Inventing is Hard Work
...but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t start with fun
A recently published article about famous inventors asked what inspired them. And most of them told stories of playing as children – tinkering with tools or construction toys (remember your annoying brother taking apart your watch... just to see how it worked? Whether it ever got put back together depends very much on the kind of brother you had!)... Other kids spent time thinking about nature and testing how it "worked" by planting seeds, most played make-believe games with others, or got interested in drawing real or imagined objects and scenes.
And these are just the areas that child-development experts identify as universal kinds of play: exploration/tinkering, make believe/visual thinking, social play/collaboration, and puzzle play/problem solving. But most of all, when you play, nothing is impossible. You're open to new ideas and ways of looking at things. The great inventor Alexander Graham Bell has said "We are all too much inclined to walk through life with our eyes shut. There are things all around us, and right at our very feet, that we have never seen, because we have never really looked."
And if you think successful inventing is not mere “child’s play”...Take a look at a few of these success stories:
Rich (RJ) : Current Age - 18
Rich began inventing at the age of 11. He invented a megaphone-like device
to use underwater to communicate with his friends. His underwater Water
Talkies were a big success selling at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target,
K-Mart and Toys"R"Us in over 13 countries. Rich continued
to invent more water toys and he developed his own company to market his
inventions. At the age of 13 he sold his company for over $1 million
dollars! Rich was awarded the Ernst and Young “Entrepreneur
of the Year” award. He currently holds 4 patents and is on
the Student Board of the National Gallery for America's Young Inventors. Rich
is also an award- winning athlete.
Kristin: Current age – 17
At the age of 9, Kristin was helping her father fix something in the house
by holding a flashlight for him while he tightened a bolt. She wondered
why there wasn’t a tool that had a light built into it. This inspired
her to invent and create such a tool. Kristin went on to develop her Laser Nut Driver with a laser light that serves as a pointer to direct the user to the exact area. Kristen won the 25th Annual United States Patent Office Inventors Expo and the Walt Disney “Millennium Dreamer” contest. She holds two U.S. Patents.
Ole: Current Age – 16
At the age of 12, Ole was skateboarding and fell off his board and broke
his foot. There was not enough spring in the skateboard to absorb a hard landing
when going over jumps. He built a suspension truck for a skateboard that
would act as a shock absorber on landing. He holds two U.S. Patents
for his Shock Absorbing Skate Board Truck Assembly. He appears in an
educational program, Patents In Commerce, used to teach the patent to marketing
process.
Christen: Current Age – 17
Christen invented Vestpakz, which is a vest like back pack that is a more
comfortable and convenient way to carry your books. When she was in 6th
grade her teacher asked them to come up with a problem they faced in their
everyday life and solve it. Her inspiration was seeing the effects backpacks
were having on kid’s backs. Inventing the Vestpakz has given her
many opportunities like being the only kid on the Oprah’s Million
Dollar Idea Challenge. She has won the Disney Dreamer and Doer Award, and
was the only kid with a patent out of 100 people at the Invent Now Expo
at Universal Studios sponsored by the U.S. Patent Office and Inventors
Hall of Fame. She has also won the Houghton Mifflin National Inventor Award.
Cassidy: Current age – 16
Cassidy was 11 years old when she invented the Crayon Holder. Inspired
by the plastic tubes used to keep roses fresh while being transported, Cassidy
created a device that would hold small pieces of crayon. She experimented
with various materials to make it work. Ultimately she designed a device
that would grab the crayon securely regardless of its size. Cassidy received
a U.S. Patent (#6,402,407) and has another patent pending. Her product
is now being readied for retail. She is a Student Board Member of the National
Gallery for America’s Young Inventors.
Austin: Current Age – 16
Austin, an avid baseball player, created a device that fastens to bicycle handle bars to
carry a baseball glove, bat and ball. This allows the
rider to maintain proper control of the bike by eliminating the need to hang on
to their equipment. He was 9 years old when he invented the Glove and
Battie Caddy. Austin received a U.S. Patent (#6,029,874) in 2000. He
won the National Grand Prize in the Discovery Network and MediaOne Broadcasting’s
Ultimate Invention Contest. He was inducted into the National Gallery
for America’s Young Inventors.
Brandon: Current Age – 14
Brandon began inventing at the age of 8. His first invention, the PaceMate, was created
to assist his mother in transmitting an EKG to the hospital over the phone for her
pacemaker implant. The PaceMate is a device that
has an elasticized transmission bracelet and electrolytes to help the electrical
conduction. He won the Student Ideas for a Better America Competition and
was inducted into the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors.
Brandon has gone on to invent the Needle Beetle, a device to help kids when they are receiving injections.
Now take heart, potential inventors! Even those of us a little over the ripe old age of 13 can be successful, too – so the moral of the story is think young, and stay full of wonder and curiosity. (This is also good advice for continuing to feel young; whatever our age!)