All my inventions have been inspired by a similar impulse – to resolve problems in ways that increase human happiness.

The Fontana™ and the other global cooling inventions were inspired by the impending catastrophe of global warming, the Humo® by the early insights of the Green movement and the death of a good friend in a motor accident just before he was due to be the best man at my wedding. I enjoyed driving cars but was always aware of the danger posed by the contrast between the power and weight moving in an unpredictable and potentially crushing manner and the weakness and capacity for the pain of the human being.

The invention of the Humo® was precipitated by my introduction to sprag clutches as part of a design for a machine for cutting sponge cloths.  Our company needed this machine because we had an order for 80,000 cloths – to be supplied very quickly – and our cutting machine was much too large. The result was an unacceptable reject factor and severe pain to the knees of our production manager from repetitive bending.

Since I gave up the Humo® Project, due to illness, exhaustion, and depression, many things which seemed worrying at the time have become even more urgent. Ecological problems have become more pressing, traffic has become more extreme and the actual speed of driving in towns has been forced down to a level which a well-designed Humo® will be able to compete with. Moreover, the British roads are falling to bits due to the number of cars and delivery vehicles, and the increased size and weight of lorries, while the railway network is becoming less and less efficient. The pressure to move to net zero has led to an adoption of electric cars (which are expensive to buy, have heavy batteries and short range, and are difficult to recharge unless you have a property with a forecourt).ULEZ is starting to show the high costs of trying to move to net zero, whilst obesity is becoming a critical problem in many nations, so it would be advantageous if at least part of the effort of travel was provided by human muscles…

On the positive side, new lightweight electric motors are now available, and photo-voltaic power has also become widely available. Humoways® will provide an easy solution to traffic problems, and being raised to 100 or 200 meters height will be an answer to the under-reported problem of power loss due to heat in photo-voltaic systems.