We're all mad here.

Your Precious Patent

We could always use something beneficial once in a while. So why don’t you invent something that could be useful to mankind? Share this marvelous invention with us in a blog entry (or static item). (<1000 words)

It strikes me that the most useful thing I could invent would be an expandable table. This would be useful when doing giant puzzles, which always tend to be bigger than the card table. The table could then be retracted again with the puzzle in situ, to be restored again when people are ready to work on the puzzle again.

There are, of course, additional issues that such an invention would alleviate. For example, I currently spend a great deal of time on the floor blocking lace shawls. This is the process where I get the shawl damp and pin it to boards so that the lace is stretched out and the empty spaces inside can be seen properly. This is difficult on my back because I have to be down on the floor because none of my present tables are big enough to hold a shawl that is stretched out to its full wingspan.

With this invention, I could stand as I blocked, walking around the table at my leisure to pin things in place. I could also, when the item has been blocked and I'm waiting for it to dry, put the table away somewhere so that I could have use of the previously occupied floor space.

The table would also be useful for storage. It would be kind of like a bag of holding, only flatter and more stable. The put away table would not be in stasis—it could change in state from wet to dry or from hot to cold, but it would not be able to move.

I think it should be stored in a roll, kind of like a sleeping bag that, when it's open, becomes perfectly flat, unlike a yoga mat which rolls itself up again as quickly as it has been set down.

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