As we all know, Leonardo da Vinci was an artist extraordinaire. His art is legendary; especially the “Mona Lisa”, “The Last Supper” and “The Vitruvian Man.” On top of his artistic ability, da Vinci was also a musician, mathematician, engineer, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the true meaning of the term “Renaissance Man”. But, this being Inventor Monday, we decided to focus on Leonardo’s amazing inventions—some of which were hundreds of years ahead of their time. So, let’s meet this remarkable man and learn about some of his incredible inventions!

Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, just outside of Florence. He was an illegitimate child, and when his mother married another man and moved to a neighboring town, Leonardo was left to be raised by his father. When he was fifteen, Leonardo became the apprentice of Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence, who owned one of the best artistic workshops of the time. There, he learned many of the crafts he would later use, such as drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, mechanics, painting, sculpting and modeling. Even as an apprentice, Leonardo demonstrated enormous talent, and by the time he was twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master in the Guild of St. Luke, the guild of artists and doctors of medicine.

Despite his talent, times were hard for artists, and even a master like Leonardo had to expand his clientele to make money. So, he adapted his drawing skills to the more lucrative fields of architecture, military engineering and weapons design. Leonardo landed a job working for the Duke of Milan for whom he developed ideas for weapons including missiles, multi-barreled machine guns, grenades, mortars and even a modern-style tank. As an architect, Leonardo proposed building a bridge to connect Istanbul across the Bosporus—a span of 720 feet. It was an outlandish vision at the time, and was ridiculed as impossible (ironically, modern engineers have determined that the bridge would have been completely feasible).

As it turns out, most of da Vinci’s inventions never made it to prototype in his lifetime, probably because he couldn’t convince one of his wealthy patrons to finance construction of his designs. Luckily for us, many of the sketches and diagrams of his inventions survived, and in the hundreds of years since, creative engineers have been able to not only build working prototypes of his designs, but also build practical machines based on his drawings. Inventions such as the parachute, the helicopter, underwater breathing devices and even a car that uses a spring-driven mechanism similar to that in a clock. And, believe it or not, it has been said that Leonardo actually built a working robot that he used primarily for entertainment at parties thrown by a wealthy patron.

Leonardo’s genius still resonates today, some 500 hundred years after his death. Books and movies such as The Da Vinci Code are widely popular, and a new television series, DaVinci’s Demons, is about to premier on the STARZ network. His art draws record crowds whenever it is exhibited and his scientific discoveries in the fields of anatomy, zoology, botany, geology, aerodynamics and hydrodynamics are staggering. But, it is his invention ideas that were so amazingly ahead of their time—such as the “flying machine”—which make it seem as if he could actually see the future. Leonardo da Vinci has been called the “smartest man that ever lived,” and considering all the amazing things he invented, we wholeheartedly agree.

Sources:

Photo 1: http://www.leonardodavinci.net/

Photo 2: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_helicopter.jpg

In their 110th anniversary special, Popular Mechanics (PM) magazine editors have featured none other than our very own CEO and founder, Mr. Davison!  The article, titled “The World of Tomorrow,” relies on Davison, among several other scientists, engineers and consultants to boldly make 110 predictions for the next 110 years.
“It’s never easy to predict the future, but… we’ve decided to give it a try (with a little help from some very smart friends),” said PM editors.

Who are those smart friends?  PM fondly refers to the over 20-person panel as their “Brain Trust.”
“… we tried to balance our deep-rooted techno-optimism with some hardheaded skepticism,” said PM editors.
Here is just a glimpse of what the PM Brain Trust predicted:

WITHIN 20 YEARS…Self-driving cars will hit the mainstream market.Battles will be waged without direct human participation (think robots or unmanned aerial vehicles).The first fully functional brain-controlled bionic limb will arrive.
WITHIN 30 YEARS…All-purpose robots will help us with household chores.Space travel will become as affordable as a round-the-world plane ticket.Soldiers will use exoskeletons to enhance battlefield performance.

WITHIN 40 YEARS…Nanobots will perform medical procedures inside our bodies.

WITHIN 50 YEARS…We will have a colony on Mars.Doctors will successfully transplant a lab-grown human heart.We will fly the friendly skies without pilots onboard.And renewable energy sources will surpass fossil fuels in electricity generation.

WITHIN 60 YEARS…Digital data (texts, songs, etc.) will be zapped directly into our brains.We will activate the first fusion power plant.And we will wage the first battle in space.

