Many work vehicles are so tall you would have to stand on one ladder to load or unload another from the rack on top. 

This is hardly ideal, which is why most vehicle accessory companies offer racks that tilt down to the side of a box truck or van, so people can get at the ladders they carry.

With this more common configuration, the operator uses a handle to swing the rack to the side and then pulls it down to where he can reach the ladder and lift it off. 

An Italian company, Gentili, came at the problem from a different direction. Their Harrier rack loads from the rear, sliding out like a drawer and then pivoting down on gas pistons. The ladder can then be removed from or strapped onto the rack. It doesn't matter if the vehicle is tall because the operator is provided with a pole that can be used to reach up, unlatch the rack, and then pull it down (or push it back up).

By one estimate, there are 54 factories in China producing unlicensed replicas of Eames furniture. While they'll probably find a ready market all around the world—$520 for a knockoff Eames Lounge vs. $8,900 for the real deal makes it a no-brainer for the unscrupulous—in the UK they'll find a ready market and no police intervention.

That's because Britain's design copyright laws deviate wildly from the European Union's. In the UK, the rule was that 25 years after a designer dies, his work goes into the public domain. Charles Eames passed in 1978 while co-designer and wife Ray passed ten years later, so it's been legal to sell Eames knockoffs since 2013. For the EU, however, the rule is 70 years after a designer's death.

Well, British lawmakers are finally getting with the times. Yielding to pressure from international furniture manufacturers, they've finally stretched it to the EU-standard 70 years, conferring the same protection to mass-produced furniture as is enjoyed by artistic works, books and sound recordings.

It was recently announced that all knock-off/replica furniture manufacturers selling in the UK have just six months to liquidate their stock, because after that, the hammer's coming down. Britons who aren't picky about the provenance of their design classics have until the end of January 2017 to get their unlicensed Eameses, Jacobsens and Casitglionis on the cheap. And ironically, that may drive the price up.

Via The Guardian and the UK Copyright Service

Parsons School of Design, a division of The New School, seeks a full-time Ceramics & Wet Shop Technician in the Parsons Making Center. The technician will oversee the day to day operations of the wet shop facility and should have a strong command of current ceramic, clay, and plaster processes.

The Toasteroid is a Bluetooth equipped chance to customize your sandwich in the modern fashion: by using your iPhone. This humble corner of the culinary arts wasn't exactly begging for a web 3.0 update, but damn it, it's getting one. The pitch is simple: your abstract brown toast is crappy and boring, but all it needs is your digital brand. 

Thanks, Toasteroid! Screw you, Comcast.

Looking just a hair off from a We Put A Chip In It feature, this thing will let you touch-input a design, pick from a library of graphics, or toast-print data from the web, straight onto bread! You can even send and receive "secret" toast messages with other toast-graphics enthusiasts. Racy! And there's no yummier way to destroy the evidence of your infidelity.

Though bread-based communication is a patently silly idea, at the time of this writing they're over $57k towards their 150k goal on Kickstarter, and the world will probably never be the same.

The tech sector wishes Brownness Control were that easy

Tools like Twitter and Snapchat still come under fire for fueling increasingly self-obsessed culture. Let them keep the heat. It's high time for foods we can text with — we deserve this outlet for our individual creativity. The real question isn't "Why not?" as the campaign poses, it's How has it taken microblogging this long to get into my sandwich??

Don't tell me what kind of day to have, MOM

Normally if someone disrupts my breakfast tech it's a recipe for disaster, but with the Toasteroid my toast will never go quietly into its dark night again. In the two long minutes of its post-toasting/pre-masticated life it'll be the star of a show I never wanted to watch but will anyway because people won't shut up about it and now that it's here I guess I always wanted to digest a celebrity.

The video poses the awfully personal question, "Has your breakfast ever been so enjoyable?" and takes shots at moms' traditional toast (y'know, the exact same toast, but without emojis) as a "boring piece of blah." The Toasteroid might not be trying to radically upend the fundamental nature of breakfast, but it's apparently trying to start shit between this mother and daughter:

I'm interested in the microfilaments used to make the custom toast imagery, since they seem like they could produce a more even toast than a lot of standard offerings. The rest of the design seems slick but large and conspicuously downplayed in the pitch. Let the record show that I'm not categorically against novelty kitchen goods (I once lost sleep about passing up a Hello Kitty waffle iron), but toast quality can get contentious and the hardware quality should exceed the software. 

