National Inventors Month is underway and we’re starting this month-long celebration off with some motivation – after all, it is Monday!

So, what exactly does National Inventors Month entail? The month of May is reserved for the celebration of invention and creativity, which began in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA (UIA-USA), the Academy of Applied Science and Inventors’ Digest magazine.

At Davison, we take great pride in our clients who had ideas and believed in them so much that they turned to us to help make their invention dreams a reality. For us, we treat every month like it’s National Inventors Month as we champion the idea people who continue to create and innovate every day.

The purpose of National Inventors Month is to promote the inventors whose ideas have served as real contributions to the world.

Today, to kick off our celebration of all things inventing, let’s take a look at some of the motivational quotes from perhaps the most prolific inventors in history!

“There is no substitute for hard work.” ­ ­– Thomas Edison

“When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

“The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk

“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” – George Washington Carver

Now that you’ve read the words of some of the most notable inventors, do you feel inspired to make today the day that you begin your inventing journey? For every inventor, it takes one step forward outside of their comfort zone to pursue that idea that’s been living in their mind for quite some time.

All it takes is a little courage, a lot of creativity and a healthy dose of perseverance to one day turn your dreams into reality!

Copyright Davison, 2016

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Unfortunately, another weekend has come to a close and, today, it might have been a little more difficult getting out of bed and heading out the door.

After all, everyone needs a boost of motivation from time to time.

Today, we’re here to give you that push in the right direction that you’ve been looking for!

At Davison, we’re a company that’s committed to helping idea people turn their dreams into a reality by helping our clients look for better ways to invent.

In an effort to always provide our clients with the best service, we regularly send out surveys to get valuable feedback that we can use to evolve our method.

Over time, these surveys have provided us with a fresh perspective and, of course, motivation to help people reach their goals.

Here’s some of the positive feedback that we’ve gathered from happy clients that have received our Pre-Development Portfolios:

“I love the fact that Davison can take the idea from my mind and go to completion with that.” – Johnny D.

“Like it states, your reputation is what had me come to you guys.” – Shane D.

“Davison has done a remarkable job to this point.” – William P.

“Appreciate all your efforts so far.” – Michael E.

“This gave me a deeper insight and knowledge as to what is involved in bringing valuable product ideas to market.” – Mike L.

If you’re ready to make your inventing dream a reality, submit your invention idea today!

Copyright Davison, 2016

The typical client project is not licensed, sold in stores or profitable.

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We’ve all been there before – you’re burning the candle at both ends and are getting closer and closer to creative burnout. You’re clinging to the mantra, “No rest for the weary” as you rapidly begin to lose steam.

Though we’ve heard time and time again that you should get no less than seven hours of sleep each night, in this day and age with the busy schedules that we all juggle, getting adequate amounts of sleep each night is nothing short of impossible.

Thomas Edison agreed. Yes, the Thomas Edison, the famous inventor and idea person believed that his invention of the incandescent light bulb would liberate people from the constraints of sleep.

That’s why Edison was an advocate for naps.

But, not just any nap – power naps. Now, Edison wasn’t a supporter of sleep for lazy purposes. Rather, he encouraged people to get their rest for the creative, productive and overall work-ethic benefits that resulted.

Idea people, listen closely. If you’ve been struggling with a creative block, we might have found what you need to jump over this hurdle and never look back. The answer is sleep!

Though Edison seemed to be very proud of his lack of sleep, it was said that he only got as little as three to four hours of sleep each night. But, Edison did take power naps.

All throughout his property were napping cots. You could find these cots in his library and even in his laboratories. Though he had cots for his power naps, he wasn’t afraid to rest in some peculiar places, like under a tree in the middle of the day!

So, why did he like naps more than a full night’s rest? Edison believed that his napping helped counterbalance the intensity of his labor. Most days, he would take a nap or two. When he woke up from his quick rest, he was reinvigorated and ready to tackle the next problem.

