Inventors hope for success
Friends Matthew W. and Russell M. are pretty excited about this "weather resistant box," a device they invented and hope will be marketed by the end of the year. Until their invention appears on store shelves, however, they can't give out too much information for fear that someone will steal their idea. All they can say is that the box will protect outdoor electrical connections from rain, snow and wind, preventing blown fuses and allowing people to change fuses effortlessly. "It's such a simple idea, but no one has thought of it yet. It's going to make electrical connections safer, especially for children," said Matthew. The idea first came to Russell after he wired some electrical equipment outside his home in the fall of 2003. Russell drew some sketches and showed them to Matthew, a tool and die maker whom he had worked alongside for nine years. "I knew right away it was good," Mathew said, who worked on the invention's design. "I came up with the idea but Matt perfected it. We take the credit 50-50," Russell said.
After doing research on the Internet and making inquiries through the Better Business Bureau, the pair decided to contact Invention Technologies, a Coral Gables, Fla., company that tries to find manufacturers for the inventors it represents. "They called us back in two days and said there is nothing on the market like it. They said it could go worldwide," Matthew said. Patenting their invention on their own would have cost them nearly $50,000, whereas entrusting Invention Technologies with the search for a manufacturer who will patent the product came at the moderate price of $10,000, they said. Getting a patent without a manufacturer ready to market the product would also have opened the doors for others to beat them to the finish line, Russell pointed out. "Once you get a patent, it becomes public and anyone can use your idea," he said. The water resistant box will likely cost just a few dollars, they said.
Though they are hoping to make a profit, equally important is the prospect of helping to create more manufacturing jobs, Russell said. "This is something that can be built in America. We're hoping to create more jobs, money is not really that important," he said. After inventing the weather resistant box, Matthew's and Russell's creative juices came unleashed, Russell has come up with four more innovations and Matthew with one, all of them manufacturing tools. "There's always a better way to make stuff and sometimes the most obvious way is overlooked," said Russell, whose father obtained an array of patents while designing and building meat packing equipment in Chicago's South Side. Before trying to market more inventions, however, Matthew and Russell said they want to see how the weather resistant box fares. "it's nerve-racking. You're hoping it will happen, you try to hit six numbers on the lottery and hope all six will come in," Matthew said