Originally Posted by FBinNY

The key is to get a mental picture of the essence of the job, then wander around hardware and auto stores until you find something.

Sometimes you don't get inspired, you just get lucky. Some decades back two friends and I of were touring in NH when my friend suffered one of those unfixable breakdowns. I went into the local hardware store looking for ideas and was wandering around looking for something I could adapt. The owner wasn't sure about the scruffy person wandering his aisles and kept asking things like "can I help you" or "what are you looking for" (code for "I don't trust you") and I kept saying "no" or "I don't know", until I got exasperated and said "I'm looking for an inspiration, what aisle do you keep those in!".