Standup Walker of the Year NOMINATE YOUR RISING STAR in the HOME HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY FAVORITE INNOVATOR
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DIGEST InventorsAPRIL 2016 Volume 32 Issue 4 DIGEST IPOEF Inventor StandUp Walker of the Year NOMINATE YOUR RISING STAR IN THE HOME HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY FAVORITE INNOVATOR Jack Andraka DISCOVERS A DEVICE TO DETECT PANCREATIC CANCER Total Tie Keep NO MORE BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND 3D Printers ARE THEY WORTH THE INVESTMENT? Almost Perfect PROFITING FROM YOUR INVENTION The Business of Inventing DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? $3.95 FULTON, MO FULTON, PERMIT 38 PERMIT US POSTAGE PAID POSTAGE US PRSRT STANDARD PRSRT EDITOR’S NOTE InventorsDIGEST The Next EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BIG Thing CAMA MCNAMARA This month’s cover story should be of interest to ART DIRECTOR inventors looking for the next big thing. While CARRIE BOYD over the past decade numerous products have been developed for tech-savvy, time-conscious CONTRIBUTORS millenials, at the opposite end of the spectrum STEPHEN BRACHMANN are aging baby boomers, who are creating INNOVATOR INSIGHTS multiple marketing opportunities. As their numbers continue to increase, so JACK LANDER does the potential for product development. JEREMY LOSAW Ken Paulus’ company, URise Products, is on the cutting-edge of what has GENE QUINN been coined the “silver tsunami.” According to the Pew Research Center, 10,000 JOHN RAU boomers will turn 65 today, and 10,000 more will turn 65 every day for the next 19 EDIE TOLCHIN years. That’s a lot of knees and hips in need of repair. It’s also an enormous number LAWRENCE J. UDELL of people searching for ways to maintain their health, mobility, independence and quality of life, which is of concern to Paulus and his company. He recently brought EDITORIAL INTERN the StandUp Walker—a cross between a traditional walker and a stand-assist ELEANOR MERRELL device—to market, with the goal of helping people maintain their independence. The development of the StandUp Walker has all the elements of a great detective INVENTORS DIGEST LLC novel—minus the crime and ensuing chase. Actually, it’s an all-encompassing PUBLISHER inventor story that involves universities, senior projects, tech transfer, professors, LOUIS FOREMAN patents, licensing, prototyping, manufacturing and distribution. Throw in timing and luck, and you’ve got a best seller. VICE PRESIDENT, The StandUp Walker was initially conceived by mechanical engineering students INTERACTIVE AND WEB at MIT. Howard Liles, one of the students involved, was assigned the project by his MATT SPANGARD classmates at the end of senior year. MIT was not interested in the device, so the project was transferred to Georgia Tech when Liles enrolled in grad school there. FINANCIAL CONTROLLER Paulus, who was the vice president of business development for Edison Nation DEBBIE MUENCH Medical at the time, discovered the project at MIT, tracked it to Georgia Tech, and ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER the rest, you can read for yourself, beginning on page 26. KARA SHEAFFER Healthcare will continue to be an open field for innovation for many years to come—and you don’t necessarily have to be a doctor, scientist or engineer to take ADVISORY BOARD advantage of it. At age 15, while still in high school, Jack Andraka developed a simple KEN BLOEMER test to detect pancreatic, ovarian and breast cancers. Andraka made headlines JAMES DALY around the world when his idea first hit the scientific and medical communities, PAUL SCHOLS but you’ll be astonished when you read this account of how Andraka initiated and developed his idea. While most kids are reading comic books or checking their cell © 2016 Inventors Digest, LLC. All rights reserved. Inventors Digest, phones behind the pages of the book their teachers are discussing, Andraka was LLC is a North Carolina limited liability company and is the publisher reading an article about carbon nanotubes behind his. of Inventors Digest magazine. 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[email protected] —Cama APRIL 2016 INVENTORS DIGEST 3 4 INVENTORS DIGEST APRIL 2016 Contents April 2016 Volume 32 Issue 4 16 Feature 24 Hugh Herr, Ph.D. Nominate an Innovator for the IPOEF Inventor of the Year 26 The StandUp Walker A Rising Star in Home Healthcare American Inventors 16 Put To The Test Jack Andraka Discovers A Device To Detect Pancreatic Cancer 19 Total Tie Keep No More Blowin’ in the Wind Departments 24 7 Bright Ideas Spotlight on Innovation 10 Time Tested Margaret Knight: AKA Lady Edison 12 Marketing Tips The Business of Inventing 14 Lander Zone A Plan for Profiting from 7 Your Invention 10 22 Patent Pending DIGEST InventorsAPRIL 2016 Volume 32 Issue 4 Why Patent Searches DIGEST IPOEF Inventor StandUp Walker of the Year NOMINATE YOUR Are Always a Good Idea RISING STAR IN THE HOME HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY FAVORITE INNOVATOR Jack Andraka 34 DISCOVERS A DEVICE TO DETECT PANCREATIC CANCER Total Tie Keep 30 Prototyping NO MORE BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND 3D Printers ARE THEY WORTH THE INVESTMENT? Are 3D Printers Worth Almost Perfect PROFITING FROM YOUR INVENTION The Business the Investment? of Inventing DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? 34 Eye On Washington $3.95 FULTON, MO FULTON, PERMIT 38 PERMIT US POSTAGE PAID POSTAGE US PRSRT STANDARD PRSRT InventorsDigestApril2016v8.indd 1 3/24/16 11:51 AM Justice Antonin Scalia; Finjan Wins ON THE COVER Major Victory; Patent Ramifications URise Products’ on Small Business; the Patent StandUp Walker; System’s Turning Point; and Covered photograph by Business Methods Larry DeLeon. APRIL 2016 INVENTORS DIGEST 5 Bright Ideas Compiled by Eleanor Merrell Prepd Pack LUNCHBOXES FOR FINE DINING getprepd.com For those who earn their daily bread at a nine- different arrangements. The Prepd Pack has a to-five job, lunch offers a conundrum. Eating complementary app that provides perfectly at a restaurant or picking up a take-out order proportioned recipes, nutritional information can be expensive or unhealthy, and using and shopping lists, making healthy lunch a paper bag neither preserves food well preparation easier than ever. The app also nor does favors for the environment. has a social function that enables users to share Enter: Prepd Pack. recipes and tips with other Prepd Pack owners. Prepd Pack is a stylish lunchbox Optional features include a cooling sleeve for that includes magnetic cutlery and ice packs and extra sets of containers that can a selection of food-safe containers. be used to prepare lunches in advance. The containers perfectly fit the Prepd Prepd Pack is available on Indiegogo and is Pack case and can be fashioned into expected to ship June 2016. Prices begin at $55. “ I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success.” —NIKOLA TESLA APRIL 2016 INVENTORS DIGEST 7 BRIGHT IDEAS EvaDrop TAKE A SMART SHOWER evadrop.com Homeowners who use the reached. EvaDrop’s settings can be adjusted using a free smart- onset of spring as an op- phone app that also enables users to monitor and compare their portunity to spiff up their water usage, as well as access water usage statistics. homes should consider EvaDrop can cut water use in the shower in half. As a result, installing EvaDrop Smart its creators calculate that those who purchase EvaDrop can re- Shower. EvaDrop mounts gain the cost of the product within one year. More important, between the wall and the EvaDrop enables customers to take a small step toward a more showerhead, and detects where sustainable lifestyle. EvaDrop costs $99 and is available on the someone is standing in the shower. company’s website. Based on the shower taker’s proximity to the showerhead, EvaDrop increas- es or decreases water flow.