The lesson to be learned here is that sleep is a necessary piece to the innovation puzzle. Sleep allows for you to reignite your creativity, to see things in a new light and to build on ideas that you previously struggled with. Rest is essential in helping us reach and exceed an even higher standard than we set out to attain on our pursuits for creative excellence.

Burned out? A good rest can help.

Copyright Davison, 2016

Sources:

https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/02/11/thomas-edison-on-sleep-and-success/

Images:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Thomas_Edison2.jpg

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Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been sharing with you some positive feedback that we’ve received from our happy clients.

Today, we’re doing the same and sharing with you five more comments from idea people who have taken the necessary steps to start their invention journey with Davison!

Though simple in nature, these comments give us motivation to continue to help people find a Better Way!

“I am so thankful for Davison and their help.”

“I’m so thankful for the Professional at Davison for assisting me with my Product’s Developments!!!”

“Very good!”

“I am very happy and proud to find a serious company.”

“This is reassuring me with my plan (IDEA) to pursue this!”

If you’re ready to make your inventing dream a reality, submit your invention idea today!

Copyright Davison, 2016

The typical client project is not licensed, sold in stores or profitable.

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Do you remember that old Verizon commercial where the spokesman would ask the question, “Can you hear me now? Good.” Well, that tagline wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone.

It was on this day in 1876 that Bell received a United States patent for his revolutionary new invention.

Every invention has a story and today we’re sharing Bell’s! Growing up, Bell worked with his father in London, where Bell’s father developed Visible Speech, a written system used to teach speaking to the deaf.

This was just the first glimpse of innovation that gleamed through in Bell’s life. During the 1870s, the Bells uprooted their family and moved to Boston, Massachusetts. It was here that Alexander became very interested in exploring the possibility of transmitting speech via wires. It was a curious innovation that left him hungry to find a viable solution – after all, in 1843, Samuel F.B Morse’s invention of the telegraph made communication almost instantaneous between two locations both far and wide.

The only hiccup of the telegraph was that it still required that hand-delivered messages be sent between telegraph stations and recipients; not to mention, only one message could be transmitted at a time.

It was this problem that Bell set out to fix and fix it is exactly what he did when he created the “harmonic telegraph.” This device combined features of a telegraph and record player to give people the ability to speak to one another from a distance.

Bell didn’t work alone as he employed the help of Thomas A. Watson, a Boston machine shop employee that helped him develop a working prototype.

The first iteration of their invention of the telephone worked a little something like this. Sound waves created an electric current that varied in both intensity and frequency, which caused a thin, soft iron plate (a diaphragm) to vibrate. These vibrations were then magnetically transferred to another wire that was connected to a diaphragm in another, distant instrument.

When the diaphragm vibrated, the original sound was replicated in the ear of the receiving instrument.

Believe it or not, Bell filed his patent a mere two hours prior to Elisha Gray, who had a similar claim. That was a close one! Just three days after filing, Bell’s invention carried its first clear message, “Mr. Watson, come here, I need you,” a message that was sent from Bell to his assistant.

The story doesn’t end there. In fact, that’s where it begins. Gray was then employed by the Western Union Telegraph Company and worked alongside fellow inventor, Thomas A. Edison to invent their own telephone technology.

Bell wasn’t too happy with this idea, so he sued and the case made its way to the United States Supreme Court, where Bell’s patent rights were upheld.

Copyright Davison, 2016

Sources:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/alexander-graham-bell-patents-the-telephone

http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/alexander-graham-bell

Images:

https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/07/26/06/48/alexander-graham-bell-402095_640.jpg

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/84/115184-004-9C9C534F.jpg

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The first chapter of 2016 has come to a close and a brand-new chapter begins today!

As we start another day, week and month – let’s kick off this clean slate with some motivation!

The motivation that we’re sharing with you today comes by way of our satisfied clients. These idea people let us know just how happy they are to be working with Davison to hopefully one day turn their idea into a new product!

“Looking forward to moving on.”

“I had an idea that needed professional guidance and a trustworthy background.”

“This is exactly the type of opportunity I was looking for and I’m glad I found it with Davison.”

