Much like an esophagus, this gutter uses peristaltic motion to move wet leaves and stuff down through it's trough, and disgorge the leaves out the end, where they lands in a bin. The bin is actually a feeder bin for a shredder/mulcher, which then grinds the leaves into fresh mulch for your compost heap.
Bendable panels placed over a moving framework (possibly covered in some stretchable waterproof material) provide the peristaltic action, and a regular mulcher does the rest.-- DesertFox, Mar 30 2006 Gutter hedgehog http://www.hedgehog.cc/gutterfilter.htmlGuards against unsavoury gutter residents. [oniony, Mar 31 2006] (+) Perhaps some form of cilia or flexible tapered hairs to facilitate peristalsis would be, um, good.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 30 2006 If you had a flexible (say neoprene) lining in the guttering, sealed to the rigid backing at the lip, then by injecting compressed air between the backing and the liner, you would cause the space to inflate and eject all the detritus-- coprocephalous, Mar 30 2006 Any outlandish gutter cleaning machine is worth a bun.-- miggavin, Mar 30 2006 [+] just for using "GLORP"-- zigness, Mar 31 2006 Unbelievably, I found a leaflet on my train this morning from a dubious gutter protection product company. They had a strange half-price offer on bungalows (presumably as they can bring shorter ladders) whereby they put a big furry caterpiller in your gutter to prevent the leaves, moss and bird poo from ever settling there in the first place.-- oniony, Mar 31 2006 //they put a big furry caterpiller in your gutter// What happens when the (presumably extremely well-fed) caterpillar pupates and flies off?-- coprocephalous, Mar 31 2006 "pupates" and "GLORP" on the same page. It's times like these that make me wish I could vote twice. [+]-- zigness, Mar 31 2006 My mistake, it's a stretch-hedgehog. See link.-- oniony, Mar 31 2006 //stretch-hedgehog// You don't see those two words hyphenated all that often. [+] again.-- zigness, Apr 03 2006 random, halfbakery