re: Anyone know someone who invented something and made some money?

My high school friend's Grandfather and Father invented the swamp buggy.

Manoj Bhargava amassed a 4 billion dollar fortune from the “5 Hour Energy“ drink. I knew him when he owned a PVC compound plant in Indiana. He sold it In 2006 and started 5 hour energy. Very nice guy and donates huge amounts of money to fight poverty in India.

“Not me personally, but a guy I know”

Alter-G treadmill

I have two patents that are personal. Two others that my name is on and some others that are titled to company.

Only one is currently worth a shite. The others are there and have to monitored to see if “someone “ is trying to steal it.

I was contacted by a Chinese group that developed a product that had multiple patent infringements. They were offering cash to tell them what they were doing wrong.

Even funnier was that what they beer trying to duplicate was my competitor. I know the guy well. I told him and we.both got a good laugh about it.

I know a guy who is in battery technology, and has developed some impressive new storage technology. Masters from MIT.

He was also a navy seal.

I'm confused as to what I'm supposed to be impressed with when it comes to this dude.

A friend ("Cousin Matt" in the story below) and his cousin invented the Bottlekeeper. A few years back he shows up at a pool party and hands out some prototypes. At the time I recall he had sales of $3,500 the previous month. Two years later I'm invited to their company Christmas party and they rented out a huge hall with catered food, an open bar and a band. I was informed their sales were approaching $2 million/yearly. They were on Shark Tank and Mark Cuban invested $1 million but more importantly they got a nice bump in publicity, which translated into increased sales. Couldn't happen to two nicer guys and I have unlimited access to whatever style of Bottlekeeper I want and give them out as gifts to friends. Cool concept.

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BOTTLEKEEPER:

THE TRUE STORY

On a warm but fateful summer day, Cousin Matt was sitting lazily on a beach with our Uncle Van. As Uncle Van’s beautifully full push-broom mustache was gently wavering in the sea breeze, they began complaining about the warm beer simmering in their ‘red party cups’. There are few things that can kill your mood on a relaxing, warm summer day, but the taste of piping hot suds is surely one of them.

As they pondered the depth of their predicament, a serious brainstorm began regarding solutions that would allow you to enjoy the cool refreshing taste of carbonated joy in a way that didn’t require you to slam the beer in 3 minutes or less…as much as you try, you just can’t slam them all.

It was at that very moment that a golden light flashed above Cousin Matt’s head as if Zeus himself had sent a bolt of lightening from the heavens above; “what if we could leave the beer in the bottle and put the bottle in something that would keep it cold, like one of those stainless steel water bottles?” and BAM!, BottleKeeper was born.

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Dad and grandpas friend invented the pop tab on cans and made a fortune still make royalties

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Sure, Jan.

“Ermal Fraze, founder of the Dayton Reliable Tool & Mfg. Co. invented the pop-top beverage can in the 1960’s which opens with the pull of a tab. He died in 1989 at the age of 76”.

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Moral of the story:: If you're gonna invent something, don't do it at work.

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I have one provisional patent application filed now for my company (allows us to fully file within a year, but holds our place so that another company can't utilize the intellectual property once discussed in the industry). I think I may get 2k if we decide to fully file. Not only can I not design anything of my own at work, but if the idea has anything to do with the field I work in, my company has a right to it from my understanding. If I have a big idea I truly believe in, I have to quit and all records of design, etc. that go with the patent application need to be dated after my employment.

Two weird chicks at my HS....they kinda only hung with each other... anyway, I remember at our reunion that one of them had gone to invent Post-Its

I knew Huey Rivet that invented the marsh buggy, he was from Des Allemands. The guy that invented helped invent Saran Wrap was from Baton Rouge, he was pretty old when I met him....I can’t remember his first name but his last name was Lee.