If you’re ready to take the first step toward your inventing dream, submit your invention idea today!

Copyright Davison, 2016

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Saturday, December 5th would have been Walt Disney’s 114^th birthday!

Walt Disney is known as one of the most creative animators and entrepreneurs of all time. Did we also mention that he just so happens to be one of our founder and CEO George Davison’s inspirational heroes, too?

Born on December 5, 1901 near Chicago, Illinois, Walt Disney always had an innate desire to create.

Though we know Walt Disney, of course, for his popular creations of Disneyland and Disney World, we wanted to share with you five fun facts that you might not have known about Walt Disney himself!

1. At the age of 16, Disney dropped out of high school in the hopes of joining the Army, but was rejected for being too young. Instead, he was able to become an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in France.
2. Disney’s first animation studio was named Laugh-O-Gram. It was here that he began to tell modernized fairytales that were based on Aesop’s Fables. However, the studio went bankrupt (Luckily, that roadblock didn’t deter Disney!).
3. Disney was known for his skills as an animator; but, he also gave voice acting a chance as well. Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 and from there until 1947, the voice of the mouse was provided by none other than Disney himself, before it was turned over to an English voice actor. However, Disney loved the Mickey Mouse character so much that he returned to the studio in 1955 to voice Mickey Mouse shorts for his company’s television show, The Mickey Mouse Club.
4. After Disneyland opened, Walt Disney wanted to build a ski resort in California’s Sequoia National Park that mimicked a Swiss-style base village. Though Disney received approval from all governmental agencies, unfortunately when Disney passed away in 1966, the company felt that it could only handle one project at a time, thus deciding to spend their time completing Disney World.
5. Walt Disney won 22 Academy Awards and was nominated 59 times between 1932 and 1969.  Three of these awards were created specifically for him, one of which was for his creation of Mickey Mouse, while another recognized his contribution of music in the animation field and finally, an Oscar was given to honor Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that featured a traditional Oscar statuette and seven mini versions along with it.

Without a doubt, Walt Disney’s creativity and innovative legacy live on through the many parks, films and other memorabilia that now bear his name.

So, to commemorate Walt Disney’s birthday, we hope that you enjoyed these five fun facts that you might not have known about the man whose creativity continues to inspire creative minds all over the world!

If you have the same undeniable determination to bring your creative ideas to life, submit your idea today.

Copyright Davison, 2015

Sources:

http://www.biography.com/people/walt-disney-9275533#video-gallery

http://www.inc.com/larry-kim/31-surprising-facts-about-walt-disney.html

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/10/16/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-walt-disney/

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4004/4697933152_f4430ec5b7_b.jpg

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Willis Haviland Carrier was born in Angola, New York, in 1876. A bright student, he went on to excel in his studies and won a state scholarship to Cornell University, where he graduated in 1901 with a degree in electrical engineering. After college, Carrier began work as a research engineer for the Buffalo Forge Company, where his first assignment was to design a better cooling system for a local printing company. The heat and humidity of the summer months were causing big problems with the printing process and the cooling systems of the time—just elaborate ventilation systems—didn’t prevent the paper from expanding and contracting between applications of the different ink colors, causing the images to come out blurry. To prevent this, they needed a system that controlled both temperature and moisture.

Carrier began looking for solutions and had an epiphany while standing on a Pittsburgh train platform. As he stared through the mist rising above the platform, he began to understand the relationship between temperature and humidity. In 1902 he designed his “Apparatus for Treating Air,” a device using water sprayed through blowing air (later replaced by chilled coils), which not only controlled heat, but made the humidity constant. This way, he could control humidity and prevent the printing paper from expanding and contracting. Carrier’s new design was revolutionary. The design was further developed and refined over the next couple years and was granted a patent on January 2, 1906.

