Companies have been selling mice with fans in them for a few weeks now, and gamers have been maken them for a bit over a year. All these mice have the fans blowing _up_, towards the palm of the hand. Manufacturers and gamers have also been sticking all sorts of weird things on the bottom of mice to decrease the friction between the mouse and the surface lying on. Why does a mouse that you can mount fans into need to lie directly upon a surface at all?

Mount some high-efficiency fans near the bottom of a wide, puck-like mouse surrounded by a small rubber skirt. Poof! Instant ultra-low-friction pointing device, perfect for getting that extra frag. Heck, if you design the channels that draw air into the mouse correctly (by, say, running grooves or furrows from intake holes mounted near the top of the mouse down the sides, so that air is drawn along the bottom of the palm), you can still effectively cool a gamers hand.

Why has noone done this?

Why can't I sleep?
-- bear, Jun 24 2004

VacuuMouse http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/VacuuMouse
by half. Similar. "I could really use a mouse that would float over a surface...Then it hit me: use hovercraft technology. Add a skirt to the bottom of the mouse and supply a high volume of air." [calum, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

I'm thinking that any kind of downward pressure on the mouse (a hand resting on it) would cause a negation of the forces that allow the mouse to "float". Unless the hand was able to exert exactly level pressure, the mouse would most likely tilt, and cause the air to rush out a side and allow the opposing side's skirt to make contact with the surface with friction. But it still is a really cool idea that I may try with an old optical mouse.

Calum's right, there is a recipe called VacuuMouse
-- Samurai, Jun 24 2004


An excellent idea, but it seems you have been beaten to it. >link<
-- calum, Jun 24 2004


//Why has noone done this?//

Perhaps someone has, we may never know.

//Why can't I sleep?//

Sound of the mouse fans keeping you up? +
-- sartep, Jun 24 2004



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