WITHIN 100 YEARS…The last gasoline-powered car will come off the assembly line.

See more of the PM Brain Trust’s predictions and read the entire article here.

If the title of this article were Best Inventions of 1912, it would be full of names of inventors who were at the time, and still are today, household words. We used to have rock-star inventors and visionaries that people looked up to and admired; Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi, just to name a few.

Today, it would be hard to name even a couple people that are inventing the world of the 21^st century.

So is innovation dead?  Absolutely not.  Actually we’ve seen more innovation in the past fifty years than in the entire previous thousands of years of human history combined. Huge achievements in medicine, communications, space travel, and computers have happened on our watch. So maybe we don’t have that iconic inventor to point to outside of high tech innovators such as Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak, but we can tell you that brilliant ideas and innovations in almost every field of human endeavor are very much alive and well.  In fact, just in the past year we have seen some amazing inventions.

Here are a few of the best and brightest ideas of 2012.

• Flexible Solar Panels – Solar panels are great – if you can afford both the panels and the huge cost of installation – regular solar panels are rigid and need to be mounted on angled arrays. But if you had flexible thin-film solar panels which could be unrolled like wrapping paper, now that would be cool. Well, a company called Ascent Solar Technologies has invented a thin-film panel that can be integrated directly into a roof, a wall, even on a tent and deliver solar-based energy
• Life-logging Cameras – Capturing your entire life on camera is now possible, assuming you’re egotistical enough to think anyone else would want to watch every moment of your life.  Two prototype cameras came out in 2012; from Memoto and OMG Life. Both cameras attach to your clothes at chest level and automatically snap pictures for you; the Memoto takes a pic every 30 seconds and the other whenever it detects sudden changes that indicate significant actions
• 3D printers – Yes, the concept of 3D printers has been around for many years now and expensive 3D printers have been used by industry, but now, in 2012, Formlabs has developed an ultra-precise 3D laser-based printer at a friendlier consumer price point.  Now we can all print three-dimensional things for our home.  Out of forks or plates? Save yourself a trip to Target and just print them at home – you’ll be setting the table in no time
• The Built-in Breathalyzer – Imagine that your car could automatically breathalyse you every time you get in to drive. Well, QinetiQ North America is working on just such a device.  Working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the auto industry, QinetiQ is developing a sensor in your car that would instantly measure the blood-alcohol concentration in your exhaled breath. If the blood-alcohol level is above the legal limit, the car can’t be driven
• The Inkling pen – Ever think you might have a pen that would remember every stroke it ever took?  Welcome to the Inkling pen – it’s a digital sketch pen that captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with its ballpoint tip on any sketchbook or standard piece of paper and stores it on a receiver you place on the paper. When you connect the receiver to a computer via a USB cable, it transfers those images and saves them as files
• Focused UltraSound – What if you combined the detection power of magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) with the power of ultrasound waves – you would get something pretty remarkable. Using MRI for guidance, the ultrasound applies high-intensity focused sonic energy to locally heat and destroy diseased or damaged tissue such as tumors or other growths like uterine fibroids

So, while there are many other examples we could highlight, we think it’s pretty clear that innovation is alive and well!

You may have noticed that we didn’t tell you who invented all of these incredible inventions of 2012. That’s because we seem to have traded the lone genius inventor working in his lab for more of a committee-based approach. But that’s not bad; it’s just different. This cooperative spirit of invention, born in the space age, is now part of the American spirit, and that will always be something to admire.

SOURCES:

http://www.ascentsolar.com/

Ronald Strang was serving in Afghanistan with the Marines when an explosion took half of his left thigh muscle.

Now, the 28-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pa., has grown back 10 percent of the lost muscle and is running again, thanks to cells from a pig’s bladder.

To regrow Strang’s muscle, surgeons implanted an extracellular matrix, a type of “cell glue,” which includes the growth proteins from the cells of bladder.

“If you take the bladder or small intestine and scrape away all the cells, what you’re left with is structural tissue, like collagen, and functional molecules, such as growth factors. There are literally hundreds of these proteins, all housed in the ECM. They instruct cells on how to behave — whether to multiply or migrate or differentiate into different types of cells. They tell cells at the site of a wound what to do. Equally important, they recruit cells to the wound site that wouldn’t normally be there, such as stem cells. I wouldn’t be smart enough to put them all together, but I can harvest what nature has done,” explains Stephen Badylak of the McGowan Institute.

Strang was struggling with a cane for about a year and a half before he heard about the possibility of re-growing his muscle from pig bladder.

