This product is ideal for people with small RVs, people with apartments short on counter space, and people who hate having to sit and wait in the lunchroom for the asshole from Sales to finish boiling his cofee into undrinkability.
It consists of a base about the diameter of a dinner plate, which contains a magnetron and tiny motor and has a rotating top, and a 'curtain' of very fine chain mail, with a circular removable top held up by collapsible poles. The turntable rotates whenever the microwave is on. There is no timer; you simply turn it on via a button on the incoming power cord which must be held down as the food cooks (if you're not paranoid, it can easily be replaced with an actual switch).
To use it, you remove the curtain cover, put your food on the turntable, prop up the curtain with the rods, replace the top, and hold the button. For safety's sake the curtain top must be latched on before the magnetron will run.
When you're done, take your food out, collapse the curtain, and put it away - in the space that you could ordinarily fit a stack of plates in, not a large countertop appliance.-- gisho, Dec 29 2006 Now here is an idea. Make it work and I will be your first customer. (+)-- jhomrighaus, Dec 29 2006 Remember that the world is full of idiots, so some people will start using it without it's protective chain mail cover... A little dangerous for the average Joe Bloggs if you ask me.-- emjay, Dec 29 2006 Oh yes, [emjay]. It's deigned not to operate without the cover, but some idiot might still defeat that. Nontheless, a) microwaves aren't dangerous to human health unles you stand in their way long enough to cook yourself, and b) by the time they ignore THAT many warning labels, it would be very difficult to sue over it.-- gisho, Dec 29 2006 It should be possible to make an interlock that prevents the microwave from being activated without the curtain in place, like the existing ones in the door frame.
Also - integrate the mesh into a plastic sheet and make the curtain inflatable [+]-- BunsenHoneydew, Dec 30 2006 I like it. Now, if you could just make it pedal powered for camping...-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 30 2006 Could you make a hand-held version? It would help those old ladies that want to dry their dogs in microwave ovens, but have problems with size of oven/ size of dog.-- Ling, Dec 30 2006 + yes, and the car version that plugs into the cigarette lighter.-- xandram, Dec 30 2006 random, halfbakery