Tag Archives: Inventions

Thomas Edison’s Creepy Talking Doll Not The Best Christmas Gift Idea In 1890

Like other authors who write about innovation, I love Thomas Edison stories. He was an inventive genius and found the code to serial innovation more than 120 years ago.

That code is still in use by companies like IDEO who’ve learned his lessons and both improved upon them and added to them. But the basic core is still the same.

Less well known is Edison’s entrepreneurial side.  He put financiers, government officials, politicians and inventors like himself together in an inspired coalition that built the first electrical grid in New York City. After all, what good is a light bulb if you don’t have a source of electricity to power it?

But his inventions were not always successful, nor were his attempts to market and sell them.

For example, very few people today know about Edison’s talking doll. Expected to sell during the 1890 Christmas season, she was a marketing failure.

Creepy even for the 19th Century

I think she looks like the “Bride of Chucky” and is more than a little spooky. Talking, animated objects are commonplace today, but Edison was the first to have the idea and execute it.

Creeped out? Here's some of the dolls Bing suggest after searching "Creepy Doll". Click image to hear Edison's doll speak.
Click on any  image to hear Edison’s doll speak.

What gave her voice was a tiny version of the phonograph – another of his inventions. He thought it would be novel to make a talking doll and hoped it would catch on. The doll market was already thriving, so a talking doll could potentially reach the top of the heap.

But not all of Edison’s creativity turned into cash, and his Bride of Chucky was a dismal failure. The little talking machine went inside the doll with the handle protruding from her back. Edison produced 2,500 of the dolls but only 500 sold. They were $10 each — two weeks of the average pay back in 1890 – and many of those sold were returned for quality problems.

Edison quickly turned his back on her.

I particularly like this story because it shows the critical difference between innovation and entrepreneurship. Great ideas are not always great opportunities. Opportunities possess five characteristics that differentiate them from great ideas:

Durability – They keep creating value over time.

Sustainability – The organization has the willpower, manpower and resources to sustain the idea through failure, rethinking and reformulation.

Defensibility – The potential return on investment makes it worth the time, resources and risk that accompany all new ventures, thus making it worth doing this over doing something else.

It creates value – It creates value for the person willing to reach into their pockets for money to pay for the intangible form and thus it creates value for the company.

It is compelling – The Innovation is differentiated in some critical way that makes a customer segment just have to have it.

Entrepreneurs differ substantially from innovators because they have the discipline to determine whether a great idea is also a great opportunity.  This takes a lot of work, failure, rethinking and, most of all, passion to get you through all of this vetting. Many innovators lose interest after the idea stage and don’t understand that innovation without value creation may be fun – but it’s also folly.

Edison, like many other inventors, fell in love with his baby and he built a bunch of them, assuming a slam dunk in the market. In fact, these dolls were not just spooky looking, they were big and heavy and cost a lot of money.

Edison’s enthusiasm for his ability to make a talking doll was not counterbalanced by the discipline necessary to determine whether the idea was just that or a real opportunity.  He was so eager to produce them that he didn’t ask if the market wanted such an invention and at what price.

I am sure that Edison was OK with failure, as he once said that he had not failed in his efforts to create the light bulb, but rather found a thousand ways that didn’t work.  For the Silo, Neal Thornberry, Ph.D.

 

Supplemental- Bride of Chucky http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144120/

The Best Inventions Of 2017

These are real inventions: self healing concrete…airport sleeping pods…DIY drones and that’s just for starters. So much incredible technology and cool imagination at work. Watch this video and tell us below which is your favorite by using our live video uplink from your smart device.

Best Inventions 2017
Click me to play!

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Toronto Inventor Tackles Awkward Toilet Paper Holders

Toilet paper … it’s one of life’s necessities. Then why is the roll so difficult to replace? The problem lies in the awkward spring tube holder that always leaves you fumbling. No one wants to deal with it. We all know of that one person that always fails to change out the toilet paper roll. They’ll leave the empty roll on the holder and put a brand new one on top of the toilet or counter. The ZeNa attachment will solve that bad habit. Thanks to Alex Li, a thinker and inventor out of Toronto, Canada, this bathroom conundrum has finally been solved.