Maybe I'm being too crunchy? Done right this thing could usher in a whole new era of edible Pokemon and embarrassing lunch notes from your mom. Like it or not, we're living in a time where there's an app to revolutionize our boring old relationship with our hideously outdated toast. And just think, you can now toast whatever you want:

Ultimate creative freedom apparently tastes like gluten and butter

Is this the best imaginable way to get your spoiled brats to eat breakfast? The latest proof of the decline of Western society? Is this the best Kickstarter troll yet?

Ayla Hutchinson

New Zealand isn't a place one thinks of as needing firewood. But Ayla Hutchinson lives and hikes with her family near New Zealand's snow-covered Mount Taranaki, where "it can get VERY cold in the winter," she writes. "When you are cold, you can never get the fire going fast enough. Lots of little kindling helps fires to start quickly." So when she was just 13, Ayla invented a device to help swiftly and safely turn firewood into thinner kindling.

Here's how it works:

The Kindling Cracker, as it's called, is undeniably clever. It's not meant to replace an axe altogether—you'll still need a pre-split piece of wood to insert within the cast-iron device's 6.5"-diameter top ring—but it makes good sense on a campsite where division of labor is beneficial. While dad is splitting logs with an axe, for instance, mom can be turning the split pieces into kindling using a mallet or even another piece of wood. "[Part of the reason I invented this was] to make sure my mum kept all of her fingers and limbs intact!" Ayla writes.

Ayla originally invented the device for a school science project. That was seven years ago. Today Kindling Cracker LTD. is a going concern, and their eponymous device is sold around the world.

The Kindling Cracker's U.S. distributor is Northern Tool, and it retails here for USD $85.

Bissell was looking to shake up the standard stick vacuum with a new design. After conducting market research in the U.S. and developing an entirely new visual brand language for the brand with TEAMS, the household giant saw the opportunity for a stick vac that better accommodated its current customers, as well as new customers in untapped overseas markets.

Even with a couple of tries before getting it perfect, centering a mortise on a stile or finding the center of the edge of a board is faster using a marking or mortise gauge than walking across the shop to find a specialized gizmo for the job.

Here is what you do. 

A - Set the pins on your mortise gauge to whatever distance apart you want.

B - Set the fence at a rough guess which would center the pins on the wood.

C - Put the fence against the wood and press to put pin-pricks where the pins are set.

D - put the fence against the opposing side of the wood and repeat the pin pricks.

E - If the pinpricks from the gauge hit the same holes from either side, you are centered. If there is any offset, adjust the fence to split the difference between the pin marks. Repeat steps C and D until the pin marks match up. 

In the picture at position 1, the fence setting was eyeballed and the pinholes are a good bit off. 

At position 2 I've split the difference between the hole spacing at 1, tried again, and this time I am pretty darn close. 

The pinholes are pretty deep because I wanted to make sure they photograph. So on position 3, after I have eyeballed and split the difference at 2, I'm not pressing so deep. The marks are even closer. A small tweak, a light touch on the pins so I can see the maximum error (which is how I would normally do it for all tests), and you can see it's perfect. I'm done. 

It takes a little practice on adjusting the gauge, but after a few times this will become second nature. The time to do this is under a minute. 

To adjust a marking gauge with a single pin, do the same thing except, of course, there is only one pin mark. It's the same technique of testing and splitting the difference.

________________________________________________________

This new "Tools & Craft" section is provided courtesy of Joel Moskowitz, founder of Tools for Working Wood, the Brooklyn-based catalog retailer of everything from hand tools to Festool; check out their online shop here. Joel also founded Gramercy Tools, the award-winning boutique manufacturer of hand tools made the old-fashioned way: Built to work and built to last.

Legendary graphic designer Lance Wyman has made work for projects as distinctive and impactful as Mexico's 1968 Olympics, Washington DC's metro system wayfinding, and Chrystler's pavilion at the NYC World's Fair. After a lifetime of incredible output he's publishing a book of his meticulously kept work diaries and you should be excited. 

The currently Kickstarting book is titled Lance Wyman: The Visual Diaries 1973—1982. It was edited by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy, designed by Spin, and will be produced by Unit Editions. The project is an outgrowth of an earlier book documenting the prolific designer's work, during which the revelation of his decades of detailed record keeping stunned biographers.

