amazing ingenuity in prisoners’ inventions
filed under: strange and unusual
posted: October 1st, 2006 2 comments author: technabob
Back in 2001, the artists’ collective Temporary Services started a project with a prison inmate named Angelo in which they asked him to document how inmates adapt to their surroundings while confined.
The project, entitled Prisoners’ Inventions, resulted in this fascinating 119-page book of detailed drawings that explain exactly how prisoners build contrivances from all sorts of found materials.
The book documents everything from how to build an electric cigarette lighter out of paper clips, ice cream spoons and parts from a hot-pot, to an electric tattoo gun made from a bic pen, a walkman cassette player and a battery, to how to use your toilet to chill your soda.
This book, above all things, proves that necessity is truly the mother of invention. Maybe the best way to really get the most creative solution to technical problems would be to lock up engineers during the design phase of their projects.
The book can be ordered from the Giant Robot store for $12.00.
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2 comments comment
1. Dustin | July 26th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
its a good idea for the prisoners to invent the tattoo gun because of the fact i have a tattoo also but if the person dosent know how to do tattoos then its a peice of shit job but most people dont drawl bad and most of the people can do good tattoo art work
2. co | June 14th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I vote bad idea all the way around, as a c.o. i know the amount of disease in this place, i’ve seen a a tattoo gun that used a sharpened paperclip as a needle, to me thats insanity. might as well say, can someone pass the aids please.
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amazing ingenuity in prisoners’ inventions