Necessity Mothers Invention
A local couple designed a quick-access device after having been threatened at their home. Mark R. and Linda W. live in a home that is fenced, posted with no trespassing signs, and has a gate near the house as well as a cable across the driveway near the road. But that wasn’t the case in the summer of 2003 when they returned home from a rare night out- dinner and a movie. Someone was waiting.
It was dark as they approached the side door. The suspects, who had been in the house, went out the back when they heard the car coming down the long driveway. They circled around to ambush Mark and Linda at the door. Fortunately, a garden shovel was within reach.
“I pretty much chased them away,” Mark said. Still, the couple was rattled. They did something about it- they designed a quick-access device to limit the amount of time a person has to spend at the door before getting inside. Invention Technologies Inc., of Coral Gables, Fla., likes the idea. The benefit to rapid entry was described in a news release the company provided:
“One of the factors that play heavily into these types of scenarios is the fact that often it takes a certain amount of time for the person to fit their key into the door to enter their home,” the release stated. “Those precious few seconds are sometimes all that is needed to help bring about an unfortunate occurrence.”
That was close to Mark’s idea. “I sat down one day and said, “There has to be an easier way to get into the house quicker. We made a prototype up on paper.”
Though Mark has had ideas for inventions before, this is the first time he’s pursued one this far. The skill runs in the family. His father Frederick designed carbide tips for tools as an engineer. “I guess it kind of runs in the bloodline,” Mark said. “You can almost picture something as it should be.”
The device isn’t patented yet. For that reason, he declined to show drawings. But he said when a manufacturer is found it will be “affordable” and something which will “beautify the house”. The idea is to make it easier for a person to get inside.
“I have never done such a thing due to the fact that it’s very costly,” Mark said of the process of patenting and finding a producer. “I put forth a lot of money and effort, only because I believe in it.”
Mark and Linda researched Invention Technologies before approaching the company to help them get a patent and market the device.
“I checked their website, and the Better Business Bureau,” Mark said. “They seemed to be a very, very reputable place.”
He said the company seems to care about his invention and are “prompt.” The company’s fee is 10 percent, when an invention starts making money.
“It’s not much for something like that,” he said.
Mark said that there has been some interest already.