Inventing Made Easy

1. Inventing Made Easy 2006/2007

2. How Can I Be An Inventor? • Anyone who has an idea can be an inventor • There are no age requirements on inventing • Inventions do not need to be complex ideas – often they are simple solutions • What kind of solutions?

3. The Cleverness of Simplicity - 2000 Jacob Dunnack 8 years old Developed a baseball bat to hold his baseballs, the “ballbat”

4. The Cleverness of Simplicity Chelsea Lanmon 5 years old At the age of 5 Chelsea watched her mother making sure that she had powder and wipes along with a clean diaper before she started changing her younger brother. Chelsea thought it would be easier to have everything in one place so she invented the Diaper Pocket. This is a diaper with a pocket that holds a wipe and a powder puff in it.

5. The Cleverness of Simplicity - 1994 Kathryn (K-K) Gregory 10 years old Invented Wristies ® to keep snow from getting into the sleeves of your coat.

6. Young Inventors Make a Difference • What difference can a young person make in society? • What contributions can you make to society to make it a better place? • For centuries young people have been creating new technologies and making improvements to existing technologies that make our daily lives better

7. Improving Our Lives - 1992 Abbey Fleck8 years old Invented MAKIN BACON, a device that cooks the bacon hanging up so the fat will drip into a tray below.

8. Improving Our Lives Krysta Morlan Krysta was in grade 10 when she invented the cast cooler, a device that relieves the irritation caused by wearing a cast.

9. Improving Our Lives Lindsey Clement Invented the gumball machine. This is not what you think. Lindsey invented a lawn mower type device to pick up the prickly fruit that falls from the sweet-gum trees in her yard.

10. Good Ideas Impact Culture • Culture is an important part of any society • Cultural impact can change the way people live their lives for generations • Major or minor, culture helps define our world

11. Changing Our Culture - 1907 Frank Epperson11 years old Invented the Popsicle and 18 years later he applied for and received a patent

12. Changing Our Culture - 1921 Philo Farnsworth 14 years old Had an idea that would prove to be a critical breakthrough, towards electronic television

13. Inventing Fun and Games • Not all inventions need to fix a serious problem • Some inventions are just as fun as they are useful

14. Inventing Fun Luisa Bundy 12 years old Designs dolls called "Little Bundies“ now being sold at the famous toy shop Hamley’s in England

15. Inventing Fun Richie Stachowski 10 years old While he was snorkeling at age 10 in Hawaii on vacation with his father, Richie thought it would be neat if he could talk to his Dad underwater. He built his first Water Talkie out of plastic. He strapped it on his head so he could talk while swimming.

16. Inventing Fun - 2005 Taylor Hernandez 10 years old Invented "Magic Sponge Blocks," large building blocks made from sponge that can safely stack high without worry that they could fall and hurt a child.

17. Inventing Fun - 1930 George Nissen 16 years old Developed a bouncing apparatus called a trampoline

18. Innovation Knows No Bounds • Inventions are the fruition of ideas • Our ideas are not bound by anything • Innovation does not distinguish between gender, race, religion or ethnicity

19. Minority Inventors • Women • Mary Anderson - windshield wipers (1903) • Josie Stuart - dandruff shampoo (1903) • Melitta Benz - Melitta automatic drip coffee maker (1908) • Josephine Cochrane - dishwasher (1914) • Marion Donovan - first disposable diaper (1951) • Harriet J. Stern - compact portable hair dyer (1962) • Rose Totino - dough product for frozen pizza (1979)

20. Minority Inventors • Other Minority Inventors • Eliah McCoy - 50 patents including one for a metal or glass cup that fed oil to bearings through a small-bore tube • Benjamin Banneker - invented the first striking clock made of wood in America • Granville Woods - over 60 patents, known as “Black Edison”, made improvements to telegraph, invented electric motor making underground subway possible • Garrett Morgan - invented the traffic signal and safety hood for firefighters • George Washington Carver - discovered over 300 products made from peanuts, over 125 new products with sweet potato • Between 1863 and 1913, approximately 1,200 inventors were patented by African Americans

21. Scholarship • One $15,000 scholarship for the best invention awarded to one student or team • Scholarship for higher education • Patent services provided by Burns & Levinson LLP for the winning invention – which is the first step to putting your invention into the hands of consumers

22. Summary • Applications are due January 29, 2007 • Email questions to dgomes@burnslev.com or apareti@burnslev.com • Help sessions at the John D. O’Bryant School (JDO) and Brighton High school (BHS), 4-6 PM • November 14, 2006 (JDO) and November 29, 2006 (BHS) • December 12, 2006 (JDO) and December 14, 2006 (BHS) • January 17, 2007 (JDO) and January 24, 2007 (BHS) • February 6, 2007 (JDO) and February 13, 2007 (BHS) **Dates and times are tentative, please contact us to confirm** • Reports are due February 28, 2007 • Mandatory presentation at judging in March (date(s) and location to be announced by January 10, 2007) • Award ceremony to be held in May of 2007 • Patent Application Process begins after ceremony