Inventors

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How to NOT NOT-TALK about YOUR INVENTION

Posted on June 12, 2020

Yesterday I had a call with a team of inventors interested in selling their invention to us. We didn't have a NDA in place so the conversation proceeded in generalities. I wanted a concrete example and asked, "What existing product is similar to your invention? Don't tell me any details about YOUR invention. I don't want to know. Just give me an example of an existing product that's already being sold." "I'm afraid to disclose anything," the inventors answered. "Even the name of a product I can buy today at Wal-Mart?" I asked. Yes, was the answer.I ended the conversation ...

James Dyson Sets Example For Coronavirus Inventions

Posted on March 26, 2020

James Dyson showed us why he is "Sir" James Dyson. In response to a call from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dyson's team designed a new ventilator in 10 days. His company is now making 15,000 ventilators for the COVID-19 pandemic fight and will donate 5,000 to the international effort.https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/tech/dyson-ventilators-coronavirus/index.html ...

Should the Inventor Be CEO?

Posted on May 16, 2017

Putting a Healthy Divide Between Inventors and Managers by Scott KeeleyKeeleyDeAngelo.com Karen James is a typical software developer: focused, methodical, binary. She is also inventive. She can envision a solution to a problem via lines of code. In the early 90s Karen wrote a software application that medical staff could use to keep track of patients and manage the back office. This was before electronic health records was a thing, and forward-thinking practices were steadily purchasing it. As business increased, Karen hired a team of coders, and soon found herself heading a 50-person shop. The coder had become a CEO ...

The Sewing Machine Exemplifies the Meaning of Invention

Posted on August 12, 2016

When an invention changes lives it's a big deal and Elias Howe's sewing machine is a great example. The sewing machine did more than enable faster sewing. It changed the way people lived and enabled common people to have clothes that fit as well as those of the rich. It also started the ready-to-wear fashion industry we know today. Often people assume that labor saving automation reduces employment and hurts the economy. Here's a short essay by the American Enterprise Institute that explains how the sewing machine enhanced lives and created new jobs. ...

Where "Honest Inventing" Comes From

Posted on April 09, 2016

Invention City's promise of Honest Inventing isn't a slogan. It's built into our DNA. We started as garage inventors 25 years ago and maintain that perspective today. But I don't want to write about our long history right now. This morning I ran across a collage of a Kickstarter project I did in 2012 for a made-in-New England Beanie. That project wasn't the biggest or most profitable, but in every other way It was 100%. There was no compromise in anything and everything we claimed and said was 100% true. The product was sourced 100% in New England from the ...

Gravitational Waves

Posted on February 13, 2016

This week's news includes the spectacular announcement that Einstein's prediction of 100 years ago has been proven true. Gravitational waves are real.Here is physicist Carlo Rovelli writing about what this means (LIGO is the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory):"The wave that LIGO has now been able to observe is the product of a catastrophic event: the merging of two black holes, each having the mass of several dozen Suns. The energy their spiraling impact radiated into space was that of three Suns vaporized in a fraction of a second. This cosmic explosion raised a galactic tsunami that has traveled more than ...

Inventor Review of Invention City

Posted on November 25, 2015

Invention City TestimonialsBEGIN A CONVERSATION WITH USUnsolicited Comments from Inventors on Brutally Honest Reviews and working with Invention City:November 18, 2022:"I just want to give a big thumbs up to Invention City. I had the most professional experience I have ever had. And they proved to me that they are for real. I can compare Invention City, Inc. to the Shark Tank a TV show I love because of the honesty and not someone that will tell you a lie just to get into your bank account or take a big charge on your credit card. Dan who reviewed my ...

Invention City Inventor Launches 2nd Kickstarter for Image Lock on His Own

Posted on November 15, 2015

Inventor Ali Nawaz has launched a second Kickstarter for his Image Lock combination lock. The Image Lock uses pictures instead of numbers to create combinations that are easy to remember and fun. Now the Image Lock is available with colors on the image dial and a key option in back. The new Kickstarter offers new rewards too. Image Lock makes a great stocking stuffer for Christmas and can be used for bike locks, school and gym lockers, treasure chests and more.Ali came to Invention City for help with his first Kickstarter last year and together we achieved success. This year's ...

BASF Energy Storage Contest

Posted on March 04, 2015

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany, Feb. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Innovation Contest BASF aims to find ideas to store energy from renewable energy sources. The context calls for sustainable technologies which are capable of storing power from the grid and feeding it back into it. Together with companies, scientists, start-ups and inventors, BASF is looking for efficient solutions to store electricity on a long-term basis, which are financially viable, for example through lower investment costs. Innovative chemistry should play a central role in the submitted proposals. Ideas can be submitted online until June 2, 2015, at NineSights ( www.ninesigma.com/). BASF ...

BASF Energy Storage Contest

Posted on March 04, 2015

Dyson (the vacuum guy) Speaks About Inventing

Posted on January 27, 2014

Last week on NPR’s Science Friday, James Dyson, inventor of the eponymous vacuum cleaner spoke about the process of inventing. Dyson says he built 5,127 prototypes before completing his first bagless vacuum. “My life and my day are full of failures,” he said. “Failures are interesting.” He went on to say that inventors should never give up and shouldn’t listen to negative opinions. “Noooo!” I yelled at the radio. This idea, the idea that inventors should doggedly stick to their inventions through hell, high water and negative opinions is so commonplace that it’s almost trite. Unfortunately it’s not trite. It’s ...