“It was amazing to hear that this was even possible and that this could help me re-grow some muscle. That really excited me to the impact this study will have on so many people, especially since there was nothing else that could be done, and I would be stuck using a cane for the rest of my life,” Strang tells us.

The procedure took less than a week, and Strang said he felt almost immediate improvement.

“I was admitted to the hospital for four days — the first being the surgery. They put me under anesthesia and cut open through the scar on my leg, peeled back the skin and scar tissue and put the ECM in against some muscle that was left.”

“When they put the ECM in, it was attached to a small amount of muscle by my hip and to the rest of the quad above my knee. This gave a connection to the muscles and gave me immediate improvement. It took about a month to notice any strength increase.”

Strang is once again able to enjoy some flag football as well as the freedom of unencumbered movement that most of us take for granted. Strang’s journey is a great example of an admirable story and fantastic science.

Stephen Badylak is Deputy Director, DVM, PhD, MD, Professor in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Surgery and Director of the Center for Pre-Clinical Tissue Engineering within the Institute, which is participating in the study for the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research in San Antonio.

At Davison, we encourage people with ideas to pursue their dreams and create … A Better Way.

Inventing is no easy task, and there are many hurdles standing in the way of budding creators — oftentimes a naysayer.

Overcoming negative reactions to your idea can be difficult. But the Wright brothers didn’t let Thomas Edison (arguably one of the greatest inventors of all time) crush their dream and neither should your clients and their ideas.

In 1895, Thomas Edison was quoted in the New York World, saying “It is apparent to me that the possibilities of the aeroplane, which two or three years ago were thought to hold the solution to the [flying machine] problem, have been exhausted, and that we must turn elsewhere.”

Less than ten years later, the brothers defied one of the most intelligent men in the United States, if not the world, and made two flights from level ground into a headwind gusting to 27 miles per hour (43 km/h).

The first flight, by Orville, of 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds, at a speed of only 6.8 miles per hour (10.9 km/h) over the ground, was recorded in a famous photograph. The next two flights covered approximately 175 feet (53 m) and 200 feet (61 m), by Wilbur and Orville respectively. Their altitude was about 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground.

Proof Positive

– The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says that there are, on average, between 25,000 and 30,000 passenger flights in the United States per day.

– The Boeing Company earned 68735.00 M in revenue for 2011, according to Yahoo!

– According to the annual Amadeus Review of Ancillary Revenue Results, 50 airlines from around the world reported making $22.6 billion in fees alone (checked baggage, priority boarding, etc…)

– This website exists.

So, don’t let anybody tell you that your idea can’t, won’t or shouldn’t succeed. And let Davison help you find a better way.

“You watch too much TV!”

We all grew up hearing authority figures and parents scold us for inactivity. Well, Nigeria is doing something about their entertainment-obsessed youths.

According to a recent article posted on The Guardian online, “Over 75 percent of Nigerian children now spend most of their time watching movies …”

So Lagos – the most populated city in Nigeria at nearly 8 million – partnered with Kids Invent! — the world’s leading provider of innovation-based kids science activities that stimulate the creative interests and abilities of children ages 7 to 15. According to the article, around 300 kids participated in the invention programs, which consisted of a 5-day camp where children were encouraged to invent toys and even price their inventions for the market.

“There is a huge gap in the kids in our country today, but with this trademark program, we can tap into the lives of every innovative and creative children,” Emma Okoro – managing director of the group – told The Guardian.

Co-creator and Group Managing Director of Kids Invent!, Prof. Ed Sobey argues that kids learn best when they are creatively engaged. He noted that Kids Invent! activities are appropriate for schools, after school programs, home schools, summer camps, museums, and wherever kids are eager to experience hands-on, innovative learning.

Kids Invent! was created by Professors Ed Sobey and Timothy M. Stearns, who developed the first Kids Invent! summer camp as an outreach program for California State University in Fresno.

Davison applauds all activities that promote education and get children off the couch and creating! Here’s to hoping that more countries, including the United States, realize the importance of early education in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields.

(Recently, a group of students visited Inventionland as a project aimed to garner interest in STEM. Read about it here.)

George Davison (Founder & CEO of Davison) and Sharon, inventor of the Cool Cot House (as part of her “Dare to Invent” episode), will be featured on an all-new episode of Lifetime’s “The Balancing Act.”

