You gasp in frustration when it happens. You reach, knowing it will be fruitless, but you can’t help but try to save your item from impending doom when a tiny ring, or key, or credit card goes falling down an air vent or other crevasse in the Earth.
But one man wasn’t going to let an engagement ring disappear that easily. In a photo album posted to Reddit, victoknight showed off an invention that took him straight to the heart of the air vent on the floor and helped him rescue the fallen diamond.
After affixing a Microsoft webcam to a flashlight with tape and connecting it to a tape measure, he slowly lowers the camera into the vent. The camera was connected to his MacBook, and thanks to the illumination of the flashlight, he found her ring right away.
According to another redditor, it would’ve likely been easier to use a vacuum with a filter like pantyhose affixed to the end. But our vent shaft hero apparently did not have access to such cleaning supplies.
Good thing he at least had access to a hanger, however, as he used the metal rod to scoop up the ring and pull it to safety. We don’t know who this couple is, but victoknight sure has one lucky partner.
Photo via Jessica.Diamond/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