Air conditioning had applications for many industries that needed a precisely controlled processing environment: tobacco, rayon, rubber, paper, pharmaceuticals and food. The Buffalo Forge Company decided to establish a subsidiary called the Carrier Air Conditioning Company, in 1908 to design and market complete air conditioning systems. Carrier served as vice-president, chief engineer and director of research for the parent company. By 1914, Buffalo Forge decided to focus on manufacturing and withdrew from the engineering part of its business.

That created the opportunity for Carrier and six of his co-workers to pool their savings—about $33,000—and form the Carrier Engineering Corporation. They created a new type of refrigeration machine called a centrifugal compressor, which used safe, non-toxic refrigerants and could cool much larger spaces more cheaply. This meant that the technology could be used for more than cooling in manufacturing; it could be used to enhance human comfort.

Air conditioning began to be installed in department stores during the 1920s and movie theaters in the 1930s. The Great Depression and World War II had an effect on the sale of air conditioning units, but the company managed to reorganize and hold on. After the war, there was a huge boom in the demand for air conditioning, and as buildings got taller, they installed these new air delivery systems.

As people became used to cool comfortable air where they worked, shopped and played, they were now ready to install air conditioners in their homes. Willis Carrier didn’t live to see the day when air conditioners were installed in almost every home in America or see the tremendous influence it would have throughout the world. He retired from his company in 1948 after suffering a heart attack and died two years later.

At his death, he held over 80 patents and created an industry that changed our culture. Air conditioning not only increased productivity in the work place, made our leisure time more enjoyable, made long car and plane rides comfortable, but it also made it possible for many more of our citizens to live in the warmest climates, thereby dramatically increasing the population of our southern states. So when you go from the oppressive heat of summer into a perfectly chilled space, give a grateful nod to Willis Carrier, a man who was literally one of the world’s coolest inventors.

Copyright Davison 2013

Photos

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1241&bih=584&q=Carri

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1241&bih=584&q=Carri

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1241&bih=584&q=Mov

Sources:

https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/willis-carrier

http://www.carrier.com/carrier/en/us/about/willis-carrier/

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Willis_Haviland_Carrier.aspx

http://www.williscarrier.com/1876-1902.php

http://www.carrier.com/carrier/en/us/about/willis-carrier/

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So let’s meet this inventor who also became the director of the General Electric (GE) Research Laboratory and eventually the company’s vice president.

William David Coolidge was born in Massachusetts in 1873. As a young boy, he showed a flair for putting things together. After a childhood spent working on his family’s farm, he applied and was accepted to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and chose to study electrical engineering. He also learned metal works in a part-time job and soon incorporated the two skills when he built a large electrostatic generator which he sold to a doctor’s practice.

Following his graduation from MIT, Coolidge traveled to Germany for his graduate studies with the pioneering physicists, Paul Drude and Gustav Wiedemann and also met with Wilhelm Roentgen, the discoverer of X-rays. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig in 1899, he returned to MIT for his post-doctoral research training.

By 1905, Coolidge decided he had had enough of academia and went to work at General Electric Company’s Research Laboratory. Coolidge negotiated a contract where he could spend half of his time working on his own research while using the company’s equipment. Because of his brilliance, GE had to agree because the scientists at GE were working on an international conundrum and needed some major brainpower. It turns out that an international quest for a long-lasting light bulb filament was taking place and labs all over the world were racing to find a durable filament.

Coolidge was up to the task and though it took four years of research, he created ductile tungsten, a wire so thin it was only one sixth the diameter of a human hair yet durable enough to last many hours glowing hot as a filament; and, it also gave off twice as much light as other filaments. GE began marketing the new light bulbs in 1911, and in fact, the tungsten filament light bulb created by Coolidge is still in use today, more than 100 years from when it was invented.

But bigger things were on the horizon for Coolidge. Ever since meeting Wilhelm Roentgen in Germany years earlier and learning about x-rays, Coolidge was intrigued by the thought of the use of x-rays as a diagnostic tool (as were many other physicists and physicians). But as with the first incandescent light bulbs, the filaments used in those first x-ray tubes couldn’t sustain the level of electricity that had to pass through the filaments and burnt out very quickly.

