An article posted at CNN technology online brought my attention to a helicopter that doubles as a wind turbine, also known as a FEG (Flying Electric Generator). This FEG is the brainchild of Australian engineering specialist Professor Bryan Roberts, and the San Diego based company, Sky WindPower, is developing the FEG. From that site:

If all costs are considered, including the true costs of nuclear fission, long range this will be the world's cheapest energy source other than the limited hydro sources and limited situations where surface based wind turbines may be the most economic in supplying relatively local needs. But, on a larger scale, our figures show that high altitude wind energy will be capable of supplying the world's needs at the best overall economics.

The FEG is a tethered device and its altitudes obviously pose a problem to aircraft. Yet calculations show that airspace restricted for power generation will require far less restricted airspace to supply the nation's needs than is already restricted for civil aviation use.

While I was amazed with this contraption, I was also intrigued with Professor Roberts' origins. I lived in Melbourne for about a year a decade ago, and during that time I was fascinated with the creativity that I encountered in that city. The first cultural nail that fastened me to Australia was the rotary clothesline, as I'd never seen anything like it. Although the original patent for the hoist used in this clothesline was developed in America, the Hills Hoist is an adaptation of that original design and an Australian icon.

Then I discovered that an Australian had developed the Speedo bathing suit that has become an international icon for athletic swimmers. Considering that Australia is surrounded by water and that most formal living is conducted along its shores, swimwear developments shouldn't be surprising.

The history of modern women's swimwear got a boost when Annette Kellerman, an Australian professional swimmer, was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing a fitted one-piece bathing suit at a time when women wore awkward dress and pantaloon combinations as swimwear. Now, an Australian designer seeks to cover women again with the Burqini. This is a polyester suit designed to accord with Islamic laws that require women to dress modestly, yet it eliminates the risk of drowning when yards of fabric used in traditional burqas get soaked.

But, swim fashion seems trivial when compared to other Australian inventions like the combine harvester, the black box flight recorder, latex gloves, and pre-paid postage. Impressed yet? Here's a list of some of these devices and more that we now take for granted:

• The Combine Harvester: Also known as the Sunshine Harvester, this machine both stripped and collected grain. Hugh Victor McKay of Drummartin, Victoria in 1882, developed it, and his Sunshine Harvester Works was the largest industrial enterprise in Australia in the 1920s. This invention had a major impact on the social and economic development of Australia, and was a significant contributor to agriculture mechanization around the world. The company was gradually absorbed by various global enterprises and ceased manufacturing equipment in the 1980s.
  
  
• Black Box Flight Recorder: Australian inventor Dr. David Warren invented this famous machine that records in-flight conversations and data in 1958 at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne. "Black Box" recording technology is now being applied on a large scale in trains, trucks and automobiles.
  
  
• Latex Gloves: An offshoot from a successful company that also produced bicycle tires and condoms! Surgical gloves, household rubber gloves and industrial work gloves were manufactured during the 1920's.
  
  
• Prepaid Postage: On 1 November 1838 in New South Wales, the post office issued prepaid envelopes valid for use within the Sydney area. The envelopes were embossed with the General Post Office's official seal and, although they were not the postage stamps we know today, they certainly were the pioneers of an innovative idea.
  
  
• Kiwi Shoe Polish: This invention was the brainchild of businessman William Ramsay together with his partner Hamilton McKellan in 1904. It was launched as 'Kiwi' in 1906, named for Ramsay's New Zealand wife.
  
  
• Notebook: No, this isn't the computer version. This is the book of paper on which notes may be written. Australian J. A. Birchall invented this common tool when he stuck paper together and added a cardboard backing for support.
  
  
• Refrigeration: James Harrison, an immigrant from Glasgow, Scotland, improved the then-current ether-compression system and installed the world's first commercial refrigerating machinery in an Australian brewery in 1851 and went on to create the first mechanical refrigeration plant. He tried twice, unsuccessfully, to transport meat from Australia to England; however, his initial work allowed others to eventually succeed in this endeavor.
  
  
• Wine Cask: The next time you drink wine from a box, you might salute Thomas Angove of Angove's winemakers and distillers, Renmark in South. He created the flexible bag inside a box, and it was later given the familiar tap by Australian Penfold Wines. Now it's a universal tool (modern-day "soft pack") to hold many drinks beyond wine.

If you want to learn about more Australian inventions and, accordingly, dream about some investment ideas, you might visit the invention list at White Hat, a site that originates in Melbourne. While this list doesn't use citations, you can take key words from the descriptions and search for more information on the Internet. What you may learn may open your eyes to how Australians have changed the world in the past and how they might alter our futures.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin