Teacher invents machine to clean transparency
When Lisa R. moved up to teaching fourth grade at Cave City School, she was faced with a nearly universal teacher dilemma: unwittingly staining her fingers from cleaning overhead projector transparencies. "I'd always taught little kids," Lisa said, explaining that she didn't have to use the overhead projector. But when she began teaching fourth grade, "I started using it quite frequently," Lisa said. To clean transparencies, Lisa used a chalkboard cleaner, but the process stained her fingers, clothes and even desktop. Lisa tried to persuade her students into cleaning the transparencies, but they soon encountered the same inconvenience. "They kind of got tired of it," she recalled. "I thought, 'There's got to be an easier way than this.'" The wheels in Lisa's head started turning, and in May of 2003 she invented a machine to clean transparencies and make teachers everywhere rejoice. "I thought, 'If I don't ever try, I won't ever know, and I'll be kicking myself'" should someone else invent a similar product.
Hoping to market the Transparency Cleaner, Lisa began searching the Internet for invention companies.She came across Invention Technologies, Inc. out of Florida, and the company - which is handling publicity and public relations for Lisa - sent her an inventor's package. "They give you a market team," Lisa continued, and the team helped her tweak her invention to perfection. Now, Lisa and Invention Technologies are looking for a manufacturer. "(This month) they're going to show it in Las Vegas; it's supposed to be a global show," Lisa said. ". They go to a show like every two months." Eventually, the product may even be shown on television. This invention, which is the first of its kind, will probably sell for about $69.95, but the exact price depends on the manufacturer. Lisa said this low price is well worth the benefits the Transparency Cleaner provides. "Within 30 seconds, it cleans and is ready to use again. It saves on mess and also on time."
She recommends the product to "anyone who uses an overhead projector . any businesses or offices where they do presentations." Lisa hopes that once the Transparency Cleaner is manufactured, teachers will take advantage of ridding themselves from cleaning transparencies the old-fashioned way. Talking over her baby's shrill demands for attention, she said the Transparency Cleaner is her first invention, and she doesn't have plans to dream up another product. But the mother of a "very spoiled" 6-week-old just might be able to quit her day job if she invented a product to calm crying babies