In his design, Coolidge adapted his ductile tungsten for the x-ray tube and was able to remove the ionized gas that needed to be injected in the older tubes to slow down filament burn-out. The “Coolidge tube” allowed for a steady, stable stream of X-rays to be generated and allowed the beam to be focused and targeted, ushering in diagnostic radiology and changing the practice of medicine forever.

At the time of his death at the ripe age of 101, William Coolidge held a total of 83 patents, had won several prestigious awards, including the Franklin Medal and Edison Medal, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He also won the gratitude of millions of people who were helped by diagnostic x-rays.

Copyright Davison 2013

Photos:

http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/coolidge-2853/medium/portrait.jpg

http://www.crtsite.com/big/x-ray/coolidge%20newspaper.jpg

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William Lear was born in Hannibal, Missouri on June 26, 1902. He was a very smart student but often got in trouble for his lack of focus.  He read many books on electrical engineering and built make-shift radios and other types of equipment from scratch. After his parents divorced, young Bill left home and, at age 16, joined the Navy during World War I. Though too young to see action, he was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station where he received more formal instruction on electronics and radio technology. After the War, he co-founded Quincy Radio Laboratory and built components for radios. He also learned to fly, a skill that would later define his legacy.

By the mid-1920s, Lear was contracting his electronic acumen to companies all over the mid-West.  He worked with the Universal Battery Company to develop an innovative battery eliminator as a back-up power source.  He built audio amplifiers and cases for Magnavox’s speakers, and contracted with the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago, a company that was building prototype car radios. Lear designed, created and patented a car radio, which he sold to Galvin and in 1930, Galvin introduced this car radio as the ‘Motorola’—one of the first commercially successful car radios, and the first major product for the company that later became Motorola, Incorporated.

With his profits from these accomplishments, Lear founded the Lear Avia Corporation in 1934 to make radio and navigational devices for aircraft. Within a few years, more than half the private airplanes in the United States were using his equipment. As World War II approached, he expanded this company into Lear, Inc., and manufactured aircraft radios, communications and navigation equipment that had military aviation application. Throughout the War, his company was granted more than $100 million in contracts to supply this equipment.

After the War, Lear’s company continued to manufacture innovative aeronautic and communication equipment. He invented a revolutionary autopilot device that could land a plane in low visibility conditions. For this he was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1950 for most outstanding aeronautical achievement, and had it presented to him by none other than President Harry S. Truman.

By the 1960s Lear expanded his company’s portfolio by inventing the eight-track tape player. He had always been interested in audio recordings and was intrigued with the challenge of inventing a player/recorder based on a continuous magnetic tape loop. Lear’s invention contained a single, continuous tape loop of standard 1/4-inch magnetic tape, housed in a plastic cartridge. On the tape, were four stereo programs each with corresponding right and left sound tracks (i.e., eight parallel soundtracks) to give stereo sound. The eight-track was a big improvement over the four-track players that already existed; and in the late 1960s and ‘70s, it seemed that every car in America had one.

Lear’s last big creation was what he is most remembered for—the Learjet.  His desire was to build low-cost private, luxury aircraft not for commercial use, but for private corporate use—thus, the corporate jet was born.  He had plenty of naysayers who didn’t believe there would be a viable market for private jets, but as he once said:

“They said I’d never build it, that if I built it, it wouldn’t fly; that if it flew, I couldn’t sell it. Well I did, and it did, and I could”

The first Learjet sat six- to eight people and first flew on October 7, 1963. By 1975, the company had sold their 500^th Learjet, quieting all of his critics. Bill Lear died in 1978 at the age of 75, and that same year he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Copyright Davison 2013

Images:

http://www.3dlearner.com/Portals/40107/images//BillLear.jpg

http://www.gretemangroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BillLearCollierTrophy.jpg

http://www.retroland.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/eight-track.jpg

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllear.htm

http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/lear.html

http://www.nndb.com/people/990/000113651/

http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/lear.htm

http://todayinsci.com/L/Lear_William/Lear_William.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learjet

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