Dear LPG,

Today I want to talk to those readers who have something in common with me.  There have always been people who invent and make lots of money in the process and I have so often dreamed of becoming one of them.  It is just a matter of finding the right niche items that our world really needs and getting some company or person who can afford to, if you can’t, invest the money to develop a prototype.

I have always dreamed of inventing some household or DIY tool that will be used and remembered long after I am gone, but other people always seem to get there before I have got any further than the drawing board.  About 30 years ago I came up with an idea for an agency which would put people with vacant garages and car ports in touch with people who need to park their cars locally, but I did not have the computer database skills to put it into practice.  Now of course there are many such schemes available near places like London Airport and my opportunity has been well and truly missed, but that element of regret got me thinking about the many inventions that seem to have all but disappeared after they promised such great things in the beginning.

Do you remember Betamax video tapes and whatever really happened to the curved television?  I took a look online where there are lists of inventions that promised so much and delivered so little.  Some were developed and then abandoned by large companies while there appear to be so many everyday people that, just like me and my car parking idea, tried and failed.  But there is nothing more hurtful than to find out that a short time later someone else has the same idea with one difference; they have a degree of success with it

Did you know that there is a National Inventors’ Day and it is celebrated today?  OK, it does not have the biggest following in the UK so far, but one day, I hope that one of my innovations will be successful as old as I am.  (You understand that I cannot tell you about what I have in the pipeline because someone else might borrow my idea and be successful before me.) Using your discretion about when and how you gauge public reaction to any invention can be the secret of its success but that is a whole other topic.  

Can I suggest that any reader who is about to give up on the nucleus of an idea, no matter how long it has only been an idea, uses today to review it seriously, and also ask any reader who knows a potential inventor, to remind them to soldier on a bit longer. 

When it comes to inventing there are just two things to remember, you have to believe in it, and nearly every invention is thought weird until the public get behind it however long that takes!  Never say never….

It may come to nothing but it could just be your legacy to the world!   

IG, Bellingham

IG offers some information about National Inventors’ Day

(►►►)

… and a few links to inventions that have not yet been adopted by the great world public…

(►►►)   (►►►)     (►►►)    (►►►)