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By Steve
#13922
Ok, now I know that there are various products out there that are supposed to do the job. There are softer rolls for hardwood floors that supposedly don't make any scratches, and there are even stumps that you can use instead of rolls (stick some felt underneath for protection). But if you've used those, you will notice that they are actually only joke articles - the floor will still suffer, and even more if you trust the manufacturer's promise and aren't as careful as you really should.

So how about inventing something that really, truely, sincerely, reliably doesn't scratch the floor when you move around with your office chair, even if you're a hardcore office worker and eat & sleep on the chair? Hover craft or magic levitation could do the trick, but I'm sure there are other ways. You could fasten the seat on an arm that's screwed to the wall (although admittedly that would be an expensive solution). Aren't there any high-tech materials that can be used for the purpose? And if yes, what could keep tiny stones or other pieces of hard material sneaking in between and causing scratches anyway?
#14033
Sounds like you are looking for a chair that would be similar to the Magnetic Levitation bed shown on http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/magn ... 184990.php

Would be a cool thing, but you would have to work out how to maintain balance, and then theres the price tag.

It might be cheaper to invent a more durable floor finish, of course then you would have to protect the chair wheels from wear.
#14040
Nice link! ;D Nice price, too. 8-o But hey, if we get a couple more people interested, I'm sure we can work out a rebate. :b

Seriously though, it's cool that someone has implemented the technology. The main problem I see (apart from the price) is that you'd have to put a lot of steel into the floor (or magnets - but it's probably "cheaper" to put them into the chair) - which probably makes it no less complex that wall-mounting a huge lever and attach the chair to it to let you float that way.

As for the more durable floor finish, I agree of course. The problem here is that of materials and beauty - if you have a wooded floor it's all about the natural surface so the wood can "breathe" - putting thick layers of protective... whatever on it would kinda defeat the purpose of having a wooden floor in the first place. Which is probably why there is no ideal solution for the problem (yet). Protecting the chair wheels from wear is the only thing I'm not so concerned about - if the floor stays unharmed that way, I'd be happy to replace them once in a while, as long it's easy to do and not a major operation.

Btw. on my floor I opted for "stumps" - static feet instead of rolls, since in my setting I'm not riding around the room all the time (I like to put my feet on the desk, so having the chair in a static position is almost a feature ;) ). I stuck some felt underneath the feet (the type you can stick under all kinds of furniture to protect the floor), but sure enough, the felt came off of one of the feet a couple of days ago, so as it seems that's no ideal solution either.

Possibly the biggest problem with those desk chairs is that there can be a lot of weight coming down on one of the feet/rolls while it's moving. Maybe it would work to bild a "ring" that is snapped to the five points of contact and spreads the weight more evenly on a bigger surface? :-?
#14043
Just had an idea...What if you placed an actual piece of felt-fabric around the "stumps" and held it in place with several rubber bands (or maybe string). This should keep it on better and would provide the protection your floor deserves. You may want to double up on the felt depending on it's durability.

Seems like the perfect invention for this would be a chair with the "stumps" formed out of some type of stiff non-marring material.

Thanks for the response!
#14044
L.Malone wrote:Just had an idea...What if you placed an actual piece of felt-fabric around the "stumps" and held it in place with several rubber bands (or maybe string). This should keep it on better and would provide the protection your floor deserves. You may want to double up on the felt depending on it's durability.

Seems like the perfect invention for this would be a chair with the "stumps" formed out of some type of stiff non-marring material.

Thanks for the response!
Cool idea! ;D "Chair Socks" basically. Not quite sure yet how this will look and what material to use (the "original" sticky one won't work since it's stiff), but I'll probably give it a try. Would be interesting to test if these work on the rolls as well. Probably harder to do because the rolls will easily get stuck, but doesn't seem impossible either.
#14046
i found that using tennis balls that I cut holes into to cover the feet of the chair
worked perfectly in keeping my flooring scratch free for the last 8 years ok so the chair slides instead of rolling and try walking to the otherside of the room this prevents scratches too :D
#14134
You just gave me a great idea for a solution to the problem. I just submitted the first draft of a magnetic levitation patent for an outdoor power tool. This same technology would also work to solve your problem. The trick is to have large balls with no axles that rotate on maglev only. The wheels would be like small basketballs slightly deflated to run with a small flat spot on the bottom when sitting in the chair. The ball itself would be inside and magnetically levitated from upside-down cups slightly larger in diameter than the ball (the ball touches nothing but the floor). The entire inside of the ball shell is constructed of the same flexible silicone rubber magnet material used for refrigerator magnets. The "cups" have just enough neodymium magnets installed peripherally to ALMOST levitate off the ball. This keeps your chair from floating away from its fixed location while your working. When you decide to move the chair while sitting in it, that little extra lateral pressure of ball against cup triggers the electro-magnets that give just enough extra magnetic force (combined with the neodymium magnets) to instantly levitate the balls and glide effortlessly until you stop -- then the electro-magnets automatically shut off fixing your chairs position again.

This is off the top of my head but I think it can be done practically given that neodymium magnets of the size and quantity needed would be only a few US dollars for all three wheels and the small electro-magnets would be about the same and operate for the better part of a year on a few small batteries. A proximity sensor would automatically limit the current to the electro-magnets to only compensate for the users weight (maintain exact levitation distance from cup to ball) thus maximizing battery life.

Gotta run! Hope this makes sense as written -- no time to proof. gone
#14170
Current thinking is soft thin silicone rubber coated 6" neodymium hollow spheres as the wheels levitated by neodymium magnets within the cups covering the top of the spheres which are mounted to the chair legs.

I want 1 cent per chair royalties OR a customized 757 jet OR one gallon of gas -- whichever is most valuable in 2010. :D
#14190
What about health hazards ??

No scratched floor !! Great !!!

Dead People !! oh shhhhhhhyyyttt !!

Magnetic fields are dangerous . may cause electronic device malfunction and damage ... and health probs ... especially if the magnetic field can lift your ass !! :p
#14200
No problem -- have pacemaker users wear a thick ferrite jacket if they plan to lye on the floor and hug one of my maglev chair wheels. :D

I have a huge assortment of magnets arriving this week for maglev experiments on a different project. I also plan to try using some of them to create one of these maglev chair wheels just for fun. I'll post the results here in this thread.. IF I can find or make and afford the large magnetic sphere I need for that.
#14203
I envy you D. Grissom . Which i was able to test Maglev technologie , i have always ben facinated by that ... I had school research in school about maglev trains in japan and germany few years ago while no one knew about them ... eaven till now ...
People are so far from technologie ...

I am sure my neighbour bought triangle wheels for his car ...


Good luck in the projects . But remember Hazards of technologie are prety much forgotten when profit is there ...
#14237
This turned out to be so easy to design and prototype and so needed and practical that I couldn't resist. I already have a MagLev (Halbach Array) appliance being prototyped at a local inventors work shop and have a ton of extra neodymium magnets left over so why not do both? Thanks for the idea Steve!
#14238
Michael D. Grissom wrote:This turned out to be so easy to design and prototype and so needed and practical that I couldn't resist. I already have a MagLev (Halbach Array) appliance being prototyped at a local inventors work shop and have a ton of extra neodymium magnets left over so why not do both? Thanks for the idea Steve!
I would LOVE to see that! ;D
#14239
BTW.. I now have 7 patents and prototypes in process at local inventor workshops and all are funded by investors that found me here in the CreativityPool because CP threads are high in the Google hit lists these days. I'm hoping the MagLevGlide will be #8.
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