Coventry and Warrwickshire are hotspots when it comes to new inventions being dreamt-up.

The city and the county combined rank as the third most inventive area in the UK.

A machine for transporting curvy crisps, a new kind of toilet brush, a bike lock and a bath lift were just some of the things invented by people in Coventry and Warwickshire last year.

An analysis of data from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) website shows there were 413 patent applications filed by inventors with a Coventry or Warwickshire postcode that were published last year.

That works out as one invention for every 3,606 people living in the area - one of the highest rates in the UK.

The Festival of Imagineers celebrated inventions and performance
The Festival of Imagineers celebrated inventions and performance

Inventions included a proposed method of transporting and packaging curvy dorito-like crisps.

It involved a series of conveyor belts and concave crisp-shaped inverting stations, and was partly invented by Bob Abbas from Rugby.

Kevin Groom, from Southam, Warwickshire, was one of the inventors listed on a patent application for  a bath lift.

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It can operate in both left and right hand orientations.

Other inventions included a wall-mounted bike lock, a pilotless drone system (which was terminated before grant), and a new type of toilet brush which is both rigid and flexible, allowing it to clean in harder to reach parts of the loo.

The Festival of Imagineers, in Broadgate, Coventry. A celebration of inventions and performance.

There is a key reason for Coventry and Warwickshire’s performance and it is down to the presence of a large manufacturer in the area in the shape of Jaguar Land Rover.

The high invention rate is due to a lot of patents submitted by the Coventry-based car maker.

Many of the applications related to highly technical electronic and scientific systems.

The figures relate to patent applications published during 2018 - so it is likely many were filed earlier.

Of those, 18 have been granted so far, with a further seven in order for grant.

So far only five of the applications have been terminated before grant - with the rest of the applications still being processed or examined.

Below is footage from the Festival of Imagineers in Coventry in 2014, which celebrated inventions and performance

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The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official UK government organisation responsible for intellectual property rights including patents, designs, trademarks and copyright.

Across the UK there were 6,004 patents filed which listed at least one UK-based inventor last year.

They include a urine splash protection device which would allow women to urinate standing up, a type of packaging which helps restore the “just cooked taste” to reheated crisps, and a bottom wiper, which consists of an arm attached to a head which toilet paper can be inserted on to.

Other inventions include a coffee/tea machine that would allow re-infusion of tea leaves after a certain period of time, a new type of mortar bomb, and an eyebrow shaping device.

Most applications however were related to highly technical scientific or electronic methods and devices.

Some 525 inventions have already had their patent application granted, while 205 have been terminated before grant.

The most inventive area in the UK was Cambridge, with 127 inventions for every 100,000 residents.

After Cambridge, the area with the most inventions was South Cambridgeshire (98 inventions per 100,000 residents), followed by

Coventry was third, followed by Vale of White Horse, in Oxfordshire (59).

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