07 April 2006
	SIDELINES NEW INVENTION

CSIR inventors have patented a number of their ideas recently. Chris Botha, Phil Schoeman and Pieter van Greuning from materials science & manufacturing, have developed a trolley - the Cross Pavement Carrier - for the cash-in-transit industry. It's used for transporting valuables in high-risk areas. Safety features include a remote-controlled brake mechanism that is activated during a heist and a lockable safety net that secures the cargo. It also has an alarm siren and a smoke generator. Marthinus Horak, Louis Ackerman and Flip Kotze from Biosciences have developed mobile, pilot-scale equipment for the distillation of essential oil crops. The equipment provides accurate data on the quality and yield of the product in a farming environment; this allows for the selection of the most suitable crop on a specific farm. Van Zyl Brink, working at natural resources & the environment, has developed an early- warning method against the impending collapse of unstable geotechnical structures, typically within the coal mining sector. The invention is a small stand-alone unit that detects the fracturing associated with the subsequent failure and collapse of the roof in a coal mine.