The French have been credited with inventing the bidet
and popularising pissoirs or public urinals, and now they can add
the biodegradable and portable toilet to their name.
Frenchman Laurent Helewa designed the lightweight, easy to
construct and carry toilet after Hurricane Katrina, when thousands
of displaced people were crammed into a stadium for a week, with
hardly any access to facilities.
"It's a taboo subject, but necessary in case of natural
disasters," he told AFP at the annual International Exhibition of
Inventions in Geneva, pointing to the earthquakes in Japan and
Haiti that displaced tens of thousands of people.
"The first problem is to have access to a toilet. Because if
not, people will do their business wherever, and you end up with
epidemics such as cholera," said Helewa, who is a doctor.
Weighing about two kilogrammes (4.4 pounds), his invention is
essentially a piece of cardboard that folds into a boxed seat in a
minute, and comes with plastic bags that each contain an absorbent
pad to soak up liquids.
Helewa, who gamely climbed atop a sample, claimed that the
heavy-duty version is able to withstand a weight of 200 kg and
usage of 20 hours a day, after it was tested by four armies.
The French invention is among more than 1,000 creations
showcased by inventors from 45 countries at this week's inventions
fair in Geneva.
The rule of the exhibition is that the invention can only be
exhibited once in the Swiss city, and must have some form of
intellectual property rights protection.
While Helewa's product is more or less ready for the shop
shelves, other inventors have come armed with prototypes to seek
investors who could commercialise their products.
Licences negotiated at the fair can reach $40 million each
year.
Inventions this year range from a prawn peeler to
interchangeable high heels -- that can be unscrewed from the shoe
and swapped for a shorter heel -- to a garden lighting system that
uses mirrors to multiply the luminosity produced by a single
bulb.
Mohd Farriz Basar, from Malaysia, showcased his LED illuminated
vest, which is linked to a motorcycle by radio frequency and
flashes right when the rider is turning right, or flashes red when
the rider brakes.
There have simply been too many lives lost to motorcycle
accidents, he said, explaining why his invention is important.
Meanwhile, four friends from Spain designed a bracelet that
vibrates when it is time for patients to take their next doses of
medication.
They hope it would be taken up the pharmaceutical industry and
included in every box of medicine in the future.
Another two friends from Switzerland came up with a simple
modification to a supermarket trolley allowing the front panel to
be lifted off, thereby making it easy to slide the shopping out
rather than having to lift it out.
"The reasoning behind this invention is very simple, it just
came from our observation of people shopping: we realised that they
have trouble getting their goods out of their trolleys," said Marie
Guerry.
The inventions are on show until April 10.