Free Republic

KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- Harry Wesley Coover Jr., known as the inventor of Super Glue, has died at his home in Kingsport, Tenn. He was 94. Coover was working for Tennessee Eastman Company when an accident resulted in Super Glue, according to his grandson, Adam Paul of South Carolina.

Daniel Reetz loves trash bins. A big one in Fargo, N.D., was where he found most of the materials he used to build a scanner that was fast enough to scan a 400-page book in about 20 minutes without cracking the binding. The two Canon PowerShot A590 cameras and two lights that he lashed together with a few pieces of acrylic and wood cost him about $300 in all, considerably less than the $10,000 commercial book scanners on the market. When he was finished, Mr. Reetz, now 29 and working at Disney Research’s laboratories, put his 79-step how-to guide on...

Eric Jacqmain, from Indiana in the US, covered an ordinary fibreglass satellite dish with 5,800 tiny mirror tiles - and made his very own 'death ray'. When aligned correctly it can generate a heat spot a couple of centimetres across, with an intensity of 5,000 shining suns, the 19-year-old claims. The inventor then posted video of his invention on YouTube, with people commenting in awe of the power of the satellite. The ray generates enough power to melt steel, vaporize aluminum, boil concrete, turn dirt into lava, and obliterate any organic material in an instant. It stands at 5ft 9ins...

Lunacy dims Edison's inventionAlan Levine Casa Grande Dispatch Published: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 10:33 AM MST The General Electric factory in Winchester, Va., the last major U.S. plant making standard incandescent light bulbs, is scheduled to close at the end of the month. When it does, the remaining 200 workers will lose their jobs, marking a rather ignominious end for a company that produced a product that Thomas Alva Edison gave to us and the rest of the world back in the late 1870s. This is a direct result of Al Gore’s global-warming scare tactic, which is largely responsible for...

CORNING, N.Y. (AP) -- An ultra-strong glass that has been looking for a purpose since its invention in 1962 is poised to become a multibillion-dollar bonanza for Corning Inc. The 159-year-old glass pioneer is ramping up production of what it calls Gorilla glass, expecting it to be the hot new face of touch-screen tablets and high-end TVs. Gorilla showed early promise in the '60s, but failed to find a commercial use, so it's been biding its time in a hilltop research lab for almost a half-century. It picked up its first customer in 2008 and has quickly become a $170...

NEW PRODUCTS: Planning in works for making parts for passenger rail cars, use of high-rail stimulus fundsNew York Air Brake Co. will be ready for new business if the state's proposed high-speed commuter railroad lines become a reality. The Watertown railroad brake manufacturer has two products used in passenger rail cars, said Marc B. Robbins, locomotive sales engineer. "It really is a little different than what we're used to working with in freight," he said. The biggest difference is stricter safety requirements. One such product is a brake that has a passenger version, CCB II-P. "It's one of our most...

The U.S. Coast Guard has complained that there is not enough plastic tubing in the United States to construct the booms needed to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. And neither BP, the Coast Guard, nor any other part of the U.S. government seems to understand how to effectively clean up the fouled Gulf. A technology that could effectively and actively remove oil from the surface of the ocean in all weather conditions would be a huge advance for the efforts going on in the Gulf right now. In fact, such a technology was designed and tested in the...

In one of the many new age music albums, there is a song called "Fly Away" and the constant refrain is "Fly Away, Fly Away, Fly Away," and the refrain really describes what you can do with this new invention. The catch is of course with this, you can only fly away in your imagination. TFT INSTRUMENTS Company has designed a new flight simulator that can be used for entertainment (with both movie studio sets/movie productions), airports, and shopping centers.

David Croslin is the President of a newly created company called "Innovate the Future." His company is seeking to assist both established and startup companies using his professional network and reputation, experience of an internationally acknowledged innovation leader to help companies grow, make the right connections, and become successful internationally.

When it comes to computer technology, thin is always in. It’s indisputable that the thinner, lighter, clearer, the better when dealing with the latest computer gadget. This keyboard is the epitome of the high standards expected of the technological version of the fashion industry. It’s based on image as well, that is, image recognition technology.

Walter Fredrick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died aged 90. Utah House Rep. Kay McIff, an attorney who represented Mr Morrison in a royalties case, said he died at his home in Monroe, Utah, on Tuesday. "That simple little toy has permeated every continent in every country, as many homes have Frisbees as any other device ever invented," Mr McIff said. "How would you get through your youth without learning to throw a Frisbee?" Mr Morrison's son, Walt, said that "old age caught up" with his father and that he also had cancer. "He was a...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products. The liquid glass spray (technically termed “SiO2 ultra-thin layering”) consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the...

His Name Is Branding Magic; Thomas Edison Is 'So 20th Century' Decades after he died penniless, Nikola Tesla is elbowing aside his old adversary Thomas Edison in the pantheon of geek gods. When California engineers wanted to brand their new $100,000 electric sports car, one name stood out: Tesla. When circuit designers at microchip producer Nvidia Corp. in 2007 launched a new line of advanced processors, they called them Tesla. And when videogame writers at Capcom Entertainment in Silicon Valley needed a character who could understand alien spaceships for their new Dark Void saga, they found him in Nikola Tesla....

“Save your receipts” may be the rule in the workplace for getting reimbursed for expenses, but those slips of paper are just so much trash to a college student. That’s what Drexel University student Bradley Ericson pondered as he observed transactions at the checkout counter at campus dining halls. Students have a meal plan and tap it electronically by using their student identification card. But the cashier still hands over a printed piece of thermal paper. Soon after, that receipt winds up on the floor or counter. A freshman at Drexel’s LeBow College of Business in the fall of 2008,...

What does everyone think was the best new gadget to come out in the past decade?

Lester Shubin, a government scientist who saw the potential of using Kevlar to strengthen bullet-resistant vests for the police, an advance that has saved the lives of more than 3,000 officers, died Nov. 20 at his home in Fairfax, Va. He was 84. The cause was a heart attack, his son, Harry, said. Working with the Army in the early 1970s, Mr. Shubin helped develop the first vests made of Kevlar, an extraordinarily strong fabric invented by the DuPont Company. At the time he was a program manager with the National Institute of Justice, an arm of the United States...

Disney debuted its uber-high-tech simulator experience that features a first-of-its-kind robotic arm, Wednesday. The Sum of All Thrills ride, sponsored by Raytheon Co., utilizes something called a KUKA RoboSim 4-D Simulator to power the attraction, where guests design and ride their own custom roller coasters and other simulated-motion experiences.

Toronto researchers have developed a portable device they say will accurately diagnose prostate cancer in 30 minutes. The microchip technology, created by a pair of University of Toronto scientists, will be able to determine the severity of the tumours through a simple urine sample and produce quick diagnosis with no need for painful biopsies.

A controversial cooker that 'grows' meat and fish by heating animal cells in your kitchen claimed first prize in the Electrolux design competition tonight. The invention, called Cocoon, could develop food with the make-up and nutrients of real meat. Mr Hederstierna, 27, said: 'This will create 100 per cent pure meat without the need for animals to be killed and with no risk of contamination. It will change everything.'

A Jones County inventor has filed a lawsuit against two Internet server companies. John Ishmel Henry of Soso, in May, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. In his suit, Henry claims that “he was called and depicted as a n----r on two of the Internet service provider search engines, AOL and Google.” Henry, the original inventor of the vibrating toilet seat, was featured on the Jay Leno Show in November, 2008. “Needless to say that my invention garnered a lot of attention,” he said. “I was completely humiliated and horrified...