An ageing ginger tom worried about next door's cat stealing his dinner is credited with an invention which could save the world from nuclear war.

Infamous inventor Arthur Pedrick patented 132 crazy creations during his lifetime.

As the Patent Office celebrates its 150th anniversary this month, no one during its history comes close to matching his enthusiasm.

Despite many of Mr Pedrick's inventions being too fanciful to be of practical use, each of his ideas was recorded by the office, as revealed in the archives of the official register of patented designs.

Patent Office spokesman Jeremy Philpott said: "He was in a league of his own."

Mr Pedrick, of Hillfield Road, Selsey, near Chichester, was keen to share the glory with Ginger the cat.

Their most notable work was the "Photon push-pull radiation detector for use in chromatically selective cat-flap control and 1,000 megatonne, Earth-orbital, peace-keeping bomb".

Mr Pedrick believed the device could read electromagnetic waves to allow ginger cats through a cat flap but exclude moggies with black fur.

His notes to accompany the patent set out the scientific calculations behind the invention.

Mr Pedrick noted: "There is at Hillfield Road a ginger cat who, with increasing years, is not as agile as he was.

"Quite often, when coming in at nights from a bit of mouse-hunting, he is overtaken on the way to his cat food by the black cat from next door, who is much younger and more agile."

However, after explaining to Ginger how the cat flap would work as part of the patent, the puss suggests using the device as a unique nuclear deterrent.

The patent states: "Purr, purr," said Ginger. "That's quite clever. But there is a much better use for your sensitive radiation detector device."

Ginger then imagines an atomic bomb orbiting the world which would automatically strike against any country launching a nuclear attack.

The cat concludes: "If all your nuclear energy was used for peaceful purposes, you could all save a hell of a lot of money, which would help to stop world inflation and might even bring down the price of cat food."

Mr Philpott said: "Because patents have to be recorded verbatim, these details were kept."

Another invention patented by Mr Pedrick, who died in the late Seventies, was a huge network of giant pea-shooters to pipe snow and ice balls from Antarctica to irrigate the Australian desert.

He also came up with a car powered by a horse walking behind it. The ignition switch can give the horse's backside a mild electric shock to keep the animal moving.