Dragons' Den

I didn't see it but how do you pull the bulb down without a stepladder in the first place?

A hook on a stick, unless you are tall ? What was the product that they rejected after the bloke said something ignorant about VAT ? I missed that bit. Simon.

These things were available in Germany when I lived there in the

MM

No it had nothing to do with VAT. It was rejected as it was just an idea which had not really been developed, prototyped etc. They only invest thier money where there is a fairly good chance of success i.e. they already have prototypes / actual items etc.

The VAT one was the 3 wheels sitting down bike thing.

The interesting one was the Bedlam Cube - After agreeing to get finance off the Dragons he ended up getting the money from the Bank.

How do you adjust the ambient light/ cosiness by pulling down a slight fitting (which disconnects it from the elecy - well it did in his 'demo')

Can get pretty cosy in the dark ;)

Isn't there a stick/grab thingy which extends to let you change bulbs manually anyway? Sure I've seen it somewhere.

It doesn't matter about the product half the time, if the dragons just want to piss on someone they will. Unless you lick their arses they'll tell you to sod off. On other times they try to out do each other by backing something just to make out they're smarter than the previous dragon/s that turned it down.

I remember them now. I think the intended use was over a dining table. The ones I recall had a cord going from the holder into a spring loaded reel in the rose running through the mains flex which was spiral extensible (like most phone handsets).

Mum and Dad still have one in the lounge. It's conical lump in the drop cable on the centre light and seems balanced to the weight of the lamp / shade fitting. A gentle pull lowers it (probably down to table height) and supporting the weight of the light raises it. Been there as long as I remember and that's 30+ years now.

Being 6' 2" I rarely need ladders for light fittings ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

You use your arms? Or maybe I'm just tall...

alex

The ones I've seen *don't* disconnect the leccy! You pull 'em down to the required position, half-way, all the way, whatever, and they stay there. Then you can push them back up again if you want more light to do the Hoovering.

MM

Those Dragons Den people though, they are really sour, aren't they? And why does the programme have to be made in a garret? Why not a flashy modern studio where the 'contestants' didn't have to lug their contraptions up those old Dickens stairs and perch them on that rickety table? Also, the intro with Rachel getting out of the car or taxi and the voiceover wibbling on about Red Letter Days, whose recent history we're all certain to be aware of by now, well, I just have to wonder whether the producers are as daft as they think we must be.

The only person with some reasonable degree of charisma and a sense of fair play is Peter Jones, the smart one on the end. I believe he tries to remain a little detached from the others - with good reason, if so.

MM

It doesnt sound like a very decent approach to the problem. Just from reading this thread I can think of a better way to do it which solves all those problems. And IIUC he didnt have a saleable product anyway.

Unfortunately the world of product innovation is filled with mostly junk, often described as invention when its nothing of the sort.

NT

We used to have a light fitting like that - it came from Habitat around

The featured lamp was only pulled down on a thin string - not the flex - so would be a lot less bulky, though what kind of connection would be needed to mate the flex with the ceiling rose when it is up. I suspect it would be a

Looks like he had a neat idea (and I do think it is a neat idea) but needs an engineer to tell him how feasible it would be.

-- JJ

I think the modern ones do that. The 70's version actually coiled the flex up inside the ceiling rose (about the size of a baked bean can). There was some kind of concentric-ring connector inside, so the flex could wind up, which the coiled-flex version does not need.

-- JJ

Ah - production values ;-) Have you noticed how every little expression is slowed right down, to make it look like the Dragons are pulling faces all the time? It is also difficult to tell whether the sour looks really do happen when they are made to look like they do - the editting is clever, and goes with the music to set the scene.

I agree with you. The cuts sometimes seem to relate to something else! There seems to be an attempt to maximise the antagonism twixt Dragons and victim even if this involves joining unrelated file sequences! Actually this programme seems a "business" version of The Weakest Link". Viewers seem to enjoy seeing someone getting the mickey taken out of them.

On the matter of VAT man. Imho he seemed (in fact almost said as much) that he regarded or equated something called "risk" with delaying paying VAT! I mean he seemed to misunderstand the use of the term "business risk".

And as for that Peter Jones bloke, I think the opening titles are cringe worthy as far as he is concerned. Notice the way get almost gets into his executive jet, then pauses, turns to pretend to look at something in the distance over his shoulder (thus getting a neat profile to camera), then turns and enters the aircraft. Yuk!

Have said all that I quite enjoy the programme :-)

You use an extending pole like this

Been around for donkeys years.

Dave

I'm an engineer and I can tell you that all he has is an idea - the one thing that would be needed to make this work he doesn't seem to have (and I doubt it would be practical). That is a way to ensure that the electrical contacts are securely made when the fitting assends back into place. Anyone who has owned anything "retractable" will know that after using it a few times it will tend to get a little reluctant to retract fully. You must have found seat belts that need a jiggle to get them to retract fully, tape measures that need to be worked in and out a couple of times etc. This is because the retracting force is least at the end of the travel. This is where you need to guarantee that it will pull hard if you are going to get a good latch and a safe electrical connection. As this product stands all I see is an expensive device for causing electrical fires five or ten years after fitting.