I was thinking about the problem of moving a large cumbersome thing into place, a discussed in the "Liftease Panel Waltzer" idea. Moving with a machine is difficult because the machine must fit in and out of the place. Just sliding along the ground is hard because many things aren't intrinsically slideable - plus you might damage or scratch a nice floor (as I have done moving furniture). Ladling grease onto the surface is less than ideal because you are left with a huge mess.

A bag of small ball bearings, scattered about the floor and under the object, would allow large objects to be rolled across the ball bearings. New ball bearings would have to be strewn in the path, like rose petals. One could clean them up with a vacuum/magnet attachment. This would be OK, but who wants to clean anything up? Also, once you have the item in place, a bunch of ball bearings are wedged underneath and you have to get them out.

Solution: ice ball bearings. They have the rolling qualities of ball bearings - but if they get a little crushed or warm they then have the slippery quality of ice. Libreally sprinkle them under the item and in its path. Best of all - when you get your item in place, just take a coffee break. When you return the ball bearings will have melted and your item will have settled down into its place. These would be sold at hardware stores and places like U-Haul and Ryder for use by do-it-yourself movers. They would come in large returnable thermos bottles, charged with liquid nitrogen for maximum coldth.
-- bungston, Jun 13 2003

Liftease Panel Waltzer http://www.halfbake...e_20Panel_20Waltzer
[bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Sliders (not the television show) (.PDF) http://www.expanded...t_Sheet_sliders.pdf
"Placed under heavy furniture, like file cabinets and bookcases, sliders help move large items without scratching the floor and help prevent them from falling over while moving." [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

EZ Moves http://www.ezmoves.com/
"Furniture slides." Same a above, different profile. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

Does It Really Do That? Moving Men http://www.nbc4.com...1464648/detail.html
NBC investigates these furniture slide things. [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

airsled http://www.airsled.com/how_appliance.htm
Not as charming as a handfull of wet or dry ice ball bearings while also creating more noise and dust. Oh well. [Tiger Lily, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]

If the object is that heavy that you need these, it's probably heavy enough to crush the ice.
-- waugsqueke, Jun 13 2003


By having lots and lots of small ones, some of the crushing issues may be overcome. One problem that would resort in crushing is getting the object onto the balls in the first place.
-- oneoffdave, Jun 13 2003


It would be tricky but could be usable for some applications. You would ned to be transporting something with a large footprint in order to stop the ice from crushing
-- gnomethang, Jun 13 2003


Coldth. Hmm.
-- galukalock, Jun 13 2003


class hb idea, bungston. +1
-- po, Jun 13 2003


Put up those Slippery Surface notices,
whhhhheeeeeeeee.....
-- The Kat, Jun 13 2003


May I suggest some copper powder in the ice, so the puddles don't attract mosquitoes?
-- FarmerJohn, Jun 13 2003



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