While most contemporary designers have some sort of digital scrapbook of past drafts, sketches and brainstorming, few of us record our processes methodically. To catalog a work cycle is more than visual hoarding, it banks methods of creativity and critical refinement for later use. This practice was more tangible in the pen and paper days of yore, but not much. Design work is always full of scraps, errata, rabbit holes and dead ends, and what to save and what to toss isn't always obvious. 

That type of self-aware selection (along with just plain exemplary work) makes this book a special kind of resource. Between the design evolution of specific forms you can find debated color swatches, regional cultural references, playful iterations, and notes-to-self on refinement. Whether or not graphic design pays your personal bills, this type of IRL DIY reference guide is an inspiring example of how to use your own hard work to inform subsequent efforts. 

Early-bird backers can get the book for $67, upwards of $80 after. Not surprisingly, the rewards on this project are a bit better looking than average. Supporters can pick up limited edition signed copies of Wyman's 'Artists For Obama' poster, actually cool enameled logo pins, and even a visit to his studio. 

The book (and its supporter rewards) looks like a beautiful investment for design lovers of all stripes. The Lance Wyman: The Visual Diariescampaign runs through September 15, 2016.

When the Nazis took power in the 1930s, Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius wisely, and daringly, escaped to America. Gropius, along with protégé Marcel Breuer, then landed teaching gigs at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Harvard subsequently amassed, with Gropius' help, a massive collection of "more than 30,000 [Bauhaus-related] objects, from paintings, textiles, and photographs to periodicals and class notes." And now, thrillingly, they have placed the entire collection online for free public viewing.

Marcel Breuer, Chaise Longue [Isokon Long Chair], 1936

Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Coffee and Tea Service: 5-Piece Set, Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift of Hanna Lindemann, 1924-1925

Peter Weller, Study in Malthess Apartment, Berlin [designer: Gustav Hassenpflug], 1937

László Moholy-Nagy, Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Light-Space Modulator), 1930

Some of the images are of the iconic pieces you've come to expect when "Bauhaus" is uttered, like Breuer's B3, and come with accompanying educational text:

Marcel Breuer, Club Chair (B3), c. 1931

Supposedly inspired by the lightweight and strong bent steel tubing of the bicycle he pedaled around the city of Dessau, Bauhaus student-turned-master Marcel Breuer decided to experiment with the material for furniture. Working with a plumber to bend the tubing into shape for prototypes, Breuer's efforts would result in the iconic 1925 Club Chair (B3), manufactured by Thonet, and still in production today. In the 1920s, the name "club chair" might have connoted a heavy, overstuffed chair in a smoke-filled room, set upon heavy rugs and against thick curtains. Yet Breuer's club chair is physically and visually light, radically reduced to the line of chromed steel tubing and the planes of the textile webbing, clearly separating the hard and soft materials' respective functions as structure and support.

Other images are more surprising. Who knew, for example, that Breuer was also contracted to design dorm furniture for Bryn Mawr?

Marcel Breuer, Dormitory Furniture for Rhoads Hall, Bryn Mawr College: Desk, 1938

Marcel Breuer, Dormitory Furniture for Rhoads Hall, Bryn Mawr College: Chair, 1938

It goes without saying that 30,000+ images is going to take a long time to get through, but we think it's well worth your time to start browsing. If you find any other surprises in the stack, please be sure to let us know in the comments!

Welcome to the New Era of IBM Design. We are transforming the way IBM thinks. We are transforming the way IBM designs products. And we are transforming IBM’s culture. We are looking for talented and motivated designers to drive an era of design-led innovation.

We figured self-driving cars were maybe five or ten years away. But Uber has beaten Apple, Google, Tesla and others to the punch, and is rolling out a small fleet of autonomous Volvos—this month, according to Bloomberg.

In the test city of Pittsburgh, Uber users will summon cars as normal using the app. But a handful of the cars that show up—they will be assigned randomly—will be driverless Volvo XC90s, kitted out with "dozens of sensors that use cameras, lasers, radar, and GPS receivers." Rides in these cars will be completely free of charge.

