Trendspotter: Sensible sensor

It might seem farcical to think of making toast as deadly but consider the seemingly unhinged choreography of newspaper waving, broom handle pumping and window opening witnessed when attempts to brown a piece of bread set off a domestic smoke alarm. Repeated incidents of this kind of false alarm provoke many people to remove the batteries from their warning devices, which means that if one night their home does fill with smoke, they would remain unaware and therefore possibly perish as a result of asphyxiation.

Now British company FireAngel (www.fireangel.co.uk) has come up with a solution based on a radical rethinking of smoke alarm design. Most detectors work because particles of smoke in the atmosphere reduce the flow of electrical current within the device, even when no smoke is visible. The new system, installed in the company’s Toast-proof range, relies on the reflection of light off smoke particles, making it less likely to produce false alarms.

The design of a safety device might not be as sexy as that of a Konstantin Grcic chair or a Clarice Cliff teapot but in spite of perceptions of their values, the latter two items have far less potential for saving lives.