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Disposable Wheels

  (+15, -2)(+15, -2)
(+15, -2)
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It's that time of year - it's Christmas, we just got our bonus, we won a few hundred quid in the lottery, Aunt Flo left us something in her will, whatever.

We go to the home appliances hypermarket.

We see the plasma TV, dual CPU PC, fridge, whatever, of our dreams and, wonder of wonders, it's on sale!

The helpful salespeople strap on disposable handles with twine, and lend us a handcart to get out to the street.

Now comes the quandary: how on earth do we get this thing home?

If we're lucky, we can hail a cab or we drove to the store in the first place.

But maybe we live in walking distance of the store. Or we want to go by public transport. Or perhaps we get a car home, but we still face half a block and long hallways before we are done.

We could simply lug the thing bodily, but it must weigh half a ton, and we collectively put our backs out the last two times we tried this.

So, at the cash register, for some $2-5 (£1-3 UK), we purchase some disposable wheels. A handtruck reduced to the bare essentials and constructed entirely from recycled (and recyclable) materials.

This little but strong pair of wheels bears an L-plate that can be strapped to the bottom of the crate with the afore-mentioned twine.

Now, we can simply wheel our latest acquistion home, to the subway, to the waiting car, wherever.

And when we're done, we can stow it for our next shopping trip, or toss it, knowing we have are not harming either the Earth or our backs.

[See illustration. In practice, making the L-plate out of tubular steel or aluminium would be more practical and allow the twine to be tied to the frame, but that's somewhat beyond my drawing skills.]

DrCurry, Mar 20 2005

(??) Illustration http://moniplex.com...ain.php?picture=212
[Scale: wheels approx. 4".] [DrCurry, Mar 20 2005]

3-D Printer http://www.zcorp.co...oducts/printers.asp
[Willie333, Sep 29 2005]

Another 3-D printer http://www.3dsystems.com/
[Willie333, Sep 29 2005]

[link]






       Looks like a Segway with inner ear problems. +
FarmerJohn, Mar 20 2005
  

       Or a stuntman wheel chair.   

       Genius. (+) Combine it with a couple of travois poles made from rolled cardboard and you could drag a double fridge home!
ConsulFlaminicus, Mar 21 2005
  

       where is DC that its christmas in March?
po, Mar 21 2005
  

       I think it's do-able. Not sure if I want to follow behind your car as you tow the thing over a bumpy roadway.   

       Someday we'll have plastic cubes of various types of plastic , silicon cubes and copper cubes at home and download the latest gadget we want and the 3-d printer will print one up for us at our home so we won't have to go to the market to lug it home.
Willie333, Sep 29 2005
  

       monplex.com is for sale. Do you have a stored version of the illustration?
pashute, Sep 02 2020
  

       I feel a great sadness for having not seen this before. [+], although it is far too many years too late.
21 Quest, Sep 10 2020
  

       Just an l plate wouldn't do it. You need the whole trolley for reasonable transportation of a heavy object, at which point it's too expensive to be disposable.
Voice, Sep 16 2022
  
      
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