Editing W. Heath Robinson (section)

==In popular culture==
[[File:Heath Robinson WWI.png|thumb|upright=1.0|A World War I cartoon by W. Heath Robinson]]
[[File:Kipling - Song of the English, 1914 - 3492116 F.jpg|thumb|Title page of ''A Song of the English'' by [[Rudyard Kipling]], illustrated by W. Heath Robinson, c. 1914 (reprint)]]

The name "Heath Robinson" became part of common parlance in the UK for complex inventions that achieved absurdly simple results following its use as services slang during the 1914–1918 First World War.<ref>[http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hea4.htm World Wide Words: Heath Robinson]</ref>

The spotting table used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Battle of Britain to determine the bearing and altitude of an incoming German raid before calling it in to the sector plotting room was known, affectionately, as "the Heath Robinson."<ref>Wood, Derek, and Dempster, Derek. The Narrow Margin (London, UK; McGraw Hill Book Company), 1961, Page 150.)</ref>

In the ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' films, Wallace often invents Heath Robinson-like machines, with some inventions being direct references.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Solon |first=Olivia |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/heath-robinson-deserves-a-museum |title= William Heath Robinson museum finally opens this weekend. Who is the man behind the legend?|magazine= Wired| access-date=20 May 2017 |quote=In fact, the parallels between Aardman's 'cracking contraptions' and Heath Robinson's are, on occasions, startling. The Wallace-Gromit household borrows heavily from a full-scale model of a contraption-filled house entitled 'The Gadget Family', designed and built for the Ideal Home Show in 1934 – there are even trapdoors delivering the family to the breakfast table.}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.economist.com/1843/2019/01/08/absurdity-and-wonder-heath-robinson-at-home |title=Absurdity and wonder: Heath Robinson at home |last=Bennun |first=David |magazine=The Economist |date=8 January 2019 |access-date=20 August 2023 |quote=The creators of the 'Wallace and Gromit' films have acknowledged that many of Wallace's inventions owe a great debt to those of Heath Robinson.}}</ref>

During the [[Falklands War]] (1982), British [[Harrier Jump Jet|Harrier]] aircraft lacked their conventional "[[chaff (countermeasure)|chaff]]"-dispensing mechanism.<ref name="isbn0-304-35542-9">{{cite book|first=Sharkey |last=Ward |title=Sea Harrier Over the Falklands (Cassell Military Paperbacks) |year=2000 |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company |page=245 |isbn=0-304-35542-9}}</ref> Therefore, [[Royal Navy]] engineers designed an impromptu delivery system of welding rods, split pins and string which allowed six packets of chaff to be stored in the [[Air brake (aeronautics)|speedbrake]] well and deployed in flight. Due to its improvised and ramshackle nature it was often referred to as the "Heath Robinson chaff modification".<ref name="isbn0-297-84645-0">{{cite book |author=Morgan, David L. |title=Hostile Skies: My Falklands Air War |year=2006 |publisher=Orion Publishing |location=London |pages=59, 73 and photo section |isbn=0-297-84645-0}}</ref>