Inventing Progress: vocabulary; Discovering the Process of Invention 5

Discovering the Process of Invention

1. Our world runs on technology: gadgets and gizmos like computers, cell phones, and cars that drive themselves. The history of technology is built on story after story of great inventors and their brilliant ideas. But, where do these ideas come from? And what does it take to bring them to life—to transform a concept into a product? The work doesn’t stop with an inventor’s ingenuity; in fact, the real work begins after the lightbulb moment.

2. There’s a reason that inventors like Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers are better known than others who created more original inventions. All were skilled at navigating the business side of invention. The process of inventing takes more than an innovative idea alone: it also requires money and business savvy. Products begin as prototypes, or early samples, which have to be tested and approved. Market research tells inventors what consumers want or need and what changes are needed so the product will sell. Inventors find out who will buy their products, what consumers expect the product to do, and the best price to charge. Then comes manufacturing, marketing (or promoting and selling) the product, and applying for patents—which are documents that protect the product from being copied. Finally, the inventor has to sell enough of the product to ensure they make enough money to cover costs and keep the product alive.

3. Whew! That’s a lot of risk and a lot of work. So why do inventors bother? Surprisingly, there are more reasons for inventions than you might think. Some inventors, like Patricia Bath, are fueled by humanitarian passion. Bath’s belief that sight is a basic human right led her to invent a laser that removes cataracts, a cloudiness that forms in the lens of an eye. Ferdinand Petzl was a French spelunker, or cave explorer, who wanted safer equipment to explore caves in the mid-1900s. The gear he needed to safely “spider”, or climb down, into the world’s deepest, darkest caves wasn’t available, so he designed and crafted it himself. Petzl used inventions to solve a problem.

4. Sometimes inventions happen by accident. Slinkys and playdough are fun novelties that were invented by people who were trying to make something else. Other inventions have evolved over time. Early versions of the camera and the first modern
   automobile
   first appeared in the 1800s, but these inventions have since been reinvented and improved many times over. Although we tend to think of inventors as scientists or engineers, many accomplished inventors were neither—they succeeded through trial and error. Thomas Edison is a perfect example: he was a man with little education and no formal training. Edison tried thousands of
   filament
   materials before finding the one that led to his invention of the lightbulb.

5. Today, most inventions are corporate—that means they’re created by large companies. Companies like Apple and IBM piggyback onto previous inventions to sustain their businesses and generate profits. Instead of one inventor trying to mold an idea into a product, corporations employ a myriad of inventors. They have the resources to manage a crucial but complex step in the invention process: filing for patents. Patents are what keep other people from copying someone else’s idea.

6. Patents are legal documents that allow inventors to stop other people from making, using, or selling their invention for a set period of time. Inventors have to submit a patent application to the patent office in their country. Anyone can file a patent, but the process is complicated. In the United States, it takes about two years to get approval after filing. Once a patent expires, the idea behind the invention is available for anyone to use, so inventors try to make as much money as they can before that happens.
7. Now you know a little more about the process of invention. So what do you think? Is there something in your imagination waiting to come out into the world?

Practice Question