2010 November | Kiwi Ingenuity

Archive for November, 2010

So why is it after all the money spent by consumers to replace older (less efficient , pollution-causing) wood burners, they are left with enforced products that perform in a lot of cases worse than what they had previously? The newer certified clean air wood burners report to have difficulty in lighting, let smoke out into the room when loading or lighting, take longer to get to their optimum heating capacity and still chunder out smoke into the atmosphere! Nelson inventor and electrical engineer Neville D’Herville from his experience in developing central heating systems in the… Read more

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From the Author’s Blog: Recently TradeMe released their API. This is pretty great, if only because it means I can finally give up maintaining the increasingly-complicated set of scraper scripts that I’d used to do TradeMe stuff up to this point. After converting the basics of metatrade.co.nz over to the API, I was looking for a new TM-related project, and I happened to stumble across this old comic from XKCD: XKCD: “Packages” Google didn’t reveal anyone doing this already, and after asking a few people, the general opinion was that doing this was a terrible idea that would… Read more

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The Yike Bike is a kiwi invention and one making world headlines. This is no mere parochialism; the Yike Bike has just made the front cover of time magazine’s Asia edition and has been voted one of this year’s top inventions in the world. The bike was designed and developed in Christchurch. It is environmentally friendly, incredibly portable, and gets along nicely at up to 25kmph. The Time magazine recognition is a coup for the Canterbury company with the first of these bikes expected to hit the market in the middle of next year. It is touted as the world’s… Read more

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Massey University food scientist Roger Lentle wants to tackle the country’s obesity epidemic by creating yoghurt that makes people feel as though they have eaten half a roast pork. Lentle believes he is on to a winner. The only thing missing is evidence his magic ingredient is safe to consume. “We want to formulate something like yoghurt. You take it in the morning and it makes you immediately feel as though you’ve eaten half a roast suckling pig and you don’t feel hungry.” Lentle said it would be a drug free, sugar free answer to New Zealand’s obesity problem, a problem that kills… Read more

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This is an article from TradeIt – a website dedicated to providing information about Trademe. TradeMe – it’s a household name. If you live in New Zealand and use the internet you are almost guaranteed to be a member of this website. TradeMe is New Zealand’s equivalent of eBay, the US online auctions giant. Out of a population of 4 million, 1.9 million people are a member of TradeMe. The numbers are staggering, and the inspiring story behind TradeMe’s success, is one of the “little guy beats the big guy”. Early Days TradeMe.co.nz was started back in 1999 by Sam Morgan. TradeMe started… Read more

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From the Naturally4U website: We are a family company creating and distributing gentle and effective products containing only natural ingredients. Our products don’t contain chemicals, artificial colour, petroleum or lanolin ingredients. They are all environmentally friendly and we don’t test them on animals. Naturally 4 U Clinic / Shop at 17 Lincoln Park Ave, Massey. Contact us should you wish to make an appointment. For a Holisitc Health Diagnosis Consultation. Or an Energy Wellness “Rife” Treatment… Read more

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Inventor Robbie Cullen with a Gudgeon Genie

“One of the best things about this system is that you only have to lift the gate into place once and it will fit perfectly every time.” Robbie Cullen, like many kiwi farmers, has more than one string to his bow and has always enjoyed tinkering around in the workshop. “I’m mostly self-taught,” he explains. “It’s pretty much the kiwi way to pick things up as you go along.” Robbie began farming over 40 years ago when, as a 17 year old, he started work on his father’s Maungaturoto dairy farm. He then moved up to share milking before buying the family out. About four… Read more

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By Weta Workshop The team here at Weta have recently completed work on a rather unusual project, creating a fully functional Mermaid tail for Auckland woman Nadya Vessey, who is a double leg amputee. Ms Vessey approached Weta with the ambition of making a tail that was both practical and beautiful, a task that proved to be a pleasing challenge for our team. The unique articulated construction of the tail will allow Vessey to propel herself through the water with an undulating movement as if she was a mermaid. Every aspect of the tail has been custom made to… Read more

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Minister of Labour Ruth Dyson today congratulated Karl Boniface Plumbing for its dedication to making worker safety a priority. The Invercargill business won the New Zealand Safety Best Health and Safety Initiative by a Small Business at the NZ Safeguard Health and Safety Awards earlier this year. The business has 16 employees and took action that many larger businesses would not have when a worker splashed primer used to clean PVC downpipes in his eye last year. After receiving first aid, the employee was fine but Karl Boniface Plumbing decided to do something to prevent it… Read more

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Although there are many products you can buy to help solve your cat nuisance problem, why not try some of these simple and effective DIY home remedies – they may just work for you! First you could strengthen your defenses. How easy is it for a cat to get into your garden or yard? Try surrounding the area with a fence (for example chicken wire) that leans in the direction from which the cat will approach. This will most likely stop the cat from clambering over. You could also try placing flimsy plastic roll-up fencing on top of your fence. Another technique is to fit a taut wire or… Read more

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Rex, the Robotic Exoskeleton, is primarily the invention of two men, Richard Little and Robert Irving (Pictured from left to right), who have been close friends since they first met at high school over 20 years ago in Fort William, Scotland. Sharing a love for cars and tinkering with machines, the two friends left school to study engineering and went on to work together at various times and in various climates throughout their careers until they both decided to emigrate to New Zealand in the early 1990s. With already so much in common, the two friends also had first-hand knowledge… Read more

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The inventor of Rotorua’s adventure ride, the Shweeb, has always dreamt big. But Geoff Barnett never dreamt he would get monetary backing from global internet phenomenon Google to help turn his concept of a human-powered transport system into a global reality. In 2008 Google launched a project called 10^100 that called for ideas that would change the world by helping as many people as possible. Google evaluated 154,000 ideas submitted by the public and came up with 16 groupings of ideas for the public to vote on. When ‘Drive innovation in public transportation’ turned out to… Read more

