A Gathering of Great Minds : Smog Mufflers? Self-Massagers? Inventors Meeting Showcases Bright Ideas

Talk about finding a niche and then filling it.

Inventor Nelson Comus of Hacienda Heights has built a battery that runs off urine.

Designer Anwar Haq of Mission Viejo has invented a portable potty that collects urine and stores it.

Somebody should have introduced the two men Wednesday at the meeting in Hollywood where dozens of inventors’ new products were being showcased.

Comus, 45, was on one side of the room with his battery--a simple tube with wires protruding from a dirt mixture at the bottom and a layer of synthetic lithium powder at the top. A freshly filled doctor’s office specimen bottle stood at the ready.

Haq, 35, was on the other side with his “Universal Urinal”--a complicated hookup of hoses, valves and jugs. Separate attachments for men and women were ready to be latched into place.

The urine battery stands to revolutionize the way that cars, cameras and wristwatches work, predicted Comus as he squirted a few drops into the powder. Onlookers stood back as the concoction began bubbling and a flashlight bulb attached to the wires started to glow.

The urine collector will come as a relief to campers, long-distance truckers and transients, promised Haq. To the relief of those around him, he stopped short of demonstrating his invention.

Other items at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel seemed to fall somewhere in between the revolutionary and relief categories. They are among 700 prototypes and new products that will be on display during the Labor Day weekend at the Pasadena Convention Center.

David Adam of Malibu was demonstrating his $60 plastic-and-rubber “urban respirator” that he said could protect people in case of hazardous chemical spills or high-rise fires.

Londi A. Palmisano of Palms was showing off a $200 back and neck stretcher that she said can relax muscles by using the weight of a person’s own body and a rocking motion.

Marie Z. Miller of Pacoima was displaying specially padded, adjustable $15 neck collars--some very, very small--that she said will help injured cats, dogs and parakeets “heal automatically” without biting or pecking at wounds.

There was also the gas-powered Weed Eater on which Victor Rossi of Santa Ana had installed a propeller to create what he calls his “Power Oar.” And the $7.95 screw tip for beach umbrellas that Bill Ward of Costa Mesa has dubbed his “Groundhog.” And the paper “gravity compass” that Ben Mayer of Bel-Air claims will work “on Mars and Jupiter” as well as Earth.

Some of the designers, however, were wishing that someone would invent a quick fix for the sagging Southern California economy.

“Five years ago would have been a better time to come up with this thing,” acknowledged Lewis Goldberg of Canoga Park, who is trying to market a $19.95 swiveling rack that holds remote controls for TVs and VCRs.

Alfonso Baez, a Hacienda Heights resident who has designed a $29.95 “Smog Muffler” face mask for drivers of convertibles, agreed. “People these days want to watch their money, no doubt about it,” he said.

But Stephen Gnass, organizer of the upcoming Invention Convention, noted that President Clinton’s new budget provides tax incentives for wealthy investors. “I think this is going to cause a boom for inventors,” he said.

Over in the corner, Rob Riva, a 31-year-old Long Beach oil refinery mechanic, was hoping so.

Riva is sweating over the $20,000 he says he needs to begin producing a pillow that contains a “secret ingredient” to keep sleepers refreshingly cool all night.

He has no promotional experience and doesn’t even have a patent on his pillow yet. But Riva said he is spending $750 for table space at next week’s show in hopes of finding investors.

“My grandma thinks I’m a nut,” he said. “I hope not.”