GrumpyOldGuy
Contributor
In this day and age, when we can put a man on the moon and manufacture diving computers that can tell you everything except when to take your next bowl movement, why don't we have a tank valve that we know for certain when it is on or off. I have thought about it and come up with an invention. It consists of a hole, a cotter pin, and a piece of wire. When you turn the wheel on a air tank to the on position it exposes a little hole in the shaft. You stick the cotter pin thru the hole. The piece of wire attaches the cotter pin to the tank so it doesn't get lost. The cotter pin prevents the wheel from being closed. I have read where cave divers rubbing the valve on the cave roof can accidentally close the valve. The cotter pin would prevent this from happening. If the cotter pin is in the hole you know the valve is on. If the cotter pin isn't in the hole there is a good chance the valve is off. So how about it? Can I patent this and make a million dollars?
+2 for a creative idea.
-1 in that most cold water divers and/or cave divers want to be able to turn off their valve in case of free flow (obviously they have redundant supplies or a good buddy).
-1 in that changing anything in the dive industry is hard, new ideas tend to get smoked just because they are new / different. Its a hard crowd to please.
Here is another one you can have. Put a clicker ratchet on the valve. Not to make it one way, but to make loud clicking noise when turned[-] counter[/-] clockwise (off). That way when someone is turning it off instead of on, they know it instantly. As a bonus, if a DM does a behind you head move, you know it. Make it loud enough and anyone within 10 feet would know it.
Its not hard to do a patent search and file a provisional patent. That gives you time to sell the idea to someone with the deep pockets (and insurance) to make & sell the product.[-][/-]
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