Reinventing the Wheel

One Hundred Sixtieth Post: Reinventing the Wheel

In the book “Caveman Chemistry” it states that the Indian tribes never invented the wheel. It goes on to say that although they had circles in the jewelry and crafts and sleds to pull, they never built a wheel. Admittedly, this does seem odd, but in the Indians defense there was no roads to use carts on.

But what about reinventing the wheel? A lot of design tips say don’t waste time reinventing the wheel. In other words, if something is invented and works don’t waste valuable time and resources inventing your own version. In Make vol. 03 Dean Kamen adds his advice to such work. He states that if you do product research on an existing product you end up with a modified version of that product. You accentually add a cup holder to the original design. (This text is paraphrased.)

This means not to try to reinvent the wheel, but if you, the inventor, are designing a wheel to exhaust your methods of how you envision the wheel before you research ideas of past inventors. Maybe your wheel has adjustable sizes to balance the load. Or maybe it has adjustable tire pressure for different weights and terrains. The tire would perform just like the original with minimal improvements if you had referred to the original tire’s design.

The reason I am interested in this is because of Makeshift 04. The description says, “Don’t be afraid to kiss frogs!” That advice comes from Kamen’s advice that you don’t get great results until you try some unknown possibilities. In the Makeshift 04 the supplies are limited, so in order to complete it, I am going to have to invent a new way to use a common invention. I don’t want to give anymore details away, but stay posted to Constructors Corner. And maybe, you might want to enter the Makeshift challenge yourself. But in the meantime... May the Creative Force be with You