Mr. Davison (September 14th at 7:00 a.m.) will talk about the Davison Way to Invent and the Cool Cot House before and after the airing of Sharon’s episode of “Dare to Invent” – the webisode series that explores what can happen when everyday people work with Davison to make their invention ideas a reality.

Sharon, a small-town homemaker and self-published poet, got tired of seeing pets in stuffy, dirty doghouses or (worse yet) out in the rain, snow or sweltering sun, where there was no comfortable spot to stretch out on.

The animal lover, who often took her pet cats on walks and even camping trips, devised her own way to protect Fido, Lassie and Fluffy Kitty from bad weather and stinky shelters.

She brought her innovative idea for a comfortable, portable “tent” to Davison, where our team began working on an extreme pet home makeover that resulted in Sharon’s Cool Cot House!

Equipped with a comfortable raised pet bed that can be used indoors and out, the Cool Cot House is lightweight, portable and features a heavy-duty, water-resistant canvas cover with mesh vents to protect pets from the rain, while increasing air flow.

Congratulations to Mr. Davison, Sharon and the Davison team for blowing a cool breeze across national audiences!

Mr. Davison, along with more Dare to Invent episodes, will be featured on “The Balancing Act” in the next several months.  We will keep you updated on dates and times.

Lifetime Network’s “The Balancing Act” is America’s premier one-hour women’s morning show dedicated to creating trusted solutions for today’s woman and treats viewers to the most current and hot topics, while featuring some of the hottest celebs from the sports and entertainment industries.

The Lifetime Network can be found on the following channels:

• DirecTV Channel 252 (SD/HD)
• Dish Network Channel 108 (SD/HD)
• Available on most cable systems: Check local listings
• Verizon FiOS Channel 140 (SD); Channel 640 (HD)
• AT&T U-verse Channel 360 (SD); Channel 1360 (HD)

A typical project does not get a royalty agreement, sell in stores or generate a profit.

For our client, George, it was sheer coincidence that first led him to Inventionland… but, there were many things that have kept him coming back!

“I found Inventionland by accident.  My boss sent me to RIDC Park to pick up a part.  [When I saw Inventionland], I snapped a picture and in two to three days, I was on it.  I Googled ‘Inventionland’ and did some research.  At the time, I already had one invention going on… and, here I am today,” said George.

Now, the local firefighter is working on his second product idea at Inventionland.  According to Senior Director of New Products, Robert, who has been working closely with George, it is a privilege to help a client with an idea that could save lives.

“George and several high-ranking members of Pittsburgh fire departments have banded together to do this idea.  They have coordinated several real fire tests on the product together… which is fascinating,” said Robert.

Earlier this month, George brought a group of his fellow inventors to the place where their dream may become a reality… Davison’s Inventionland!

“My tour consisted of family members, professional firefighters, the fire marshal and investors,” said George.  “[The tour and my group's reactions] gave me confidence and motivation as to what I’m trying to achieve here.  [Inventionland] is for real and a select few people get to see this.”

While many of our wide-eyed visitors are initially impressed with Inventionland’s whimsical scenery and magical sets, it was the more technical side of the facility that really impressed George and his tour group.

“What caught my attention most was the video and photography department… from the green screen to the kitchen display.  The other tour group members were also impressed with the graphic design capabilities,” said George, who also said that his crew is not always easily impressed. It really wowed them.  It’s a tough crowd [that] I’m dealing with.  They would tell me!” George said.  “[At first], a lot in my group were speechless.  Then, they couldn’t stop talking about [Inventionland]!”

In fact, one member of George’s tour group was so inspired that we just may be hearing from him again soon!

“One gentleman in particular has had an idea in his head and I think he was able to open up about it more.  [Inventionland] inspired him to consider taking the steps to do something for himself,” said George.

George also told us that working with Davison has helped him realize he truly is an inventor… and, he has no plans to quit looking for that next new project!

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop thinking.  My mind is always going.  I always think, ‘how could I improve this?’ I give it a quick thought, then move on to the next thing,” said George.

According to George, that next thing could be… anywhere!

“I really wouldn’t mind one day, possibly, to even have the opportunity to work [at Inventionland],” said George, who also said he would recommend the inventing process to anyone!  “Whether they have a new idea or an idea on how to improve a product, I would not hesitate to work with Davison or Inventionland.  They are great people to work with,” said George.

Robert, one of Davison’s Senior Directors of New Products, said that feeling definitely is mutual!

“I’m looking forward to seeing the development on the product as [George's] dream comes to life,” said Robert.

And, so are we!  Check back for more updates on George and his invention!