Product 0011

Cable Weights

By: Stephen Stewart

Well, thanks to the super response last time round, I'm resubmitting! Here’s the pitch again. Every time I move my laptop from my desk, I unplug various cords and peripherals, depending on what I’ve been doing. That might include power cord, iPod cable, iPhone cable, camera cable, printer cable, audio in, audio out, midi keyboard cable, mouse cord, monitor cable, and many more. Annoyingly, every time, at least a few of these cords fall to the floor (as most of their weight is off, not on the desk). So when I want to plug them back in I need to fumble around on the floor to find them. This is even harder when my desk is tight against the wall. My idea is for a small, compact weight that attaches near the end of the cable. Through weight and friction (e.g. they could be covered in rubber – maybe the same kind as you get on those non-slip dashboard mats), when the cable is unplugged, it stays on the desk. No more fumbling around on the floor. These could come in various constructions, made from various materials (e.g. a small sandbag), and be attached to the cable in various ways, so lots of scope for Quirky design. They could be sold in packs too – most people have several cables. They should fit several sizes. Has it been done? I Googled this and all I could come up with was these “Cable Drop” clips: http://www.bluelounge.com/cabledrop.php. They are quite different - importantly the cable drop product is designed to be permanently affixed to a surface. My product would NOT be permanently fixed – it would hold the cable using gravity and friction – with the benefits that (1) you don’t have cable clips taking up valuable space on your desk when not in use, and (2) the cable weights are portable – so you get the same benefit wherever you are based. They’d make a perfect companion product for the Slingback too! A rudimentary design is attached – though like I say it could be designed in various ways. As one of the commenters suggested last time, we could design these so one cable weight can be attached to another - so you can keep all your cables together, and the combined weight can help keep larger cables on the desk. Another commenter mentioned that we could use ferrite cores as the weight. This could give the cable weights a secondary selling point: ferrite can reduce interference within the cables.