Popular Science Best of What’s New 2006: Hurriquake
Popular Science‘s annual “Best of What’s New,” currently on display in New York’s Grand Central Station through this Thursday, 9 November 2006, and will be bringing you the highlights over the next several days.
To kick things off, the winner of the magazine’s first-ever top honor, “Innovation of the Year,” the Hurriquake, is a tricked-out nail designed to protect homes against damage caused by hurricanes and earthquakes. Engineered to target the common problems of other fasteners that tear apart in high winds and pull through plywood during seismic stresses, the device reportedly provides up to twice the resistance to these natural disasters. Featuring a larger head (with easily identifiable markings for inspectors, homeowners and contractors), angled barbed rings at the bottom, a screw shank that fills voids created the rings, and “shear shank technology” that increases strength at primary stress point and an improved coating that allows nails to be more flush with wood, the increased cost in building an average-size house is a mere $15.
