INPEX Inventors Appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
COMPANIES ATTENDING INPEX® 2010
Three Easy Ways to Be a Better Inventor
Here at InventHelp®, August is our favorite month because it's host to our favorite celebration: National Inventors Month! As you take time this month to reflect on important inventors and innovations, InventHelp® offers three simple ways to help you to improve your own inventing prowess!
Read more articles
from the August 2007 issue of InventHelp's free newsletter for inventors |
1) Start Anytime
It's never too late (or too early) to become an inventor. Some folks are born with the drive; others may not have their first great idea until well into the Golden Years.
Today's up-and-coming generation, or Generation Y, are well on their way to becoming the most entrepreneurial group in history. New technology and resources make it easier than ever to become a do-it-yourselfer.
2) Keep It Simple
Inventions don't necessarily have to be complicated. Sure, a robot that can climb stairs is very impressive, but it doesn't have much of an impact on the lives of everyday Americans.
It's the simple things that make day to day life easier. Think about the last time you got a paper cut or a blister. Chances are (if you listened to your mother), the first thing you'll do is reach for some antibiotic cream and a Band-Aid®.
The Band-Aid® is a perfect example of a simple yet practical invention. Invented by Johnson & Johnson employee Earle Dickson in the 1920s, the Band-Aid® today is so popular it's hard to find a medicine cabinet without a box of them.
Before the Band-Aid® was invented, cuts and boo-boos were covered by a separate piece of gauze affixed with adhesive tape. Dickson's wife Josephine was always cutting herself in the kitchen, and he noticed that the tape and gauze would quickly fall off his wife's fingers.
Dickson decided to place the gauze in the center of the tape, and he covered it with crinoline to keep it sterile. His boss was so impressed with the invention that Johnson & Johnson decided to manufacture it and make Earle Dickson the vice president of the company.
Today, Band-Aid® bandages come in a plethora of sizes, colors and patterns. New technologies to promote faster healing, including bandages infused with antibiotics and scar-reducing ingredients, help those with scraped knees and cut fingers get back to normal even more quickly!
If there's one thing to be learned from the Band-Aid® story, it's that keeping it simple works. If there's a second thing to be learned, it's that people are perpetually clumsy!
3) Keep at It
Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are inventions.
Take, for example, toilet paper. While running out of tissue in the bathroom now registers as a major catastrophe, it wasn't always so. For many years, our ancestors used leaves and loose leaf paper until a man named Joseph Gayetty had an idea to improve sanitary hygiene.
Gayetty produced the first packaged bathroom tissue in the United States in 1857. Called "The Therapeutic Paper", it contained medicinal ingredients like aloe. The company sold it in packs of 500 sheets for 50 cents, and Joseph Gayetty had his name printed on each sheet! In today's money, that's like $50! Perhaps only the rich could afford it.
Unfortunately, the invention failed. Years later, Walter Alcock decided to put the toilet paper on a roll. The invention still failed. Seems hard to believe now, doesn't it?
In fact, it wasn't until 10 years later that the Scott brothers found success marketing a small roll of perforated paper sold from a push cart. The Scott brothers rose from these humble beginnings to form the Scott Paper Company, today a leading paper-products manufacturer.
The toilet paper story shows that although you may have a great idea, simple factors like the ability to market your idea can work against you. And while persistence is no guarantee of success, it's always better to try and fail than to never try at all!
Inventors see problems and create solutions. But, inventing isn't easy, and many first-timers can become discouraged quickly. We at InventHelp® encourage you to use these simple tips to become a better inventor. Remember, every great invention starts as a great idea!
Back to Articles for Inventors | Back to August 2007 Newsletter
|
|
home | about InventHelp | services | resources | contact | offices | site map | InventHelp Store | InventHelp's Invention & Technology News | InventHelp Blog | Avoiding Invention Scams