5 SA Inventions

1Kreepy Krauly
Hydraulics engineer Ferdinand Chauvier came to SA from the Belgian Congo in 1951. Realizing a gap in the market, he invented the world’s first automatic pool cleaning unit, powered by the pool’s filter system. It was made in his Springs home from wood and rubber tubing melted together on the kitchen stove. The original design was so solid that is has essentially remained the same, except now it’s made of plastic. Over 1.5 million cleaners have been sold internationally.

2Dolos
A dolos is an unusually shaped concrete block used to protect harbor walls from the force of the sea by dissipating, rather than blocking the energy of the waves. First installed in East London Harbor, dolosse are now used all over the world. The revolutionary sea buffer got it’s name when it’s designer Aubrey Kruger’s father Joe was asked to make a wooden model of the object. When it was completed he observed “wat speel julle met die dolos?” “dolos” is the Afrikaans word for the knuckle joint in an animal’s leg. With that, the dolos was baptized.

3The Blaster
Hijackings are rare, but they do happen, particularly in Gauteng. One method of hijack prevention gives new meaning to the words “step on the gas”. Invented by Charles Fourie in the late 1990’s, the blaster is a flame-throwing device built into car doors and operated by pushing a button next to the foot pedals, igniting a man-size fireball from the side of car, engulfing the would-be hijacker without endangering passengers or damaging the car’s paint.

4Vuvuzela
The Vuvuzela is a noise making trumpet of SA football fans and it’s come to symbolize the sport in this country. It’s said that the earliest form of vuvuzela was the kudu horn, blown to summon African villagers to meetings. It’s a noisy thing, when you get it right, so some don't like it. Love it or hate it, visitors to the 2010 World Cup are sure to go home with a few vuvuzelas tucked in their luggage…

5Pratley’s Putty
Originally invented by Krugersdorp engineer, George Pratley in 1948, to hold components in an electrical box. This hybrid epoxy urethane adhesive was used by NASA in 1969 to hold parts of the Apollo XI mission’s Eagle landing craft together. To prove the reliability of his glue, Mr Pratley used a blob of it to suspend a 13-ton bulldozer over his son’s head. Pratley died in 1983 and today the company is run by his son. The bulldozer is still suspended in the foyer of Pratley’s Krugersdorp offices.