How We Might Live If Inventors Had Way

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17947, 26 November 1932, Page 10

How We Might Live If Inventors Had Way

LONDON, Sept. 6. THOSE arch enclitics of the status iqtio, the inventors, are at it again. Their eighth International Exhibition—with exhibits from 13 different countries —opened at the Central Hall, Westminster, London, on October 6. Its 570 items, divided into five sections, make the visitor realise that life might bo a very different thing. Let us assume it is the year x2 -f- y2. The displayed gadgetry is now a conaconiplaee in every household. Springing from our combination bed-und-chest-of-drawcrs we take our clothing from the drawers beneath the mattress, whilst ,n touch transforms the tail board into a bed-table. riowAr Vase. Bed-Warmer.

Withdrawing the bed-warmer wo turn it into a llower vase <a wateringcan'is another potentiality j, and taking up the “one-piece safety razor" we'Approach the “primary suspended toilet."

Hftfe everything, including soap, .sponge, and totyel, iA hanging in the ait <}rf elastic. attachments which yank 'them' bdek into place after use (the'f-e' is a little machine for drilling holes in your soap to hang it up by). Odr wardrobe includes an instep supporter in which even temperature of the feet is ensured by special ventilation, and a foot attachment which 1 ‘ Wjll ■do fof pedestrians what pneumatic tyres do for cars,” consisting of a pair of wooden soles from which protrude, three tennis balls in tin containers. You literally walk on tennis balls. The breakfast milk receives a good deal of attention. There is a “milkman indicator" which tell the milkman how much to leave, a milk-bottle bracket which is clamped 1o the front door and can only be released from inside, and a holder for using the bottle at table with a whatnot to regulate the flow of milk.

If.'despite all this, we still feel like slamming the front door, we are saddened to find that there is no slam. A tricky little attachment has seen to that.

‘ ‘Luggage Scootor. ’ * We no longer carry our suitcase—we.place it on a “luggage scooter" and, trundle it along behind -.us on wheels. Should we travel by car and get into a skid the touch of an electric Dutton shoots sand in front' of the wheels, whilst other motorists are advised of our intentions .by a large arrow turning from side to side like a weather-cock on the roof.

And, Anally, for the trip on a friend’s yacht there is an iflnoccntlooking mackintosh. Should we be swept overboard a hasty puff into an unostentatious rubber tubp v inflates the garment and allows us to confound the friend by floating for hours—days if necessary)

All these! Simplifications of life—and much else besides—arc on view.