Published: November 01, 2007 06:03 pm      

BRIGHT IDEAS: Local inventors explore ways to market their ideas

In the cartoons, when somebody has a great idea, a lightbulb goes off overhead. Listening to local inventors describe how they got their latest ideas, that image seems not too far off the mark.

Pete Hankinson of North Tonawanda was walking with his briefcase when he decided there should some light to guide his way.

Tom Penna was sitting in his Town of Tonawanda backyard daydreaming when the idea for a lawn game dropped into his head.

Desyl Beebe of Niagara Falls needed a more comfortable sling for her broken arm than the one she was issued at the hospital.

The world is not an easy place for inventors these days. Outside of the television show “American Inventor,” there aren’t too many places an inventor can go for support. The patent process especially, which can protect an invention, is expensive and confusing, according to a patent attorney, Michael Dunn of Cambria. “A patent does not give you the right to do anything, it gives you the right to stop someone else from doing something. You are free to market any of your inventions as long as someone else with a patent doesn’t stop you,” he said.

Dunn also said it can cost up to $8,000 to file an application.

Regardless, three local inventors were so inspired by their visions, they each went ahead and made prototypes and are now attempting to find backing for their creations.

Hankinson, a local teacher and musician, was walking in a dark parking lot with his briefcase and thought, “wouldn’t it be neat if you had a light in you briefcase that could illuminate your path?”

Hankinson has had some success with other inventions. He invented a watch for people who love music that, instead of numbers has 12 symbols on the music scale. “I sell them all over the world,” he said.

Tom Penna, a part-time mailroom employee for Greater Niagara Newspapers, created a game easy enough for a family to play while challenging enough that he believes it could be an Olympic sport.

Penna compared his inspirational method to that of a composer creating music. However, sometimes inspiration is born from a pressing need, as for Beebe.

Beebe was grabbing a cart at a local supermarket when a man drove a line of carts into her hand, causing a rotator cuff tear.

“When I got out of surgery I was bound clean up to here,” she said, putting an open hand by her neck. “I couldn’t adjust the straps by myself, I couldn’t get it over my head, I couldn’t even get it off.”

She had just bought some mircrofiber scarves and made a sling for herself out of the soft material and some tacking glue. When she brought it to her doctor and he saw how easy it was to use and wear, it got his nod of approval. Beebe later applied for a patent for what she calls her Ortho Support Sling.

All three inventors have some challenges before them.

Chris Thorpe, a marketing manager for Buffalo Games of Amherst, said his company meets regularly with inventors.

“We get inventors calls all the time from all walks of life. Sometimes the ideas stick,” he said. When his company is unable to work with an inventor, Thorpe has other suggestions, including an annual licensing show in New York City.

At inventorspot.com, inventors can learn about upcoming licensing shows and swap ideas with other inventors from all over the world. In such global communities, they can seek support that is so important to the creative process.

Meanwhile, Penna said he would be interested in creating a group locally where he could explore the creative process.

“I’d love to start a group of people who simply want to sit around and brainstorm and experiment with creativity,” he said.

Contact editor Michele DeLuca at 693-1000, ext. 157.