Gizmodo: rope

Save Your Automobile in a Hurricane Using Sophisticated Gadgetry

Sean Fallon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:15:00 EDT

The Hurricane Rope Tether—because you can never be too prepared when it comes to protecting your beater car from being washed away in a storm. This fancy DIY project is brought to you via a KTRK TV viewer in Houston during their recent brush with Hurricane Ike. File this one under smart tips for suburban disaster survival. [KTRK via Digg via Gearfuse]

Invisible, Near-Weightless Nanotubes Could Support Humans, Buildings, Space Elevators

Mark Wilson — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:15:00 EDT

In what sounds like the result of the lamest Truth or Dare party ever, scientists have calculated how many nanotubes it would take to support the weight of one human. The discovery unto itself isn't that impressive—a nanotube rope that's one centimeter in diameter could do the trick. But when you realize that the rope is absurdly lightweight and invisible, the prospect gets a lot more exciting.

You see, nanotubes separated by more than one wavelength (five micrometers) are invisible. And the one centimeter human-supporting rope mentioned above takes the five-micrometer principle into account. Imagine scaling such an idea to create a series of invisible ropes in architecture, a sort of flying buttress that you can't see.

But what's possibly even more amazing—that human-supporting rope weighs just 10 milligrams per kilometer. If the distance from the ground into space is 80km, that means that an 800 milligram rope could lift humans into space. 800 milligrams is less than the weight of three aspirin tablets.

Crazy, crazy stuff. [Springer via NewScientist]

Smartstrap Tow Rope Brilliant or Prissy?

Brian Lam — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:47:47 EST

This is a tow rope wound around a center pin, for easy windup. It's rated for 3333 pounds. Not sure I like this thing that much. Some simple designs—a tow rope—shouldn't be messed with. Just learn to wrap your ropes like a sailor. You don't want to be dealing with knotted equipment when emergencies come up.

Spotted this on Toolmonger via BBG, and I'm not sure it's such a good idea. Last winter, I got a ride in an SUV using a tow rope in conjunction with a winch to get up some steep and slippery inclines. We wrapped the tow rope around an oak at the top of a hill and towed ourselves up, staying clear of the sides of the Forerunner in case the car decided to jump into a ditch, squishing anyone. A center-mounted windup case is great for organization, but a tow rope strong enough for towing stuck cars plus people is going to be bigger than this, and too beefy to fit in a case. Second, if you're doubling up the rope for strength, the center-mounted plastic case is going to get crunched on a tree, or whatever else you're pulling from. Maybe this is something an SUV poseur can stow to keep his trunk tidy for shopping bags. Maybe I'm wrong. [Toolmonger via BBG]