You can now change a roll out in a matter of seconds. It’s faster, easier and cleaner than the traditional spring tube method.

The ZeNa Attachment is an incredibly smart solution that fully modernizes your toilet paper holder. Its peel and stick design securely attaches (in seconds) to your existing TP dispenser, so there’s nothing more to install or buy. ZeNa Attachment’s patent pending swing design lets you swap out toilet paper rolls with one hand and it keeps it all in place with zero fuss.

Design

The patent pending design is an easy attachment to add to your existing toilet paper holder. No need to hire a contractor. The heavy duty double-sided foam tape on the underside of the base is super strong. Simply stick this on to your clean existing holder and you’re good to go. Both sides are the same so there’s no getting this wrong.

The arms always fall back into place from a tension mechanism that forces the arms downward. So it doesn’t matter if your ZeNa Attachment is not level as long as you have installed it properly, it will work.

The ZeNa Attachment is super durable, comes in several colors and is the perfect bathroom assistant for the disabled, kids and seniors too.  Learn more and support this initiative by visiting the ZeNa Kickstarter page. For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.

 

Device Lets Mountain Bikers Check Sealant Without Removing Tires

Swiss invention milKit makes mountain biking with tubeless tires easier than ever. With milKit, riders and racers can quickly measure and check their remaining tire sealant with a simple, portable kit, adding sealant as needed while leaving their tires on the rim, maintaining air pressure, keeping their hands clean and saving time. The inventors are currently running a campaign on IndieGoGo

MilKit LogoTubeless without the tedium: milKit is the fastest way to inspect, measure and add sealant; easy to install and compatible with all standard rims.

Tubeless tires have more traction, a lower rolling resistance and are more puncture proof than traditional bike tires. But they can also be a pain to maintain, potentially slowing you down in the middle of a race — unless you’re riding with milKit.

Mountain bikers riding on tubeless tires normally must detach their tires to check their remaining sealant, a time-consuming and messy process. milKit eliminates the guessing game and lets professional and amateur riders alike quickly and easily check and add to their remaining sealant in seconds, while their tires remain on their rims and their bikes stay at the ready.

MilKit Use Instructions

The Swiss invention milKit comprises two easy-to-install valves that are compatible with all standard rims and a custom applicator that lets bikers remove, inspect and inject sealant whenever needed, with no mess or fuss.

Installation:

–       Installing milKit is easy: Insert the special milKit valves like usual valves in rims. They fit to any standard rim.

–       Pump the tire to 1.5 bar / 22psi

–       Insert sealant with the milKit applicator and keep your hands clean

Advantages:

–       Save time: Measure and refill sealant without deflating the tire.

–       No more guessing games: Riders will always know exactly how much sealant is needed

–       A rubber flab prevents sealant from filling and blocking the valves

–       Clean hands and simple to use

Maintaining sealant volume and quality is paramount to a safe ride over any terrain, and there’s no better way to do it than with milKit. And milKit means briefer pit stops during endurance races, when a few minutes saved can make all the difference.

Thomas FrischknechtProfessional riders agree: mountain biking legend Thomas Frischknecht approved of our prototypes, and Cape Epic 2015 champion Christoph Sauser believes they’re “great.”

The portable milKit applicator has a home in every biker’s pack. And now mountain bikers all over the world can use Indiegogo to help make milKit the ubiquitous product it deserves to be. By contributing on Indiegogo riders can ensure they’re among the first to experience easy tubeless mountain biking and faster races. Head to the milKit website to see for yourself what milKit can do.

About milKit

milKit is a Swiss team of experienced engineers, designers and computer scientists that share one passion: mountain biking. They work together to develop solutions to everyday problems that face mountain biking enthusiasts. Checking sealant presented one such a problem, and milKit is the answer.

 

 

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