Technology is rapidly enabling items that conform to the various shape and size of each of our body. We’ve seen customized shoe inserts that are shaped according to foot imprints. Braces customized according to teeth imprints. And of course glasses have been personalized for many decades. It seems to me like one of the most overlooked body parts is our buttocks. The variability of shapes and sizes boggles the minds. Yet while people are happy to shell out hundreds of dollars for high-end chairs, no one ever goes to a furniture store and asks for a chair appropriate for a size 12w butt. Think of how comfortable chairs would be, if someone would go beyond the 1-size-fits-all models. Moreover, if you could make an imprint of your butt in putty, and have the chair manufacturer match the chair moldings your particular butt curves – that would be a chair you would never want to get up from. Many employers would probably buy one for all of their permanent staff (the ones that sit for their job anyways).
-- imho, May 31 2009

(?) Surface pressure-sensing film http://www.plastic-...e-sensors.html#c174
Use this to detect pressure points [csea, May 31 2009]

Prior Art http://www.freepate...ne.com/4615856.html
seems similar [csea, May 31 2009]

A couple of related [links] - how to meaure the results, and a custom cushion approach.
-- csea, May 31 2009


Good links. But I still think it's much better getting a shoe that fits you, rather than getting a one-size-fits-all shoe, and then adding customized padding inside. The latter feels like a hack.
-- imho, May 31 2009


//that would be a chair you would never want to get up from// That is, until you gain or lose a little weight, and the chair is no longer the optimal shape.
-- fridge duck, May 31 2009


Two comments: (1) Just because it's not optimal doesn't mean it's horrible. Besides, such a chair would be used more as an office chair or manager's seat. Not something you're supposed to be slouching in. (2) I asked a friend of mine whose a patent paralegal (for real), and she said that the wheelchair would not be considered prior art. However, I realize that halfbakery doesn't strictly follow U.S patent law.
-- imho, Jun 01 2009


The Car Talk guys (public radio show in US re car repair) occasionally speak to obese author Daniel Pinkwater he his efforts to fins a car that fits him - they suggest that car seats be measured in Pinkwater Units...
-- smendler, Jun 01 2009



random, halfbakery