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Inventor of the one and only self-cleaning home, Frances Gabe, has passed away at 101

2017-07-19T13:55:00-04:00

In each room, Ms. Gabe, tucked safely under an umbrella, could press a button that activated a sprinkler in the ceiling. The first spray sent a mist of sudsy water over walls and floor. A second spray rinsed everything. Jets of warm air blew it all dry. The full cycle took less than an hour. Runoff escaped through drains in Ms. Gabe’s almost imperceptibly sloping floors. It was channeled outside and straight through her doghouse, where the dog was washed in the bargain.

More than half a century ago, incensed by the housecleaning that was a woman’s chronic lot, Ms. Gabe began to dream of a house that would see to its own hygiene: tenderly washing, rinsing and drying itself at the touch of a button.

Ms. Gabe built the self-cleaning house with her own hands and money, receiving United States patent 4,428,085 in 1984. After more than 10 years of work and decades of planning, the house of about a thousand square feet was completed in the 1980s, at a cost of $15,000.

Floor plan

The house, whose patent consisted of 68 individual inventions, also included a cupboard in which dirty dishes, set on mesh shelves, were washed and dried in situ.
A tightly sealed cabinet was designed to deal with laundry. Soiled clothing was placed inside on hangers, washed and dried there with jets of water and air, and then, still on hangers, pulled neatly by a chain into the clothes closet. Her sink, toilet and bathtub were also self-cleaning.
In order to withstand their washing t...

Scientists develop a flexible concrete that is stronger than traditional mixtures

2016-08-17T19:09:00-04:00

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have invented a new type of concrete that is flexible yet stronger than traditional concrete. Named ConFlexPave, the concrete "allows the creation of slim precast pavement slabs for quick installation, thus halving the time needed for road works and new pavements," according to the press release.

According to the inventors, the new concrete will cut down on on-site work and construction time, as well as reduce inconveniences caused by road maintenance. Precast ConFlexPave slabs are much thinner and lighter than traditional concrete slabs, so they can be more easily installed.

The new concrete uses polymer microfibre which allows the material to bend under pressure and improves skid resistance. According to the lead researcher, Assistant Professor Yang En-Hua, the "key breakthrough" was understanding "how the components of the materials interact with one another mechanically on a microscopic level."

“The hard materials give a ...

Seven ways residents in China are fighting pollution with their own inventions

2013-11-19T20:18:00-05:00

The latest market opportunity for entrepreneurs in China? Polluted air. For nearly as long as pollution has been a salient, public issue in the country, foreigners and locals have been devising ways to help residents avoid the worst of smog—and in some cases make a little money in the process. Here are some of the most notable ones.

Let’s get our sh*t together and reinvent the toilet

2011-07-21T12:57:27-04:00

The sanitation revolution has done more to save lives and improve health than any public health intervention in the past 200 years. But the flush toilet has only reached one-third of the world’s population. Clearly, we need to encourage new ideas and new approaches to accelerate safe and affordable access to sanitation for everyone.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the launch of a strategy to help bring safe, clean sanitation services to millions of poor people in the developing world. The foundation also announced $42 million in new sanitation grants that aim to spur innovations in the capture and storage of waste, as well as its processing into reusable energy, fertilizer, and fresh water. In addition, the foundation will support work with local communities to end open defecation and increase access to affordable, long-term sanitation solutions that people will want to use.