Text: Mike Bruton. Article is from the November 2011 issue of Popular Mechanics.
As the countdown starts for the PM Inventors Conference on 24 November, we present the second batch of Great South African Inventions, most of them drawn from the eponymous book by Mike Bruton.
Cat Scan
The invention of the CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) Scan was a combined effort by the British electrical engineer, Godfrey Hounsfield, and the South African physicist, Allan MacLeod Cormack, who was based in the United States; they jointly won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1979. They worked separately on the development of the CAT Scanner and the only time they ever met was at the Nobel Prize award ceremony.
In 1957, Cormack developed algorithms that used information from X-ray “slices” of a patient’s body to create a tomographic, or 3D, image of the whole body. These reconstructions were the first computed tomograms ever made – although his “computer” was a simple desktop calculator.
Cormack had difficulty raising interest in his research – partly because computers of the day were unable to make the necessary calculations quickly enough. Godfrey Hounsfield came to the rescue, developing a method of his own for computed tomography. He constructed the first practical scanner, which was designed to examine the head. When it was first tested in 1972, this machine provided doctors with their first 3D look inside the human body. A whole new field of medical research and diagnostics had been opened up.
Hippo Water Roller
The Hippo Water Roller, known previously as the Aqua Roller and renamed in 1993 to give it a more “African” flavour, was invented in 1991 by two South Africans, Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker.
It meets a pressing social need. Women in rural areas often carry water for long distances, balancing buckets on their heads.
This is not only exhausting and uncomfortable, but can also lead to neck injuries.
The tough plastic drum, which won an SABS Design for Development Award in 1992, rolls along easily with a full load of 90 litres of water and does not need to be lifted and carried.
It has already improved the quality of life of many thousands of South Africans who do not have piped water in their homes.
By April this year, over 33 000 rollers had been distributed across 17 countries, directly benefiting in excess of 250 000 people. Some 95 per cent of the rollers are donated or sponsored by corporates as part of their social responsibility programmes.
Joule
In 2008, South Africa designed its first electric family car, the Joule, which is powered by electricity. This lively little four-door car is designed to travel at speeds of up to 135 km/h and has a range of about 300 km between charges.
The lithium ion battery needs to be charged for about seven hours from a wall socket when empty, but motorists can expect to save up to 80 per cent on fuel costs and 50 per cent on service costs. This is because Joule’s electric motor is much more efficient than a normal internal combustion engine. It also has fewer moving parts and is therefore considerably cheaper to maintain. The Joule produces zero tailpipe emissions, which helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector, one of the biggest contributors to global warming.
Greathead Shield
James Henry Greathead was born in Graham’s Town in 1820, attending school there and in Cape Town before completing his education in Britain.
Moving to London in 1864, he served a three-year pupillage with the civil engineer Peter Barlow, during which time he was introduced to the shield system of tunnelling.
In 1869, he and Barlow began work on designs for the Tower Subway under the Thames.
Greathead’s design for a circular tunnelling shield was inspired by Barlow’s ideas for a circular tunnelling shield: it consisted of an iron cylinder 2,21 m in diameter and fitted with screw jacks that enabled it to be jacked forward.
In use, the shield was inched forward as the working face was excavated, while behind it a permanent tunnel lining of cast iron segments was fitted into place – itself an important innovation.
This picture shows underground tunnelling work in progress on the Southgate Extension of the Piccadilly line.
Source: Wikipedia.org
- If you plan to visit London soon, be sure to take in the London Transport Museum’s “Sense and the City” exhibition, which runs until 18 March next year.
Playpump
A brilliant South African invention, the PlayPump turns the boring chore of pumping water by hand into a fun activity for children. Ronnie Stuiver of Delmas, in Mpumalanga, adapted a children’s merry-go-round to pump water in rural areas. The mechanism converts the rotary movement of the merry-go-round into the reciprocating movement of a water pump, using only two moving parts. This makes it highly effective, easy to operate and maintain, and very economical. PlayPumps are now used in many African countries.
Cobb Cooker
Brainchild of industrial designer Ken Hall, the award-winning Cobb portable cooker was initially designed as a safe alternative to dangerous paraffin stoves, commonly used by people in rural areas who lacked access to electricity.
The first prototype was a ceramic sphere-shaped device that cooked well, but was heavy and cumbersome. The initial fuel source for the Cobb was dry corn cobs – hence the grill’s name. The cooker has since been refined over and over, resulting in a small, eco-friendly, portable and highly efficient portable cooker. Compressed charcoal briquettes have replaced the corn cobs.
Viböl Exhaust Vibration Balancer
The Viböl Exhaust Vibration Balancer was invented in 1996 by Jacobus Cronje of Cape Town. It manages all known movements in an exhaust system and thus reduces fuel bills and breakages. The system was developed by Cronje after customers requested something different from the standard flexible joint (which attaches the exhaust system to the engine), as this often cracks.
The Viböl system can swivel 17 degrees in any direction, whereas the flex, spiral and slip arrangements that are normally used in exhausts have a very limited swivel. The design consists of two sections that taper. Diesel gas emissions released into the air are high in carbon. This turns into graphite when it is hot, and the emission gas forms a further seal (graphite is also good at reducing friction and helps the moving parts to last longer). In 2002, Cronje signed a R450 million deal with a US company to make and export the Viböl Balancers, which are now used in trucks, ships and diesel generators worldwide.
Internet Security System
South African Mark Shuttleworth, the first African in space (he took a $20 million ride on a Russian-built rocket and spent a while orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station), started his Internet security business in his parents’ garage after graduating with a business science degree from the University of Cape Town in 1995. He became extremely rich when he sold the Thawte Internet security system to VeriSign in 2000.
Shuttleworth is founder of the Ubuntu Project, a popular Linux-based operating system that is freely available worldwide for desktops and servers. According to his official biography, Ubuntu aims to be “beautiful, easy to use and precision-engineered for consumers and large-scale enterprise deployments alike”. Shuttleworth, who now lives on the Isle of Man, leads design and product strategy at Canonical Ltd, the company behind Ubuntu.
Revolution Project
Graeme Murray, a multi-talented inventor and keen cyclist (he’s also an old friend of PM, and was a presenter at our inaugural PM Inventors Conference in 2009), is the brains behind an innovative – in fact, downright revolutionary – racing bicycle known as the Revolution Project. Featuring a carbon Nomex honeycomb and balsa core, this lightweight two-wheeler gives new meaning to “adjustable”; even the fork and handlebar can be adjusted to suit the rider’s size and preferences.
Murray also invented the widely acclaimed Orthoped Bicycle Saddle, a design that takes into account the anatomical idiosyncrasies of both male and female riders; a “competition cycle crank”, an adjustable crank, and (with friend Werner Vogler) a continuously variable bicycle transmission.
Four-Way fin System
In 2001, Cape Town’s Dean Geraghty invented the Four-Way Fin System for surfboards. Normally, the fin is fixed to the end of the surfboard to prevent it from sliding sideways. The four-way system allows the surfer to adjust the position and angle of the fins according to the hydrodynamics of the surfboard, the way the surfer stands on the board, and the prevailing surf conditions. Surfers slide the fins forward to increase manoeuvrability, and backwards or inwards to improve stability. The system – the first of its kind – is now sold internationally, and Dean has gone on to become a widely respected surfboard shaper. He plans to relocate to Queensland, Australia, early next year.
