from moments of inspiration and have been developed by amateur
scientists (or even non-scientists) using simple materials and low
technology*. These 'accidental* inventions are all around us and are
5 often so well-known that we don't think of them as inventions at all.
For example, have you ever thought about cat's-eyes - the little pieces
of rubber and glass set in the middle of roads? They shine in car
headlights and help drivers to keep in the right lane, especially in heavy
rain or fog. As every motorist knows, they are a great help after dark,
10 even on a clear night. Driving on minor roads that have no cat's-eyes is
far more tiring than driving on main roads or motorways where you can
follow the cat's-eyes without even thinking.
This simple but imaginative invention was thought up by an
Englishman named Percy Shaw in 1934. His inspiration came from
15 seeing some reflectors on a poster by the side of the road when he was
driving home one night. Looking at the eyes of a cat in the dark helped i
him to develop the idea. The cat's-eye consists of a glass 'eye' to
reflect light back in the direction from which it is coming. Built into an
aluminium pad to act as a mirror, this glass 'eye' is fixed in a flexible
20 rubber pad which protects both the glass and car tyres as they pass over
it. The cleverest part of all, perhaps, is that each time a car tyre passes
over the cat's-eye, the glass is pushed down into the rubber, which is
designed in such a way that it removes the dirt off the glass. Thus,
cat's-eyes are always kept clean.
