Creative impulses

Danette Goulet

For years, Brian Cizek would set his water bottle on the dirty gym

floor, out of easy reach while he worked out on the StairMaster.

What other option did he have?

He would stop mid-workout, bend down and retrieve the water bottle.

“Plus, putting it on the floor where people are all sweating, it’s

kind of grody,” he said.

Fed up, he went home one day and twisted a metal coat hanger into the

first Aqua Hook.

“I did it just for me,” he said.

But when it worked, he began the process of perfecting and

manufacturing his invention.

He is one of the many modern-day Albert Einsteins displaying,

demonstrating and selling their wares in the Invention Convention tent at

the Orange County Fair.

Maria and John Deslierres invented the electric shelf warmer. It heats

up your towels so that when you step out of the shower you can wrap

yourself in a warm and toasty towel.

Also in the convention -- motorized in-line skates. Motosk8s have a

hand-held remote to control the motor built into one of the boots.

Then there is the Bugstik -- a device that allows for the capture of

bugs at more than an arms length. Once the creepy crawlers are sucked

into the Bugstik, they can be killed or set free.

But the Invention Convention is more than just a tent full of fun new

products. It also teaches potential inventors how to get started and to

develop an invention.

The Inventor Mentor outlines a seven-step process for turning an idea

into a product.

First, potential inventors are instructed to date the idea.

Next, they are to search for their product in the marketplace to see

if it exists.

Then, they are instructed to go ahead and build it, name it and make a

descriptive “sell sheet.”

Once that is done, the Inventor Mentor says to patent it, so that no

one can steal the idea.

The rest is promotion and marketing.

For Cizek and many others inventing is a lucrative side job. The Aqua

Hook and its brother, the Aqua Clip, which hooks onto people’s waistbands

or belts, has turned a profit of between $40,000 and $50,000.