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Could passing cars soon be generating electricity for shops and homes? Auckland company Enervate is looking to a Singapore shopping mall for further road-testing of its innovative technology to capture energy from passing vehicles. The company’s PowerTread system, in which tubes that are compressed by vehicles and pump hydraulic fluid to turn a turbine and generate electricity, has undergone extensive testing and simulation over the past three years. One PowerTread unit can capture enough energy from vehicles on a roadway to supply power to up to three typical New Zealand homes,… Read more

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What do you do with second-hand iron, old paint found at the dump, screens from the local crusher and enthusiastic staff members? From unlikely materials, Marlborough trucking firm C.D. Broadbridge Ltd has created an award-winning truck washing system. When the resource consent to discharge water to the aquifer expired, Mark and Weir Broadbridge were faced with a problem. What to do with the wastewater generated each week through washing thirty cartage trucks and crates? Aiming to keep costs to farmer clients down, long-time staff member Peter Wells suggested building a… Read more

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A small, innovative New Zealand company is being recognised for its contribution to the environment at a global conference in Japan as part of the Earth Month celebrations. Five organisations from around the world have been selected to make presentations at the new Ecozzeria building in Tokyo. The Good Water Company has been asked to speak at the Round Table discussion on June 3 which will focus on “How responsible innovation comes to everyday life”. The Good Water Project promotes the use of sustainable, bio-based packaging which is made from plant material, and launched… Read more

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The chance to fly a Kiwi-invented jetpack will be available in New Zealand early next year. Almost a year to the day after it first got worldwide attention, the Martin Jetpack is back on show at the United States’ annual EAA air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Christchurch’s Martin Aircraft Company is also announcing plans to allow the public to try out a “low, slow” version. Christchurch will be the location for the first business offering jetpack flights, and the company plans to expand with franchises around the world. People will be able to fly a jetpack about a metre… Read more

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Kiwi inventor Bill Martin has developed a gearbox that looks set to consign current manual and automatic transmissions to the dustbin of history. The last big breakthrough in automatic gearboxes was in 1928 with synchromesh. Now, 90 years later Martin’s Zeroshift has the potential to shake up the entire motor industry. Martin’s system replaces synchromesh, making it smoother than changing gears on a manual gearbox. Place a cup of water on the dashboard and a car fitted with Zeroshift will see the water tilt back as the car accelerates seamlessly, rather than sloshing back and… Read more

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Marlborough mussel farmers have been the driving force behind a marine pest management programme in Nelson/Marlborough. Working with a range of stakeholders and local and central government agencies to develop and implement the programme, the mussel farmers have been achieving some notable results. The marine pest, Didemnum vexillum, is an invasive sea squirt highly adapted to fouling artificial structures, including marine farms. It was introduced into the Marlborough Sounds via an infested barge in 2001 and was immediately recognised as a potential risk to the mussel farming… Read more

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University of Otago scientists have made a “major physics breakthrough” with the development of a technique to consistently isolate and capture a fast-moving single atom. A team of four researchers from the university’s physics department are believed to be the first to isolate and photograph the Rubidium 85 atom. The three-year project used laser cooling technology to slow a group of atoms, before a laser beam, or “optical tweezers”, isolated and held one atom. Lead researcher Mikkel Andersen said individual atoms were consistently isolated, which meant “a major step”… Read more

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AORAKI/MOUNT COOK One of New Zealand’s greatest gifts to the world of wilderness snow sports celebrated 55 high flying years yesterday. (22 September) The Auster, the world’s first ski plane with retractable skis landed on the Tasman Glacier, flown by Sir Harry Wigley on 22 September 1955. The plane is now a permanent exhibit at Aoraki Mount Cook’s Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre where the milestone was marked yesterday with pupils from Aoraki Mount Cook School. The Auster made aviation history as the first ski plane to successfully make a snow landing using retractable… Read more

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Rural Living: In the profound words of architect Graeme North, “there is no limit to human ingenuity.” It was therefore heartening to see during an exhibition of long-standing, which inevitably risks becoming monotonous as a result, that Kiwi ingenuity is alive and kicking. The innovations section of Fieldays this year was full of the kind of lateral thinking Kiwis are renowned for, and all solidly turned into working prototypes, for the public to observe, comment and vote on. The dairy industry has played a prominent role in encouraging those with an inventive streak… Read more

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Stu Hill has a pickup-truck with a story that’s just bursting to be told. It’s a 1955 Ford F100 Pickup, powered by a 256 cubic inch V8 motor, and it was owned from new by the Golden Bay Power Board. Stu’s grandfather, Ben Hill, bought it from the power board in 1964 and used it as his farm vehicle. When Stu’s uncles Dave and Allan took over the family farm in Central Takaka, the F100 was still going, but at some stage it must have started to show its age because it was repowered. “Uncle Dave was the mechanic in the family and he must have done some of the work,” said… Read more

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The link below leads to an excellent article on the subject of intellectual property by James and Wells (Patent Attorneys) -… Read more

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Archie Blue, from Christchurch, New Zealand, was both a professional athlete in his younger years and an avid inventor. In the 1970′s he patented and demonstrated publicly and before experts a device that fit in the motor compartment of a car which converted water into combustible hydrogen and oxygen. He proved his invention on many occasions, and is featured in the book “Suppressed Inventions & Other Discoveries”. He was offered big money for his invention, which he refused, and when he died of old age, his family discarded a “pile of junk” that had belonged to him at the local… Read more

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