I kinda like the sound of rain when I'm in the house. How about an outdoor device designed to use the gentle to somewhat pounding force of raindrops falling from the sky and turn it into a musical sound?
This would have to be made of some sort of rust-resistant metal material, in varying sizes and/or shapes (maybe somewhat like a xylophone) at an appropriate thickness to produce a chime sound at the various forces rain can naturally apply - not too thick, not too thin. They might perhaps be curved to form a slight bell-shape (concave at the top). The pieces can even be made into mosaic shapes that form pleasant lawn ornaments or something that can be mounted to a rooftop - something decorative.
The idea is to create an alternative to the boring wind chimes that every other house has dangling from their porch ceiling and also to make rainy days a little more fun.
I've never seen such a product or any word of a similar idea elsewhere, so it's an original at least from what I can tell. If not, I'd be interested in what you found.-- XSarenkaX, Jun 03 2002 Funnel Wall Rains Music, Literally http://www.designbu...ns-music-literally/Someone did a large version, halfbakery-style! [XSarenkaX, Dec 07 2012] This sort of fits into a ‘Death Star’ windchime idea that occurred to me some time ago -- to coincide with a line of retro housefittings in that theme (R2D2 Lava Lamp, etc.). I thought that two or more precision fitted spheres could be built and nested to make a resonant chamber, and the outside could be surrounded by Imperial fighters that were mass tuned to various frequencies so that their impact would create divine harmonics.
If you choose to make it play in the rain, so much the better!-- reensure, Jun 03 2002 reminds me of rainsticks - which are very soothing. might be useful in the maternity ward. ring any bells there girls? nice one XS.-- po, Jun 03 2002 phoenix has yet to utter the B word!-- po, Jun 03 2002 *beep* Buhh... buhh... buhh... buhh... <sizzle> *beep*-- phoenix, Jun 03 2002 is that your motor running, big p?-- po, Jun 03 2002 Well, phoenix, thanks for bringing the existence of a "Rain chime" to my attention. I pictured it a little differently than what's out there, but the manufacturers have probably had actual testing done, whereas I have not even put together a concrete object for testing.
I've actually seen the second listing at Discovery Channel stores and such, but it's not the same type of product. As for the other two, they could work, but they are uglier than I pictured mine.
Remember the artwork involved in my idea. And most importantly, I want the chime to come from the drops themselves, not from the clanging of those crazy things hitting each other. At any rate, it's good to know what's out there. Thanks everyone!-- XSarenkaX, Jun 03 2002 [XSarenkaX] You can tweak the description to make your idea something the Baked versions aren't. It's not truely Baked until you or the admins say it is.-- phoenix, Jun 03 2002 Nooooooooooooo! I just came up with this idea! It was brilliant! It was beautiful! IT was almost ezactly what this is! Boohoo......
+-- DesertFox, Nov 08 2004 Aww, [DesertFox]. You can go ahead with a prototype anyway if you like. I like to inspire reality. That's why the HB is so cool. My brain comes up with something innovative; someone comes across it and puts those idle hands to work on a product. Then, someday (hopefully) I get to enjoy my idea having come to life, all without having to do the dirty work - ya know, like filling out the patent papers, counting out the royalties, depositing the royalty checks,...-- XSarenkaX, Nov 11 2004 Don't worry, DF, Yours is differentiated enough with a music box to not be m-f-d'd.-- RayfordSteele, Nov 12 2004 nice. +-- sartep, Apr 19 2006 How about this:
You know those bamboo things you get in Japanese gardens? They consist of a water- catching cup on one end of a see-saw, with water running from a stream into the cup. When the cup fills to a certain level, the weight tips the see-saw and that in turn lets the water spill out, so the see-saw rights itself and the process starts again. This gives a periodic "kerplunk".
Make a row of these devices, each one striking a little bell when it tips. Line them up under a roof-edge and the result will be random rain- driven chimes. The heavier the rain, the faster they will all chime.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 07 2012 random, halfbakery