That doesn't mean that you'll be able to sit in the back of one of these driverless Ubers and argue with your spouse in privacy. While a computer will be doing the driving, current law requires a "safety driver" man the driver's seat, ready to grab the wheel if anything goes wrong. Uber is even doubling down and adding a second staffer to ride shotgun:

These professionally trained engineers sit with their fingertips on the wheel, ready to take control if the car encounters an unexpected obstacle. A co-pilot, in the front passenger seat, takes notes on a laptop, and everything that happens is recorded by cameras inside and outside the car so that any glitches can be ironed out. Each car is also equipped with a tablet computer in the back seat, designed to tell riders that they're in an autonomous car and to explain what's happening.

If you're wondering why Pittsburgh, well, that's where Uber's engineer-studded Advanced Technologies Center is located. There's an additional benefit to the city in that it provides Uber-gineers an opportunity to work out a rather important kink:

On a recent weekday test drive, the safety drivers were still an essential part of the experience, as Uber's autonomous car briefly turned un-autonomous, while crossing the Allegheny River. A chime sounded, a signal to the driver to take the wheel. A second ding a few seconds later indicated that the car was back under computer control. "Bridges are really hard," [Engineering Director Raffi] Krikorian says. "And there are like 500 bridges in Pittsburgh."

It's unclear how much of the driverless technologies in these test cars were developed by Volvo, and how much by Uber. But given that Uber is reportedly not limiting themselves to Volvos for their robo-car ambitions, it's a safe bet that the Uber ATC is doing most of the heavy lifting.

If any of our readers in Pittsburgh (we're looking at you, Carnegie Mellon ID students) catch a ride in one of these, share your experience with the rest of us!

The world recently lost a pioneer in the design field, a business innovator, and a passionate advocate for better sex. Joani Blank, founder of Good Vibrations, the first women-centered and all-inclusive sex toy shop in America, died on Saturday August 6th, at the age of 79. 

Blank started the first Good Vibrations in San Francisco in 1977, after working as a therapist with anorgasmic women. The decision was sparked after recognizing that the physical tools for self-empowered sex were largely sold in seedy spaces that alienated women or did not cater to their needs. She responded by banking up $4,000 (roughly 16k 2016 bucks), opening a tiny storefront in the Mission, and bringing the conversation about female experiences of sex into daylight, literally. No back alley entrances, screens blaring porn, leering shoppers, or windowless rooms. No veiled talk about "massagers," or "how to please him" as the first order of business.

Though we can now take frank discussion of toy quality and well lit specialty boutiques for granted, those seemingly obvious trends started with Good Vibrations. The store was one of the first anywhere to discuss women's sex toys openly, honestly, knowledgeably, non-judgmentally, and to guarantee quality. Long-time GV employee Carol Queen recalled manufacturers being shocked and confused when the store began testing and returning faulty units. Despite industry incredulity, that type of care built customer confidence and trust in the fledgling brand. 

As a result, the store can claim a good deal of responsibility for making the quality-first sex boutique a thing, and for popularizing now ubiquitous items like the Hitachi Wand and strap-on harnesses.

In addition to paving the way for more approachable sex toy retail, Blank also put her passion into toy designs that uniquely addressed women's enjoyment. Several of her designs are still on the market, including "butterfly" style wearable vibrators. She was one of the first women to crack into the (still male-dominated) niche, and made headway for the many female-led toy companies we see today.

The store's quiet popularity helped it expand into a local chain, and later add a satellite store in Boston. It even has its own sex toy museum! After decades of growth Blank moved to transition the company into worker-ownership, letting employees take the reins as a co-op. The franchise has been through several iterations since, particularly as the internet has challenged small brick and mortar commerce. It is now singly owned by Joel Kaminsky, a former top executive at a large adult material distributor. Good Vibrations remains a resource on sexual health and happiness, IRL and online. 

Joani herself remained interested and familiar with the business late into life, and had been known to visit the SF area stores to chat, poke around and show off her newest tattoos. She authored numerous books on sexual comfort, health, partnership, and identity, and lectured widely on both sexuality and co-housing issues.

Good Vibes, Boston

Her daughter Amika Sergejev shared a Facebook post detailing the last period of Joani's days, her lifetime of social justice work, and gentle passing. 

"This fierce revolutionary woman has taught us all so much. She has done so many things in her full days here on earth and I know you all have stories…"

Countless people who never met Joani also have their own wonderful stories, thanks to her visionary support for more enlightened and better designed sex.

