The next maker meet-up is this Thursday Aug 26th.
7:00 PM at my house. 4224 River Bluff Dr.
We’ll have the mighty Egg-Bot to play with.
Pictures from Maker Faire Detroit.
Preparations for Taste of the Arts on Saturday.
Anything people bring to show.
Pie ( or something sweet) to eat.
All are welcome!
-Jim
Wow, what a great August meeting. Lots of people, some new faces, and best of all SIX invention demos! Yes, SIX! Very cool!
Part of the August crowd
First, Dave Byrd showed off some significant improvements to Dr. Merkel’s toohtbrush holder prototype, including a new brand name.
Dave and Doc M show off the latest iteration of Titan Pro 3C
Second, newcomer to the Fort Wayne Inventors Club, Mike Count, showed off his Wefit zipper bags for art students, handcrafted bean bags for daycares and nursery schools, and Snag Stopper – a unique product for fishermen. You fold a velcro’ed cloth over fishing lures to keep them from snagging your clothes.
Mike Count’s Snag Stopper in action
Third, Doug Isbell, another group newcomer, showed us his Gutter Shovel, a tool crafted specifically to make cleaning gutters a breeze.
Doug Isbell and his Gutter Shovel
Fourth, Doug Burson demo’ed the latest iteration of his modular furniture, including a new graphic brand treatment.
Dave Burson shows off Cargo Furnishing’s latest
Fifth, our group founder Dave Gross has accomplished a significant milestone. The reduced form factor version of his collision control electronics is done. Way to go Dave (and thanks to Jan and Steve Z for a great job)!
The large form factor is on the table – what an improvement!
Sixth, to top it all off, artist and maker James Merz showed us his photos from the recent Maker Faire in Detroit, including some photos of his own kinetic sculpture that was on display (look closely at the Mac screen). Jim hosts a regular meeting of Fort Wayne makers – for details, see his website.
Jim Merz with Maker Faire photos
Interesting article from Popular Mechanics that outlines the steps from idea to commercialization.
The article illustrates their steps with the experiences of the inventors of the Super Soaker and the Leatherman pocket tool.
Check it out.
Dr. Merkel gave us an update on his invention, the Toothbrush Corral, at the May 2015 Meetup. He has now gone through the entire invention process–concept development, invention, patent protection, trademark protection, production, packaging, and promotional materials. Now he is entering the sales phase and working on the distribution chain.
Tri-fold promotional material for the Toothbrush Corral.
There was a lot of discussion about all aspects of the invention process. Talk ranged from the amount of time devoted to the project to issues concerning trademark protection. Dr. Merkel also brought samples of the invention, packaging, and promotional materials. It is always nice to hear about an idea, but it is better to be able to see and touch an invention as a way to truly understand how it works.
We had a good group at our last meeting, including some new people.
Dr. Ralph Merkel and Dave Byrd gave us an update. Dave had created a variety of packaging prototypes for Dr. Merkel’s Toothbrush Corral. Very cool, Dave!
Dr. Ralph Merkel and Dave Byrd
Dan Templeton facilitated brainstorming of possible brand names or words that could be used in brand names for Dr. Merkel’s product.
Dan Templeton in red shirt in foreground
Welcome to the new blog for the Fort Wayne Inventors Club.
