"Make sure you baste the turkey every 15 minutes."

Also, "no compulsive video game playing -- no more than once every half hour!"

Like the evil offspring of a kitchen timer and an alarm clock, the Every N Minutes device would a) sound an alarm at the end of a specified period b) upon the user's acknowlegement (tapping a button on top, say), it goes silent ... waiting. c) After the same amount of time as it'd been set for originally, it sounds again. Not louder or more insistent or anything (it's not an alarm clock which might need to persist until you're truly awake, just a reminder about something you're supposed to do every N minutes), just again.

Interface: Two dials and two buttons, plus optional dial.

Dial 1) how long is the interval? (Ex: turn it to "90 minutes.")

Dial 2) over how long a period should this last, overall? (Ex: turn it to "4 hours.")

Button 1) (recessed, on bottom or back) = START / STOP.

Button 2) (on top, easy to hit) = ACKNOWLEDGE, KEEP TIMING

Optional Dial: volume. Kitchen timers are often too loud for next to the head, and too quiet to hear from the next room over, at least if it's slipped your mind that you're timing something and suddenly it's 3 o'clock, muffins all burnt.

All 5 variables could be controlled otherwise, like with up / down thumbable controllers and an "OK" button, but ... dials are easier to figure out, IMO, at least if well labeled.

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I said this isn't an alarm clock, but it sure would be better for regulating snooze time than are most alarm clocks, which (counterexamples welcome) don't generally let the snoozer choose the length between reminders. My phone's built-in alarm has a 10-minute snooze function, my Phillips beside alarm is 8 minutes, and I've seen snooze ranges from 6 to 11 minutes. What about 15?!
-- yhtomit, Feb 26 2006

Every N-minute timer http://www.softobe....sy/snst/snst02.html
Sorry this is already done.. [jhomrighaus, Feb 27 2006]

Mostly baked - my Casio wristwatch will do this quite happily (except the overall time feature - but it's easy enough to switch off when you're finished).
But as a stand-alone kitchen device, fair enough.
-- neutrinos_shadow, Feb 26 2006


Intervalometer. Often used in time lapse photography and other repetitive tasks.

Certain darkroom timers have similar functions.

These are industrial and a consumer version as proposed is a good idea.
-- bristolz, Feb 27 2006


Seems useful. High-end ones could have a proximity sensor that lowers the volume if you're right next to it.
-- phundug, Feb 27 2006


Baked. I saw it on a recent episode of 'Lost'. For those of you not watching in USA, its a show about people who crash-land onto a desert island (surely you've seen Gilligan's Island?). The clever plot twist on this show is that even though spy-satellites have charted every inch of the world, these folks, and their Jumbo 747 wreckage are not yet found. Anyway, the timer is an old Apple IIE that hints that nuclear armageddon will happen if some key-sequence isn't typed into the computer. Which reminds me, I've got that report I need to turn into the boss still to write..... tic, tic, tic....
-- pathetic, Feb 27 2006


Though the application is different MS Outlook has this sort of feature on its reminder alarms. You can specify the amount of time for the snooze cycle.
-- jhomrighaus, Feb 27 2006



random, halfbakery