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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Inventions Range From Practical To Perverse

Associated Press

“Hello, my name is Peely,” announces the sign for an elaborate vegetable scraper, vying for attention with such novelties as the massaging bra and the anti-smoking lighter.

For 10 days starting Saturday in Geneva, 672 inventors from around the globe are showing off their wares, from heavy-duty engineering feats to quirky little devices that someone, somewhere, someday, might find useful.

Some examples:

From South Korea, a tea that purports to cures hangovers by removing alcohol toxins from the body.

From the Netherlands, an exhibit “For Ladies Only”: a cardboard cone that allows women to urinate like men, designed for emergencies on the highway or for people who can’t bend to sit.

From Taiwan, the intriguing “double liquids collision bra - with massage and collision functions.” Two liquid-filled bags are inserted in the bra, giving not only an all-important boost to the female figure but also causing waves that “massage the flesh of the breasts.”

An anti-snoring device looks much like a human mousetrap, fitting around the lips with an attachment that prevents the tongue sliding down the back of the throat - one of the main causes of snoring. Inventor Hans-Jurgen Haggert says it is painless and works for him, one of Germany’s 20 million snorers.

From another German, a solar cooker to replace expensive kerosene and scarce firewood in developing countries. A parabolic reflector dish on a black pot focuses sunlight, absorbing solar energy that can boil 3 quarts of water in 30 minutes.

Then, there’s the Swiss ‘Peely,’ an unwieldy three-legged implement. Its inventor claims it can peel carrots and cucumbers six times faster than conventional peelers, thus saving time and money in restaurants.

The show offers several inventions for smokers:

“Smok,” a British-Belgian invention, vows to reduce cigarette smoke by 90 percent with a small cylinder of plastic placed near the end of the cigarette to absorb stray fumes.

For those trying to quit, a Spanish inventor offers a smoke-ometer: an electronic device fitted to a standard cigarette lighter or holder that counts the number of smokes lighted.

And at the display next door: a device for hand-rolling bigger, better cigarettes.