May 10, 2009
Why didn't I think of that?
Popular Mechanics is covering the 2009 National Hardware Show, and the editors have posted their favorite picks from the thousands of new products making their debut.
This one, the Hanson Precision Ball Level, is such an obvious improvement over traditional levels that I'm amazed no one thought of it before. What makes it especially galling to me is that the inventor's inspiration was a flight simulator (I've been a fan of flight sims since the first primitive programs debuted in the '80s).
According to PopMech:
The first tool of its kind, this level uses a precision aviation ball instead of bubbles in liquid-filled vials. The inventor took inspiration from watching his son play a flight-simulation video game, and modeled his device after the horizon indicator in a plane's cockpit. The resulting tool measures plumb and level, and also calculates angles and compound angles when determining pitch.
Brilliant.
The artificial horizon gauge, familiar to pilots and flight simmers the world over, instantly shows if the plane is level. It is much easier to read than a bubble level, which was the earliest form of an artificial horizon used in the first aircraft.
Aircraft designers abandoned the spirit level right around the end of World War I, but it took tool makers another 90 years to get a clue.
What a terrific example of thinking outside the box -- or the cockpit.
Check out the rest of the tools here.
Posted by Mike Lief at May 10, 2009 09:38 AM
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Comments
I gotta get me one of those. That is really cool. I agree, Why didn't some else think of that earlier?
Posted by: Nereus at May 10, 2009 09:03 PM