Since I don't have the time or money to go visit all the many interesting design and furniture shows around the world, I content myself with gazing at the products shown on the exhibitions' websites. While shows like Maison & Objet rightfully get a lot of attention, others have intriguing products, too.

Tent London is part of the London Design Festival, which runs from Sept. 22-25. One of the companies exhibiting there is Slåke with its Saddle chair, designed by Christoffer Angell, Øyvind Wyller and Simen Aarseth. 

The arm cushions have pockets where the end user can stash a magazine, a remote control or something of a similar size; that can certainly come in handy. And the chair looks lovely, unlike those with separate chair armrest organizers.

Another eye-catching item from Tent London was the dwiss, for kitchen recycling; it was designed by Paul Timmer. With four compartments, two on top and two on the bottom, recyclables can be divided up however the end user's locale requires. 

There's a removable bin in one of the top sections to accommodate compostables. 

One possible drawback to this design: Because the dwiss is made from beech plywood rather than something like plastic, the end user needs to avoid having standing water in any of the compartments. People are sometimes careless with their garbage cans and recycling bins; consumers who know this could possibly be an issue in their households should look elsewhere.

A third interesting item from Tent London is the bike hanger from Cactus Tongue. Bikes with a horizontal or slightly sloping crossbar can be hung horizontally; bikes can also be hung vertically by the handlebars or the seat post. It's made from stainless steel and includes leather contact pads. (Extra contact pads can be bought, too, which can come in handy.) It can be used both indoors and outdoors.

This bike hanger is 38 cm (almost 15 inches) deep, which is a bit more than a number of others. While this means it protrudes further from the wall, it also accommodates more bikes (because of the potential for a vertical orientation) than many others. And bikes that are just a bit too large for other hangers might find this one works for them.

Cactus Tongue points out that hanging the bike by the handlebars can be useful when the end users wants to work on the bike. 

100% Design runs in London from Sept. 21-24, and that show's website is where I discovered the Swich wireless charging stand from Lutman Design Studio. The stand uses Qi wireless charging technology which iPhones currently do not support, but there are easy workarounds using a charging card or a charging case. (The Swich website sells some of those charging cases.)

Swich allows end users to easily use their phones while the phones are charging. It uses microsuction tape to hold the phone to the stand; the "tiny micro suction cups" are supposedly good for holding "the smooth back of mobile phones." However, this might mean the stand doesn't work so well for phones in cases that don't provide that smooth back.

The other show that caught my eye was the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, held back in February. Karl Andersson & Söner featured its Svall magazine shelf, which comes in multiple lengths and in both a horizontal and vertical orientation. It's a nice way to keep magazines out and visible so they (hopefully) don't get neglected.

In the horizontal orientation, the curved slots help keep magazines upright. However, some end users may have oversized magazines which don't fit into those slots. 

Piniwini is an older product from the same company; it has a small shelf (invisible while in use) that makes it appear that the books (or whatever) are balanced on the peg.

While it's an interesting look, I'm not sure how practical it would be for many end users. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be afraid of knocking the books off that tiny shelf. 

Maze Interior was another company at the Stockholm Fair, and the F-Shelf designed by Kent Johansson was one of the products featured. It's a nice wall-mounted option for rooms with no space for a nightstand. End users can get the shelf in either of two orientations, depending on which side of the bed they are placing it and which orientation they prefer.

But both orientations present some challenges. If the shelves are both easy to reach, putting a book back in place could be a stretch. And if it's easier to put the book back, the lower shelf is a bit tricky to reach. 

Maze also has the Step S shoe shelf, designed by Gustav Rosén. These are flat platforms for the shoes; a simple solid shelf might work just as well, if not better, in some situations. But it's a small piece that can fit into little niches, where getting the right-sized shelf might be challenging for end users who don't want to make their own. And it can be combined in a series to create the illusion of a single longer piece. 

Mifune Design Studio was also at the Stockholm fair, and the piece that caught my eye was the versatile S hanger. It can be used with or without the hangers, and unused hangers can be stacked around the hanger-shaped base. It might not be the most stable piece, though; end users with large rambunctious dogs could possibly have problems with this one.

TheSpace Cradle is a wood and leather ergonomic hand rest for 3D mice, secondary mice used to navigate in 3D programs such as CAD.

