Sideline business as cartoonist specializing in quirky invention ideas since 1966. Author of 8 books: What the World Needs Now; Public Therapy Buses (two editions); Have Fun Inventing; Patent Depending: Vehicles;Patent Depending: Armbrella; Patent Depending: The Early Years; Patent Depending: A Collection; and Noodlings Coloring Book
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Steven M. Johnson's Bizarre Invention #18: The Utility Toiler
Umm... Chicago freight tunnels? Meant for a higher density neighborhood mind
Regarding my 1991 Utility Toiler drawing, it is evident that the cartoonist in me was never absent even when I was thinking up serious-looking systems. I did not actually believe that such a system would be good or helpful! It was simply an idea. As with many design solutions, this one solved a couple of issues but created new ones. Would the all-purpose driverless pick-up/delivery vehicle come to a halt if a child's ball landed on the tracks? Now, 26 years later, I have no interest in even thinking up such a rigid system as this! We now have the prefab and tiny home movements. We have an incipient movement toward trash-free/no waste living. In the future, perhaps the very near near future, homes will no longer need to be served by sewer, electrical, water or phone lines. There would be no way the Utility Toiler would serve any purpose.