Invent this! - five science projects are turned into inventions by students - Special Issue: Science-Project Survival Guide

Science World, Sept 15, 1995 by Lynda Jones, Alexia Abernathy, Jeff Choinksi, James Thompson, Mike Rucker, Ryan Pliska, Tracy Phillips, Jeff Stevenson, Elizabeth Nathan, Gabriella Pollack, Jason Harvey, Troy Karwowski

Oops! Proof[TM] No-Spill Bowl

by Alexia Abernathy, grade 9 Washington High School Cedar Rapids, IA

Alexia Abernathy's invention started as a science-fair project in elementary school. "When I was in fifth grade and a baby-sitter came to our house, her kid would play and run around jiggling his bowl of food," Alexia says. The food would spill out and I was always the one who had to clean it up." Finding a way to prevent food from spilling out of a bowl seemed like a great project idea, Alexia says.

To design a model of her invention, Alexia glued a small plastic bowl inside a larger one. "Then I cut a hole in the larger bowl's lid," she says. The two bowls and the lid make one wide rim which prevents food from spilling.

Alexia entered her spill-proof bowl in Invent, Iowa!--an invention competition for kids. A lot of people at Invent, Iowa! thought that other people could use Alexia's invention. So she talked to a lawyer about applying for a patent, a document that gives an inventor and manufacturer exclusive rights to make and sell a product.

It took a year for Alexia to find a company that was interested in producing her bowl. "I met with the people at the company, gave them my ideas, and showed them my prototype," says Alexia. The company worked with her to come up with the final design and packaging.

Now Alexia's Oops! Proof[TM] No-Spill Feeding Bowl can be found in stores like Toys "R" Us and Target. Alexia receives royalties, a share of the product's profits, four times a year. So far she's made about $3,000.

COOL TUNES

by Jeff Choinksi, James Thompson (behind cooler), Terrell Lewis (for right), Jeff Stevenson, Mike Rucker, and Ryan Pliska, grade 7 Middle School of Plainville Plainville, CT

Our team had to come up with a problem to solve for Innovations Across Generations, an invention contest," says Jeff Choinski. The contest pairs volunteers from General Electric with middle-school kids.

"We started thinking about how much stuff we had to carry to the beach," Jeff says. "So we figured that having a cooler with a built-in radio would be cool," he says.

Jeff and his team bought a cooler, a personal stereo, and a pair of small speakers. Then the team sketched out diagrams to find the best place for the stereo equipment, Jeff says. They drew a diagram on the outside of the cooler and cut out part of the cooler wall. The team fit the stereo and speakers inside the cutouts and attached them to the cooler using Velero. "We left enough space above the radio so you can get your fingers in to use the controls," Jeff says. Next, the team insulated the back of the stereo equipment to protect the wires from getting wet.

Jeff says the project was fun because he got to do something creative while hanging out with his friends. "But it was frustrating, too," he recalls, "because we kept messing up." Sometimes the team cut too much of the coolers foam wars away, he admits. "So we had to buy some new coolers to try again." Now that Cool Tunes can play, says Jeff, "we're hoping we get a patent so we can sell our invention."

MONEY TALKS

by Tracy Phillips, grade 12 Long Beach High School Long ileach, NY

Invented an electronic device for blind people that tells them the denominations of paper money from $1 to $20 bills," says Tracy Phillips. She invented the device because she had a little brother who was blind, she says. "I always wanted to help blind people."

Every bill has different light and dark patterns on it, Tracy explains. For example, a certain spot on a $1 bill will be dark, but on a $5 bill the same spot will be light. When you put a bill in the Money Talks wallet, says Tracy, a light beam inside passes through the bill to detect the different patterns. A light detector signals a voice chip to "call out" the denomination of the bill. The whole device is contained within a normal-size wallet, Tracy says.

Tracy worked on her invention for two years before she got Money Talks talking, she says. Her invention won first place in the Duracell/NSTA Scholarship Competition. She won $20,000 and a trip to California. Tracy's invention also won a $30,000 second prize in the Westinghouse Talent Search. "Money Talks is not on the market yet," says Tracy, "but I've been talking to some business people." Hopefully it will be available soon, she says.

SAFER SYRINGES

by Elizabeth Nothan and Gabrielic Pollock, grade 12 The Brearley School New York, NY

Elizabeth Nathan and Gabriella Pollack came up with the idea of inventing a nonreusable syringe to "help stop the spread of AIDS," says the team. After one use, the syringe plunger becomes immobilized. And if a person pulls the plunger out, the needle breaks off so it can't be used again.

"I came up with the idea after reading an article about AIDS," says Elizabeth. She learned that the disease can spread when someone reuses a dirty needle to inject drugs. At the time, Elizabeth's chemistry class was also using a syringelike device to demonstrate the relationship between pressure and volume.

"We wrote up our idea and entered it in the NYNEX Science and Technology Awards competition," says Gabriella. "We didn't have to make a prototype [model]," she adds, "but we had to write a paper describing the reason for the invention, and the invention itself. "Our invention won first prize at the competition: $15,000 each and grant money to develop the intervention with a university," says Gabriel. "We don't have the time to work on our invention right now," she adds, "so we are going to wait until next summer."