The 5-Second Inventor


Book Description

Countless great products have failed to show up on the market because the "creators," average people with five-second flashes of inspiration, didn't know what to do with their ideas. The 5-Second Inventor gives these people a step-by-step guide through the process that professional developers use to produce and market products, but focuses on self-production. Ken Chuah uses his own experiences to help the beginning "inventpreneur" (an inventor/entrepreneur) with low-budget strategies, a unique screening test to pinpoint the best manufacturers, and an in-depth chapter on understanding Chinese culture for the outsourcing inventpreneur. The 5-Second Inventor streamlines the process of converting ideas into products, emphasizing self-production rather than licensing deals. A reader will learn to identify his or her idea's potential with market research pinpointing the potential product's target audience. For security during this and the development process, The 5-Second Inventor covers different types of patents, non-disclosure agreements, and other ways to protect intellectual property. For the production phase, it outlines strategies for minimizing the initial startup budget. This includes the pros and cons of overseas manufacturing and information for the inventpreneur who chooses an overseas manufacturing partner. Ken gives advice for working with different types of retail buyers, such as big chain stores or online retailers. The 5-Second Inventor gives guides for publicity, marketing, and methods of selling one's innovative product. Written in layman's terms for people new to the invention industry, The 5-Second Inventor is the perfect guide for beginning inventpreneurs.




The Inventor's Secret


Book Description

Both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford started off as insatiably curious tinkerers. That curiosity led them to become inventors—with very different results. As Edison invented hit after commercial hit, gaining fame and fortune, Henry struggled to make a single invention (an affordable car) work. Witnessing Thomas's glorious career from afar, a frustrated Henry wondered about the secret to his success. This little-known story is a fresh, kid-friendly way to show how Thomas Edison and Henry Ford grew up to be the most famous inventors in the world—and best friends, too.




Copies in Seconds


Book Description

A lone inventor and the story of how one of the most revolutionary inventions of the twentieth century almost didn't happen. Introduced in 1960, the first plain-paper office copier is unusual among major high-technology inventions in that its central process was conceived by a single person. Chester Carlson grew up in unspeakable poverty, worked his way through junior college and the California Institute of Technology, and made his discovery in solitude in the depths of the Great Depression. He offered his big idea to two dozen major corporations -- among them IBM, RCA, and General Electric -- all of which turned him down. So persistent was this failure of capitalistic vision that by the time the Xerox 914 was manufactured, by an obscure photographic-supply company in Rochester, New York, Carlson's original patent had expired. Xerography was so unusual and nonintuitive that it conceivably could have been overlooked entirely. Scientists who visited the drafty warehouses where the first machines were built sometimes doubted that Carlson's invention was even theoretically feasible. Building the first plain-paper office copier -- with parts scrounged from junkyards, cleaning brushes made of hand-sewn rabbit fur, and a built-in fire extinguisher -- required the persistence, courage, and imagination of an extraordinary group of physicists, engineers, and corporate executives whose story has never before been fully told. Copies in Seconds is a tale of corporate innovation and risk-taking at its very best.



















Congressional Record


Book Description

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)