Hartmut Hubert of Berlin has invented a great gadget for cyclists: a lock that not only stops vandals stealing your bicycle, but safeguards the pump too. The secret? The lock also acts as your pump.
Most cyclists lock their bikes with a U-lock, a U-shaped rod of hardened steel that you stick between the spokes. The open end of the U is then closed with a locking bar. But while this makes the bike relatively safe, thieves can still steal the pump. Hubert鈥檚 idea is to make one of the legs of the U-shape a hollow cylinder, with a piston that pumps air out of a side valve (WO 03/004811). When the U-lock is in place, the piston is secured to the locking bar and can鈥檛 be removed. But when the bar is unlocked the piston is freed for pumping.
