THERE WAS A TIME WHEN INNOVATION WAS EASY. Suppose the caveman discovered by accident that rolling a giant rock on a log allowed him to move the rock more easily when he was forced to move it.
In those days, intellectual property was not a thing. If someone today wanted to roll something on a log or other cylindrical object, that same caveman would file a patent and demand license payments by the patent company.
Previously there were no patent services and no such patent filing services. Nowadays, Selling a patent is also possible.
R&D expenditures are increasing as everyday technology becomes more complex. Among the top 1,000 corporate spenders, Booz Allen Hamilton reports that R&D spending is increasing. Many economists believe that inventing an idea will drive the economy in the future as we continue to move manufacturing jobs overseas for wages that would make Walmart’s pay scales seem modest.
Yes, perhaps. Yet most of us don’t know how to identify a promising innovator. In reflecting on Google’s revolution of search eight years ago, we lament our blindness and snub successful product introductions with statements such as “People won’t eat cheese from spray bottles.”.
A promising invention idea isn’t always linked to the person who spent the most money on it, which is part of the reason it can be hard to recognize. In reality, the idea for invention is a process that is constantly being reinvented.
It is hard to agree on what fuels successful inventions, even among academics and analysts who study innovation. Their ideas about what works best do vary, however.
THE FRISBEE
It wasn’t always the flying disc we use each summer that was so popular with college kids and beach-going families. Frisbie Pie Company owner William Frisbie invented the disc in 1871. In the process of warning others, they yelled “Frisbie!” in the vicinity of the university, they threw pie tins. It was later rebranded as ‘Frisbee’, in homage to the pie company’s name by Wham-O, the same company that made the Hula Hoop.
THE VACUUM
An enormous vacuum could only be moved by a horse-drawn wagon. In the nineteenth century, this was the reality of the first “portable” vacuum cleaner. The behemoth uses motor and gasoline instead of hand power, like its predecessors. Once again, hand power was required to operate a portable vacuum in the 20th century. After James Spangler electrified these units, disposable filter bags followed. Although traditionally upright and cylindrical, the bags would not last long. Our vacuums don’t even require manual operation anymore.
THE TOASTER
People have been cooking over the fire as long as there has been a fire. Given toast’s enduring legacy, toasting has always been a popular pastime. Forks are traditionally used to hold toast over an open flame or grill. Toasters that toast both sides of bread simultaneously were not developed until the early 20th century.
PLAY-DOH
“Good Clean Fun” is the original slogan for the popular molding dough for kids. Water, salt, and flour were the main ingredients of Kutol Products’ wallpaper cleaner. The cleaner was first introduced by Cleo and Noah McVicker in 1933, and Cleo’s son Joseph saw students use it for model making in 1955. A subsidiary of Kutol, Rainbow Crafts, was established the following year with Play-Doh as its trademark product.
THE PLAYPEN
A toddler sitting in a cage hanging from a window is probably familiar to you from a photo like the one above. There are only a few wires and handles holding this cage in place on an apartment window in the city. By using baby cages, parents could give their children fresh air in the city without having to take them outside (gasp! ). The baby cage, however, eventually lost popularity due to safety concerns. Unlike metal, the ground-only version uses wood instead of metal and has a soft floor.
