Indiana Inventors Association

Never be satisfied with anything, everything can be done better than it is now being done.    — Eli Lilly, Jr. RonJackson (president, Jackson Systems; longtime member of the Indiana Inventors Association; and holder of several patents) left his HVAC company and inventing long enough to share his unbridled enthusiasm for them with us.   “Controls Done Right”— his company’s trademark—conveys Mr. Jackson’s inventive spirit.   Here are some of Mr. Jackson’s suggestions for inventors and innovators. Inventing If you can, invent for contractors or original equipment manufacturers .   You won’t spend time and money educating them on the value of your invention; they already know.   Keep your inventions simple so that users will like them. Look at items or methods throughout your day and ask: What’s wrong with them?   How can I improve them?   Write down your answers so you don’t forget them. Develop a portfolio of inventions in each technology you work with.   A

Joshua Springer (president, GrinOn Industries , Indianapolis) had a eureka moment at his father’s birthday party when he imagined a beer container that would fill from the bottom.   Four days later he had a prototype.   Eight years and two U.S. patents later ( US8763655 , US8777182 ), the worldwide market for his invention provides an estimated annual revenue of $10-20 million. Televised interviews with CNN and Inside Indiana Business have showcased Mr. Springer’s pioneering and “paper clip simple” beer dispensing system.   In its most prevalent mode, a nozzle pushes up a detachable magnet from the bottom of a plastic cup, fills the cup with beer, and retracts as the magnet seals the bottom of the cup.   This highly efficient automated system wastes no beer (in contrast to most dispensing methods that waste 30%) and dispenses beer 300 times faster than is typical with traditional methods.   Because of his invention, the number of people in line for beer at an athletic

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else. - Yogi Berra Are you spinning your wheels?   Only dreaming instead of also doing?   Taking decades to do what can be done in months?   If so, you are not alone.   A lot of folks, including inventors, let life pass them by.   Life is too precious for that. Setting goals can help you live a full and exciting life, which includes bringing your inventions to market.   Richard McVicker (member of the Indiana Inventors Association for more than 40 years, patent illustrator at Barnes & Thornburg LLP for 49 years, and patent-holding inventor for 55 years) told us how.   Try it; you’ll like it. A goal is a specific, attainable, and major accomplishment that you crave with your whole being.   Want it so badly that you imagine it with all of your senses.   Figure out: what you want and when you want it; who will benefit from it; and what you will do and when you will do it to achieve your goal.