By Mark Champkins
As Inventor in Residence, I was given the task of coming up with some inventions that we might see in the future at Christmas time.
A good starting point was to think about all the problems and minor annoyances about Christmas, then to try to think of solutions. It turns out there are plenty of Christmas gripes, from pine needles dropping all over the carpet, to eating Brussel sprouts and wrapping countless presents!
On the first weekend of December, I bought and installed a Christmas tree in my living room. I have been making a range of products for the Science Museum called “Beauty in the Making” that describe how and where products have been manufactured, before they make it into our homes.
I started to wonder about where all the other things around me had come from including my new Christmas tree. Where had the tree been growing before it had been chopped down? Could it ever be replaced? I then struck upon the idea of the Bio-Bauble – a biodegradable transparent bauble containing a seedling Christmas tree, complete with soil and fertiliser that could be planted to grow a new Christmas tree.
The next problem I thought about solving was wrapping up presents. My solution came when I was thinking about a more robust alternative to wrapping paper that could be reused. Initially, I wondered whether Christmas wrapping cloth might catch on. Then I remembered using some vacuum pack bags to store away a duvet. It occurred to me that if these were produced in opaque with Christmas patterns, they would make a great way of wrapping things quickly and could be reused again. The result was Vac-Pac-Wrapping. I’ve tested the idea and it works really well!
Another invention idea was inspired by the feeling of excitement I used to feel as a child as the presents began to build up underneath the Christmas tree. Before opening them, my brothers and I would subject our presents to some rigorous scientific tests to figure out what was inside. Heaviness was usually a good sign!
So I came up with the Guess the Gift kit. It comprises a range of tools that can be used to interrogate what a present might be, and after Christmas can be used to explore other mysteries! These include a magnet, a set of scales, a torch, a magnifying glass and dental mirror.
It’s hard to predict whether these inventions will catch on in the future, but I’m already thinking about the inventions next year might bring.
Mark Champkins is the Inventor in Residence at the Science Museum