Toilet Paper Folder & Dispenser Prototype

Great, now all I need is a contrivance to tie my boot laces!

Velcro.

Amazing what one can do with a Mamod steam engine and a shed-load of Meccano...

I'll take the Mamod over velcro any day.

Were you planning on using the Mamod to do up your shoes, or fasten it under the toilet seat as the next step in toilet paper mechanization? In which case, wouldn't a (really well insulated) electric motor with an offset arm be better than something you have to fuel all the time? Or are you looking for the nostalgia wipe? Perhaps with a little steam whistle for (additional) atmosphere.

Mark

I think of three potential difficulties here:

1. Sanitary condition of the push button. Yeeeeeewww!

2. 6 to 15 sheets of toilet paper per wipe, even with the cheapest single ply tissue, is approximately double what is needed, and with the most expensive, or woven tissue, about six times what's needed. But the fact that it controls the amount of tissue per wipe is potentially a tissue savings method once that bug gets ironed out. And for washrooms that refuse to provide paper towels, it'll be an instant releif to get a quick sizable handful of toilet tissue with wet hands.

3. Believe it or not, a lot of people are bunchers, not folders, of toilet paper. They just reel of a handful, bunch it up, and use it. And THEY don't understand the 'folders'!!

Other than than, it seems like just a continuation of the toilet experience mechanization. Watch for it in your local WC partition.

Mark

Ha! Good post! There is that gulf between the Bunchers and the Folders (not that I've had much experience moderating these panel discussions), but there is also a little-known, very eclectic third group: The Artsy-Fartsy Bunch. These folks have elevated the ordinarily mundane, functional WC experience into an exquisite art form and have been known to leave behind entire menageries of origami birds, animals, plants, stellated polyhedra, and once, in a Manhattan night club, an entire gallery of miniature bas-relief interpretations of Giger's paintings. This pic, for example, was taken in The GasPipe basement WC, third stall on the left. It is entitled "Li III" in honor of Giger's original work:

Pretty amazing what these folks can do with a roll of Charmin.

-e

Next time your wife wants to know why you are taking so long in the can.......

Mark

She's already asked. Explaining the airbrush and compressor was the hardest part...

-e

I know. I know.

Mark

Objection #1 is easily remedied with one of those "presence" sensor thingies. Put your hand in front of it and, voila!, your tie is neatly folded and snipped.

A friend of a friend owns the company that invented these sensor thingies for WCs. Turns out the first installations were popular in mens' rooms, but in beta tests the ladies constantly complained about un-flushed poddies. With their usual engineering enthusiasm, the company sent tech after tech to check out the problem. There just wasn't a problem. They worked! That is, with men using them. They finally sent a female engineer to check it out. Turns out most ladies, it seems, are averse to just plopping down on the seat like a man (like, how else can you properly read a newspaper?) and women tend, rather, to squat over the seat to avoid contaminating their delicate nether regions. This made female users too far from the sensor to trigger it reliably. A simple tweak of a gain pot solved the problem. Lesson: know your audience!

-e

If I may enter the scatological depths - I'm told the expression ' like a bear with a sore **** ' is thus : Before winter, Bear eats suitable twigs etc to constipate itself. Bear munches up food for hibernation. Bear wakes up in Spring for one hell of a dump . Obviously Yogi is not in a mood to play.

Of further interest is soldiers being instructed to use 1 piece only , by employing the wipe/fold iteration. Said product to be stored in bag so as not to reveal location to enemy.

Kris writes: "If I may enter the scatological depths..."

-----

I think the word is probe.

As in, "I was abducted by aliens and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

e ,your wording would be perfectly understood in UK , but for some reason the word is usually reserved for such cases as "..probed by a parliamentary select committee." My understanding is that the word came from our public-school system. This could be a case of reverse engineering - we had public schools and the word 'probed' found a place , you guys inherited the word and aliens started visiting . Hmm, I always wondered about C3PO . The Japanese have a fantastically pragmatic and open attitude toward bodily function ; In the book "You Only Live Twice" Bond is politely mocked by his host for using a handkerchief with the rhetorical question " would you visit the toilet and then lovingly carry the results around with you ". Sanitation Engineering merits Degree level Qualification in its own right . I would have specialized in my younger days had the opportunity been there - less glamour in sewer tunnels , but more mileage. Kris

Jeeze, could you imagine being probed by a parliamentary select committee? I'd rather jump off a bridge.

And yeah, I don't use hankies for that very reason. The whole idea of...

-e

My thoughts exactly.Ughh..

The comedian Graham Norton was showing bizarre devices from around the world - Someone had marketed a sticky 'tab' that you could use to lift the toilet seat without fear of nasty disease . As he pointed out , the next visitor would stick their tab to the previous .....

Oddly , the toilet (or 'bathroom' as you folk say - that cracks me up for some juvenile reason !) is relatively germ free .

The disposable keyboard must be out there somewhere . Maybe I should get one of those washable ones , but then I'd have to start worrying about who'd touched the handle on the washing machine....Anxiety is so worrying.

The disposable keyboard is dead, get an optical one!

That's not fair...I cannot view that site while I'm at this PC....forbidden, sounds quite funny though

Ya know, I read this post while eating lunch, not right!

Bad timing. If you had read it while eating breakfast, you could've called in sick today. But, no.

Care for a Snickers bar?

A Baby Ruth might be more appropriate.

Ah, you're right. It's been a long time since I saw that film.

-e