Indiana Inventors Association

Report by Dave Zedonis Steve Woodruff and his wife Jenny , two of our local “Indiana Inventors and Entrepreneurs”, shared the story of their successful Toyota Prius business, AutoBeYours.com .   They rebuild generation II Prius cars manufactured from 2004 to 2009 that have been damaged by collision and convert them to all-electric With Steve’s experience in repairing electronics and in collaboration with others who share their interest, Steve and Jenny have developed and refined reliable kits for converting the hybrid Prius into an all-electric vehicle.   The result is a car that gets the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gasoline. Inventing has been part of their business since it began in 2003 in Scottsburg, IN.   Experts in redesign of electric cars, Steve and Jenny have built a Nissan Leaf 6-door stretch limousine, 3 custom Prius limousines, and Prius convertibles and trucks. Steve and Jenny also rebuild and sell battery packs, the essence ...

Robert Humbert , our former vice president, died in November, 2012. He is believed to be the last surviving charter member of the Indiana Inventors Association, formed in the early 1980’s to help inventors with marketing. Bob invented, patented (US 4,281,368 ), made, and sold a house-key light. He expressed his creativity in other ways too – by teaching school and by publishing a book , “WWII Letters to My Girl Back Home: From Nigeria, Arabia and Turkey”, which describes his war time experiences as a weatherman. Bob was active in the Association until he was 92 years old, holding various positions (including president), recording meetings, creating meeting summaries, and compiling information for newsletters. Always in good humor, when asked how it felt to turn 90 years old, Bob replied, “Not much different than it felt to turn 89.” We enjoyed Bob’s presence, assistance, contributions, and knowledge and will miss our good friend and colleague.

So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. - Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! Putting your new product or service on the market is a thrill.   Rachel Jackson (owner, Peacock Publicity ) told us how to make that thrill last – look before you leap. First, decide what result you want (e.g., financial profit, prestige, societal change) from applying your product/service to the market.   Then find out if you can make your product/service fit the market well enough for the market machine to produce the result you want.   See if you can get the right tools (e.g., advisors; identification and understanding of potential competitors, customers, manufacturers, and distributors; money; patents; place of business; professional relationships; time) and skills (business strategy, energy, heart, spirit, technical knowledge) you need to create that fit.   Writing a business plan (see how: booklet , w...

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.   – Proverb Teach someone to grow fish locally and you sustain a community and the environment.   Mr. Rob Wibbeler (secretary and treasurer of the nonprofit Indiana Aquaculture Association [IAA]) described fish farming in Indiana and the industry’s need for inventors. The human population is growing exponentially and simple natural food sources can’t keep up.   As a result, the oceans are over-fished and the U.S. imports 91% of its seafood.   Innovators are solving this problem with aquaculture — farming fish, shellfish, and water plants. Two popular aquacultural tools are cages and tanks.   Time magazine named the Velella Mariculture Project one of the best inventions of 2012 because, in 6 months and with almost no effect on the ocean, it turned 2,000 kampuchi (yellowtail) fingerlings into 5 tons of healthy fish.   The fish were kept and f...

The interpretation of dreams is a great art. - Paracelsus Where would we be without both imagination and experience?  As inventors, we dream of a better world and interpret our dreams as ideas that can make our world better.  As innovators, we translate those ideas into products and services that make the lives of our customers and investors better.  Experience guides us in both roles.  An inventor learns how to test and refine an idea by building and experiencing a working prototype (model) of the idea.  An innovator teaches initial customers and investors how to benefit from the idea by helping them experience the prototype.  Members of the Indiana Inventors Association met to discuss how to create a memorable experience, for inventors and for those they serve. With 3D printing (additive manufacturing), a copy machine instructed by a computer program (digital design) makes a variety of things ( art , batteries , body parts, clothing, jewelr...

Patent attorney Michael Hood (Brinks, Hofer, Gilson, & Lione) helped us understand what the new patent law means to inventors.  This law applies to patents and patent applications that contain a claim to an invention effectively filed on or after March 16, 2013.  United States Patent Office (USPTO) rules on how to implement the law are now available. First Inventor to File    The date of invention no longer matters.  What matters now is the date a patent application is effectively filed at a patent office.  The inventor who files first anywhere in the world gets the first opportunity to get a patent.  So a reasonable strategy is to file provisional applications early and often as you develop your invention. You may ask the USPTO to cancel or reject claims in a patent or patent application that are to your claimed invention if the named inventor did not invent, but derived from you knowledge of, the invention.   Prior Art  ...