Eureka Magazine Blogs

Is a patent a must have for protecting your product idea?

The numbers are telling; patent applications filed in the United States have risen every year since 1978 - and rising quickly. Submissions have doubled since 1998 to over a staggering half a million applications. In this blog, I'll discuss this and other valuable insights into what inventors and designers need to know about the world of patents.

The gender agenda

This month's issue of Eureka carries an interview with Philippa Oldham, head of transport and manufacturing for the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In the piece, she describes her experiences as a female engineer and makes it clear that, with a couple of isolated exceptions, they have been overwhelmingly positive and that her male colleagues have been supportive.

Brollies up! Kickstarter’s raining on the product development parade

Whilst the concept of crowdfunding is still new to a lot of people, and many product developers are only just coming round to the exciting possibility that ideas can be taken straight to the masses, Kickstarter, the world's biggest crowdfunding platform, has already rained on the parade and dampened the hopes of hardware startups.

What's in a name?

The decision to award the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering to internet pioneers Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, Louis Pouzin and Marc Andreessen has raised some interesting questions.

The volume curve

If you are looking for production plastic parts, then injection moulding is a very cost effective solution for quantities down to and even below 100.

Eyes on the prize

The winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Prize for Engineering is due to be announced this Spring. The individual who attains this unprecedentedly prestigious prize will be the recipient of £1m: a sum that, whatever else happens, will ensure that the mainstream media will have to focus on the concept of engineering success - at least for a short while.

Andy Green’s Bloodhound project diary – January 2013

Happy New Year – I hope your New Year has started off as well as ours.

Reaching for the sky

An adjustment in my sense of scale is one of my abiding sensations whenever I have the good fortune to visit the United States.

Injection moulding vs Vacuum casting

Injection moulding is often dismissed as being too expensive, requiring long lead times and being unflexible, but that's not always the case. We take a look at some of the advantages the technology offers with a real case that proves that is not always the case.

Are battery charging problems keeping the Dreamliner on the ground?

The recent incidents with Boeing's new Dreamliner have resulted in the aircraft being grounded around the world.

Andy Green's Bloodhound project diary - December 2012

Just back from Los Angeles, where I went to launch a film in Hollywood. OK, so the film was only 3 minutes long, but still, I can claim a Hollywood film launch!

Richard Noble's Bloodhound project diary – December 2012

I was thinking about President Obama this morning and the awesome responsibility he holds. It seems that we are both flogging though the Christmas break to try and try and improve our organisations.

Keeping sight of the challenge

It is always a nice feeling for the New Year to be heralded by a positive set of figures for manufacturing and 2013 is beginning as we must hope it will continue.

Applauding those medalling kids

Attending the Skills Show in November at the NEC proved a genuinely upflifting experience. To see so many young people excited about engineering and technology was truly inspiring.

Andy Green’s Bloodhound project diary – November update

Following last month's hugely successful rocket firing, we've been thrilled by the very high levels of international interest. In the first 48 hours, we ran over 300,000 pages on our website and over 6million views on YouTube. I can't wait to see what happens when we start running live video from the Car next year...

Hitting the right notes

October saw two events that have served to bring together and celebrate the very best of design engineering. And I am proud to say that both were organised by Eureka's parent company, Findlay Media.

Andy Green's Bloodhound project diary - October 2012

It worked – and how! Firing our hybrid rocket in public this month, with a huge international media presence and a global on-line audience, not to mention a number of our supporters' club Gold Members, was a little nerve-wracking. This is what we had promised from day one – an Engineering Adventure that everyone could share in.

Bloodhound project diary - October 2012 update

It is October 19th and time for another update. This morning we had an important check meeting. I was sitting across the table from Mark Chapman, Conor La Grue and Chris Dee. Mark is our Chief Engineer, Conor looks after manufacturing and Chris is responsible for the car assembly.

Avoiding the ‘unsung hero’ trap

There is little doubt that high-profile engineering projects inspire engineers. Indeed, only a few issues ago, we carried an interview with James Godman of AgustaWestland, who cited Concorde as a major factor behind his choice of career.

Andy Green’s Bloodhound project diary – September 2012

The secret's out now – we're planning on our first UK hybrid rocket firing on 3 October. I have to confess to being slightly nervous about the event. It's all very well us running the world's largest 'Engineering Adventure', promising to share all of the data as we go, and promising to conduct key tests in public, but doing our very first high-pressure firing with the world's media present, when we don't know exactly what will happen – what could possibly go wrong?

X Factor spin-off to find the next Steve Jobs?

Reports are out that TV mogul Simon Cowell is teaming up with Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am in a bid to find a new technology entrepreneur.

Have we got a show for you!

There is a strong chance that anyone reading this is either planning to attend the Engineering Design Show on the 10th or 11th October at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry or is actually reading this while attending.

Design for direct metal laser sintering: anything goes?

Additive Manufacturing (AM), 3D printing, rapid prototyping; call it what you like but AM processes offer tremendous opportunities to designers, engineers and artists.

Andy Green’s Bloodhound project diary – August 2012 update

I've just had a very odd experience – someone's sent me a video of myself appearing on Foreign Secretary William Hague's Facebook page. To try and explain this rather strange event, I'll start with my recent visit to the Bloodhound track in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

Is the message getting through?

The fact that the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has come to the conclusion that universities are not producing enough science and engineering graduates with the skills needed by UK industry is clearly to be welcomed. Any official recognition of the severity of this problem that brings it to greater prominence (and thereby causes it to be addressed) can only be a good thing.