especially trying in winter, when snow plows push huge berms against the side of the road and you have to spend hours digging out a spot to park your car, and the overflow from the church across the street ends up blocking you out, and because there is nothing but berm on the side of the road for several blocks in every direction, there's nowhere for you to park to get home.
This happened to me last winter. Sure, when I threatened to work over the offending vehicle with a baseball bat, the preacher finally found the owner and had him move it. And the whole time, imy car was in the middle of the street blocking traffic because there was literally nowhere else to go. I wasn't about to carry my infant stepson 3 city blocks through snow and ice to get home. I dug out that spot, damn it, and I nearly broke my back to do so! And those orange flags I put up on either side of it were city-approved markers to keep the plows from driving a berm back into the spot while I was gone, not "PARK HERE" beacons for the church's flock.
In short, putting trash bins out to keep your spot is a common practice in residential areas, whether *you* have seen it or not, their presence on the street is not illegal, and few people would go to such lengths to move them, considering that if you obstructed traffic long enough to attach your tow straps, *you* would be violating several laws, as well as being liable for any damage to the bins that resulted from your actions.-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 //putting trash bins out to keep your spot is a common practice in residential areas// Really, well not anywhere I've been, but in that case I will reverse my vote. (+)-- MisterQED, Oct 02 2009 "This is to keep your annoying neighbor's friends from blocking the whole damn street when he throws a party, forcing you to park several houses, or even blocks, away just to get home." Ah, but the street is public property. What's next? A toll booth to use the sidewalk in front of your house?
I take it you don't have a driveway. I'd petition the city to institute parking permits in your neighborhood and let them tow away cars that don't have one. Alternately, petition your city for reserved parking, but then you'll lose out when it's your time to throw a party.-- phoenix, Oct 02 2009 I've got room in the backyard and a gate to let my party-goers in.-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 Why not outfit those cool triple rotating wheel things that can climb up stairs and ditch the bulky and potentially illegal ramps.-- daseva, Oct 02 2009 I thought about that, but I don't know enough about how they work. Are they stable enough to avoid tipping over a loaded trashcan?-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 I would like this because I could make off with your bins in the dead of night, outfit them with spikes and saw blades and make them fight each other to the death.
I am no robber so before the sun came up, I would return the remains of the loser to you, contained inside the battle-scarred victor.-- bungston, Oct 02 2009 You may be on to something there, Bungston. Battle-Bots diguised as trashcans to defend your parking space... Parking Transformers! Yeah!-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 A child-sized body outline in white tape on the roadway and a heap of slightly wilting flowers and bedraggled teddy bears on the kerb should do the trick, but [+] for the idea.-- 8th of 7, Oct 02 2009 Oh, you're bad! Bad Borg, not on the carpet! But I do thank you for the vote of confidence. The chalk outline with religious leaflets strewn about on my sidewalk has been proven successful at keeping Bible bouncers away... hadn't thought of this application for the same idea.-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 Capital "B" in "Borg", IF you don't mind .....-- 8th of 7, Oct 02 2009 Not a bit, good Borg. I was unsure of the proper form by which to refer to your vastly superior race. The mistake has been corrected.-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 <Paranoid>
Who are you, and what have you done with the real [21_Quest] ?
</Paranoid>-- 8th of 7, Oct 02 2009 We will never tell...-- 21 Quest, Oct 02 2009 random, halfbakery