MILES SULLIVAN “The Father of Inventions”

MILES SULLIVAN “The Father Of Inventions”

June 26, 2006

Contact: Dave Brodsky DaSBro Enterprise 2760 Grand Concourse #3K Bronx, NY 10458 phone: (718) 933-0633 fax: (718) 933-3563 email:[email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Fact Sheet 4

“The Father Of Inventions” by Anne Sullivan 5

The Bobbing Bird (a/k/a The Dipping Bird, The Drinking Bird, The Dunking Bird) 7

Newspaper/Magazine Articles 9

U.S. Patent Office; Registration # 2,402,463; June 18, 1946; Novelty Device 17

2 Introduction

Miles Sullivan, 89, lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The father of three, grandfather of nine and, as of last year, a great grandfather, he is known for his invention of the bobbing bird - the bird that sits on the edge of a glass of water and perpetually bobs for water using no energy source. Miles worked for Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey for 35 years, his work yielding more than a dozen patents. He is still active, helping resolve computer problems for his friends and family, as well as fixing plumbing and electricity problems at the family cottage in Paw Paw, Michigan.

Fact Sheet

x Born Miles V. Sullivan in 1917; Winona, Minnesota x Served In World War II, U.S. Navy, Lieutenant x Ph.D. from Purdue University x Married in 1948 to Evelyn x Inventor x Holder of numerous patents x Settled in Summit, New Jersey x Worked for 35 years at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey x Three children: Douglas: lawyer, Executive Vice President – Michaels Stores, Inc., Dallas, Texas; Anne: musician, teacher, Wheaton, Illinois; Daughter: Jane, Social Director Riverside Place, Midland, Michigan x Widowed in 2004 x Currently residing in Kalamazoo, Michigan

All I could think gaining new information was “Dodging college, Miles?” the about was how tempered by a growing unease that teacher queried. itchy the most of our household appliances Disappointment was written on electrodes on my were struggling with multiple both of their faces. temples had personalities. It could be laser beams, “College is only a dream at this become. But I computer chips, the little bobbing bird point,” my father responded, couldn’t let my that made my father internationally mirroring his teacher's frustration. mind linger there famous, or just the dial on a washing “You need to be – you must be – in too long, because the physicists had machine – in the end, they all college Miles. I will get you there.” an uncanny way of tracing my eye assumed human personalities. Single-handedly arranging a full movements when I lapsed into a Difficulties can inspire humor and scholarship to Wabash College, daydream. I was a test subject – creativity – my father, Miles Sullivan, covering tuition, room and board, and officially. Unofficially, I was a 16- is proof of that. In central Minnesota even a steady job, the teacher couldn’t year old trying to earn college money of the early 1920’s warmth and easy have foreseen the additional degrees, at my father’s laboratories. living were as common as, well, down a master’s and Ph.D. from Purdue Surrounded by musty books, jackets in Florida. I’m not sure if University. disheveled papers, test tubes and, thoughts of this sort ever crossed my With the ink on his undergraduate bulky components, I spent my school father’s mind though. Whatever diploma barely dry, my father was vacations enduring glued-on provided a challenge and whatever drafted into World War II service – electrodes, refrigerator temperatures could be invented, or even reinvented, his main residence, The Naval in the computer rooms and talking made him smile. Research Laboratory in Washington, computers that had years to go before After his father died, a small one- D.C. the warmth of a human voice would room Winona store front - a tiny A four-year stint as a lieutenant in be pro