Credit: Tal Volk

Credit: Tal Volk

Credit: Bret Lorimore

Credit: Bret Lorimore

Credit: Bret Lorimore

Credit: Bret Lorimore

Credit: Tal Volk

Credit: Tal Volk

Credit: Bret Lorimore

The standard modus operandi for folks who are drilling holes and driving screws is to have one tool for each. Not having to continually swap bits is worth the weight of an extra tool pulling one side of your belt down. Thus most folks doing this sort of work have both a drill and an impact driver, and ideally the latter is stubbier and can get into tight spaces.

However, for DIY'ers doing light-duty work where the power of an impact driver is not needed, it would be handy to have one tool that could swiftly bring both a twist bit and a driver bit to bear. Enter Worx's Switchdriver, which features a two-headed rotating chuck:

Despite its 20-volt battery, this doesn't look like the kind of heavy-duty tool a contractor would rely on, nor does the "three easy payments of $33.33" provide any illusion that you're getting, say, Festool quality here. And the overall length is unlikely to be useful, in driving mode, inside a cabinet. But I admire that the company is experimenting with a well-established form factor in order to improve the UX. That is the kind of thinking, and risk-taking, that will eventually advance the category.

It's interesting to see that the rim of a bicycle wheel is essentially made the same way that Jimmy DiResta made the rim of a magnifying glass in last week's Maker's Roundup. I guess there's only so many ways to turn a straight piece of metal into a circle.

Beyond that, there are a lot of fascinating bits in this video, which shows you how an aluminum Campagnolo bicycle wheel comes into existence. Check out the clever use of removable magnets during the assembly process, and the wicked machine that precisely tensions the spokes at the end:

Is there anything worse than being berated for your personal choice of phone? By someone who does not see the phone as an occasionally helpful glass rectangle, but as a lifestyle choice, a representation of your worth as a human being?

Here comedian Ronny Chieng, prior to landing his Daily Show gig, sums up the iPhone-vs.-Android conflict nicely. (Warning: The language is NSFW!)

The Graphics Specialist is responsible for daily requirements of internal and external graphic production. Designs, coordinates, and produces a variety of marketing visual material for promotions, posters, fliers, advertisements, packaging and media outlets such as websites and other digital avenues for the Resort.

This video's title, "Redneck Drives a Duct Tape Car Off a Cliff" is a bit misleading, but perhaps there's no other way to describe it in 10 words or less. The folks behind FiberFix, a super-tape allegedly 100 times stronger than duct tape, put together this nutty demonstration of its strength:

Three things a Core77 reader will probably be wondering:

1) What exactly is in the tape, and how is it applied?

The tape is impregnated with resin, which begins to harden when you add moisture. I.e. you dip it, then start wrapping it. It dries in about 20 minutes and is reportedly sandable and paintable.

2) How did they form the cage and fix the pieces in place to tape them?

They spot-welded the cage together, then ground the welds off one at a time to tape the joints.

3) What's the cage made out of?

Jalopnik reports that they used 2" outside-diameter hot-rolled steel tubing with a 0.12" wall thickness.

The crazy thing is that Harmon Brothers, the production company who conceived of the idea, didn't really know if it would work. The mechanical engineer they hired to vet the concept refused to sign off on it—and they did it anyway. Here's how:

As you saw, they used half as much FiberFix as they did duct tape. It would be neat if FiberFix's price was only double that of duct tape, but given that it's 100 times stronger, it's of course more expensive. A 2"-wide, 50"-long roll of FiberFix runs eight bucks, or 16 cents an inch. A 1.88"-wide, 20-yard roll of duct tape can be had for about $7 and change, which comes out to a penny per inch. But when it comes to material strength, there's simply no comparison.

I've got several industrial sewing machines mounted on leveling feet to deal with my uneven floors. But I've found the vibrations of the machines are enough to loosen the nylon-insert lock nuts attaching the feet to the table legs. While poking around for a better solution, I came across this Nord-Lock Washer design:

It's a clever exploitation of wedges, and is of course completely reversible. The idea isn't new; the company has been making these for some 30 years.

Nord-Lock's newer X-Series of washers feature serrations on both sides, allowing them to bite into the underside of the bolt head:

While the washers are removable for the sake of performing maintenance on whatever you're bolting together, the end user has to make the call on whether they're reusable or not:

They're also not quite idiot-proof in that one must ensure the washers are laid down in the correct orientation. But overall I think it's a pretty sound design.