Recent Negotiations

Posted on December 23, 2012

This past year I've negoitiated licensing deals, partnerships, patent infringement settlements and buyouts. Some have been intense and acrimonious with expletives and threats flying at me and my partners. Others have been easy and friendly. In all of them I followed sage advice I received from my Uncle Jesse nearly 25 years ago: know what you need before you start, know what "yes" will be and try to get a little more. The biggest danger in a negotiation comes from worrying about what the other guy is getting, worrying that his slice of the pie is too big. If you ...

The Benefits of Negative Thinking

Posted on August 05, 2012

It goes against American culture, contrary to the advice of self-help gurus and business advisors: thinking negatively can be good for you. People who believe that tomorrow will be better should coldly consider that tomorrow could in fact be worse. Those sentiments roughly summarize the recent editorial by Oliver Burke, "The Power of Negative Thinking." His thoughts were inspired by the recent news that 21 participants in an Anthony Robbins motivational event badly burned their feet from walking over hot coals. Recognizing reality is what it's all about. Motivation and belief do not trump the physics of fire. Fears of ...

Air Conditioning

Posted on July 11, 2012

The desire to cool air for comfort predates history. The record begins around 200 AD when Chinese inventor Ding Huan of the Han Dynasty invented a human powered 7 wheel fan that was nearly 10 feet in diameter. 500 years later Emperor Xuanzong built a water-powered fan that included fountains in the Imperial Palace. In 1758, Benjamin Franklin and John Hadley, a chemistry professor at Cambridge University, studied evaporation as a means of cooling. They found that highly volatile liquids such as alcohol and ether could be evaporated to cool a thermometer down to 7F in ambient air of ...

Talented Inventor-Engineers Sought For TV Show

Posted on October 27, 2011

October 27, 2011 - UK based Renegade Productions, (makers of Planet Mechanics), are looking for innovative design and engineering brains to front a new, 6-part science television series. Two teams of top problem solvers will design and build prototype solutions to real-world problems. Whether the Chief of Police in Villamoura, Portugal, throws down the challenge to STOP JOY RIDERS, or the Norwegian Mountain Rescue challenges them to come up with a new AVALANCHE RESCUE DESIGN, our teams will come up with inventive solutions which demonstrate hands on skills and lateral thinking. Solutions to problems like these could genuinely make ...

Steve Jobs - Inventor of a Generation

Posted on October 20, 2011

A century from now Steve Jobs will be remembered alongside Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and Walt Disney. He ushered the new light of personal information into the world, mass produced it, made it fly and coupled it with new forms of entertainment. Jobs once said that all computers do is pick up and rearrange numbers, but if they do it fast enough, the results appear to be magic. His career was spent packaging that magic into sleek boxes with user friendly form and function. Jobs was among the first to recognize that computers could be sold ...

Old World Inventing in the 21st Century

Posted on June 20, 2011

Joel Marks is the lead inventor for WorkTools, Inc. He has over 75 US patents in his name and is the creator of PowerShot "forward-action" staple guns, Gator-Grip universal sockets, PaperPro desktop staplers and much more. Joel develops his inventions like an old world craftsman coupled with a zen master. He touches and feels with both his hands and his mind. He understands how a spring feels as it compresses and releases, from both the perspective of a user working a spring-powered device and from the perspective of the spring itself. Joel recently put down some thoughts on his methodology ...

Defying gravity is a matter of perspective

Posted on January 25, 2011

Kokichi Sugihara has invented a way to trick our eyes into believing that gravity can be defied. He doesn't use magnets or trick photography or special editing. He's made a model with cardboard that takes advantage of the assumptions our brains make about reality. In the following short video it looks like balls are rolling uphill. Click here to see Impossible Motion. Sugihara teaches at the Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences in Japan. See more of Sugihara's illusions in a longer video here. ...

Ear Muff Inventor Celebrated

Posted on December 13, 2010

On December 4th the town of Farmington, Maine celebrated inventor Chester Greenwood for his invention of ear muffs in 1873 at the age of 15. He reportedly came up with the idea while ice skating, and had his grandmother sew tufts of fur between loops of wire. His patent was for improved ear protectors. He manufactured these ear protectors, providing jobs for people in the Farmington area, for nearly 60 years. Chester also patented a tea kettle, a steel tooth rake, an advertising matchbox, and a machine used in producing wooden spools for wire and thread. He invented, but did ...

5 Year Old Inventor Honored in UK

Posted on September 07, 2010

September 7, 2010 - At the age of three Sam Houghton of Buxton, England, was watching his father clean up leaves and fine debris with two different brooms when he came up with his idea - a double-headed broom designed to collect large debris and fine dust simultaneously. Sam's invention was patented and is now on display in an exhibition at the British Library. He is believed to be England's youngest ever patentee. Here's more from the Telegraph. ...

Sony Ordered to Pay Inventor 5 Million Yen

Posted on August 20, 2010

August 20, 2010 - Japan's Intellectual Property High Court on Thursday ordered Sony Corp. to pay a former employee about ¥5.1 million ($60,000) for inventing a technology used in the PlayStation, reversing a lower court ruling that rejected his demand. Hidehiro Kume, 58, wanted ¥100 million for his invention of a small optical pickup used to play and record data on optical discs for the popular game consoles sold through 2003. Here's more from Japan Times. ...

From Concept to Market in 10 Months

Posted on August 20, 2010

August 20, 2010 - Magnus Hammick wanted to listen to loud, crisp music from his iphone but couldn't find anything on the market that worked for him. In late 2009, Hammick developed a pocket-sized speaker that delivers room-filling sound with amplified bass when it's placed on a flat surface. He created the $80 WOWee ONE that connects to anything with a 3.5-millimeter audio jack and has a rechargeable battery for 20 hours of play. Since the product's launch about nine months ago, more than 150,000 WOWees have been sold. Hammick's success cannot be easily emulated by others. He had 1 ...

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