Embed a couple of high-brightness high efficiency white LEDs in the top end of a cellphone casing. Connect them to the battery via a switch. When you push the switch, the light comes on. Ooooh, how high tech ..... The rechargeable battery in the phone could provide quite a few minutes of light in an emergency.
Optionally, the LEDs could be linked to the ringer in place of the sounder or vibrate mechanism. The phone flashes brightly, but is silent. Useful for the deaf. YES, DEAF PEOPLE DO USE CELLPHONES. They send text messages, OK ?
One could install a YAG laser diode in place of one of the LEDs and have a built in laser pointer for presentations etc.-- 8th of 7, Jun 27 2002 Here, [kdf], have one of these. Prosepiparachute [pertinax, Oct 21 2020] CAT60 /61 https://www.catphon...d-distance-measure/measuring laser using protographs , not that usable or of expected accuracy [wjt, Oct 25 2020] My cellphone (and, I imagine, virtually all others) has an illuminated display which provides a useful amount of light.-- angel, Jun 27 2002 Angel: Ditto. We've used our phone that way too - partly where we got the idea.-- 8th of 7, Jun 27 2002 Mine also has an LED that flashes when it rings. Other than that feature, I don't see the point of this - who needs a laser pointer in their phone? And where are you going to put the reflecter of the torch (the bit behind the bulb that focuses the light into a beam)?-- pottedstu, Jun 27 2002 What happened to phones just being phones? You'll be wanting can-openers and stepladders on them next.-- angel, Jun 27 2002 Ooh, stepladders. Sound like we're moving toward a swiss army cellphone here. I'd go for a bright LED flashlight. No reflector would be needed as, when you're stumbling about in the dark, you're more interested in floodlighting the immediate area rather than picking out objects at a distance.
Mind you, I'm enough of a geek that I have a tiny little maglight on my keyring anyway.-- st3f, Jun 27 2002 Not sure about the ringer and the laser pointer but I like the flashlight idea. People carry those tiny little LED flashlights on their keychains so why not. A couple of white LED's would produce a more useful light source than the LCD backlight which is by design highly diffuse. The LED's wouldn't need a reflector, they have a built in lens.
[angel]'s comment caused me to realize that I could use a couple of pop-out screwdriver blades on my cell phone. That'd be a heck of a lot more useful to me than web browsing on my phone.-- half, Jun 27 2002 You could in fact have a cellphone battery incorporating this feature as an add on, too. No mods to the phone.
Pottedstu: The laser pointer in the phone is for Marketing and Sales people. The ones with the prognathic jaws and eyebrow ridges, who can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Since they don't have enough capacity in their motor centre to control both hands at once without stopping breathing (no bad thing mind you) and they refuse to put down their mobile phone, this idea is for them. The ultimate plan would be for them to burn their retinas out by peering down the axis of the beam to see why it was so bright, go blind, and then fall off a high building or get run over or something. Anything.
Angel: Stepladders ? Don't be silly. Now, a small, coiled up rope ladder, though ....-- 8th of 7, Jun 27 2002 HI, this is my first post here, i own a phone with a flashlight, i has white led on top, and is activated with CLR button, it´s a Kyocera Blade, i live in southamerica, but i think is available on Sprint at USA. http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/blade_phone/blade_phone_series.htm-- Spiral, Feb 27 2004 Displays with backlights are, as a general rule, less usable when not backlit than displays without backlights. Perhaps a flip-phone style phone could be constructed so that the light could either be aimed at the display/keypad or elsewhere, as convenient, eliminating the need for the backlit display.-- supercat, Feb 27 2004 All cellphones have this now. Did they take the idea from 8th?-- pashute, Oct 20 2020 How curious that industry should have chosen to implement this idea rather than other ideas [8th] posted around the same time, such as "Pre-cremation vacuum dessicator"-- hippo, Oct 20 2020 Plenty of ideas are harvested from this site. I have several notable examples of this re my own ideas, and have seen many of others. I went to war with Ikea over one of mine, and only for French law being different re intellectual property I would have chased them into court.-- xenzag, Oct 20 2020 For most things that occur on this site and also in real life I'm sure it's a case of simultaneous invention rather than copying-- hippo, Oct 20 2020 That's far from unknown; once technical innovations become sufficiently publicised, the next step of visualizing integrating two or more of them into a new device or design can be fairly obvious, even if the practical aspects may be more challenging.-- 8th of 7, Oct 20 2020 Being shot down just once can be serious enough, particularly if you don't have a bang seat ...-- 8th of 7, Oct 20 2020 //likelihood of success was considered so remote that we carried no parachutes.//
Was the likelihood of success related to the lack of parachutes?-- bs0u0155, Oct 20 2020 I take it the skydiving company was not as successful as hoped?-- bs0u0155, Oct 20 2020 // (aircraft intact, level flight, acceptable speed), nothing would be considered a big enough problem to actually merit doing so. //
That is entirely sensible and rational. Exiting a functional aircraft in flght - without a very compelling reason- and subsequently relying on a modified bedsheet and some string for your continued existence appears foolish in the extreme.
With a little patience, you can simply wait for the aircraft to land, and then get your excitement by not using the steps and jumping down onto the apron.-- 8th of 7, Oct 21 2020 random, halfbakery