Freezing the knees and other innovations

Swollen knees have brought John's innovative tendencies to the fore. First he rides his training bike to keep his knees moving. Then he uses ice-packs to reduce the swelling; binding them on with bandages keeps the ice in place and allows him to move around. It's the latest in a lifetime of inventions. 

How it works: First a tea-towel over the knees to protect them from the full bite of the ice. Then the ice-pack. Then a tensor bandage to keep everything in place.

When John was racing go-karts in the early 1980s, he could have done what most racers did to get their karts to the track: buy a trailer. But trailers were expensive, awkward and had to be insured, so he found another way. He built a platform on a roof rack for his Volkswagen Rabbit, to which he attached two two-by-fours that served as tracks to get the kart up and down. From its lofty perch on the Rabbit, the kart was a kind of car-on-a-car that delighted small boys on highways everywhere. John became famous within the little go-kart world for his invention, which was featured in one of the karting magazines.

Then there was the print washer intended to take the tedium out of washing multiple photographic prints in his home darkroom. Water went into one end, while the other was rounded, with the idea that the constant roll of the circulating water would keep prints moving on their own. It didn’t work; prints went every which way, often sticking together. After several versions and much finessing, John conceded defeat to the random forces of wave action and wet photographic paper.

Now, there is the matter of keeping ice-packs in place on his knees, which have been swelling for some as-yet-unknown reason. The solution has evolved gradually over the last couple of weeks, but has now been perfected, as I realized when John walked toward me today with the padded knees of a Star Wars soldier. Beneath a tensor bandage – which John applies with the expertise of a longtime athlete whose uncle was the B.C. Lions’ trainer– is a blue ice-pack, and beneath that is a checked tea-towel that’s a layer between the ice and the skin. John can now freeze his knees and carry on with other activities. His racing days may be over, but the spirit of innovation goes on.

John's invention for carrying his go-kart was included in an edition of Karting News in 1981. He built a platform on  his Volkswagen Rabbit's roof rack, and pushed the kart up and down on removable  two-by-fours.