I
consider myself a pretty creative person. I am a writer, photographer,
researcher, party planner, and travel agent, just to name a few of my
unofficial titles. This is why I am always so busy in my personal life. There
is always something to plan to do, accomplish and share. Never mind all of my
family and friends who take advantage, I mean need my services. If I ever
started charging them I would become a millionaire in an instant. So if I know
you and you have received some of this special treatment from me without
receiving an invoice count yourself lucky. Despite my talents I do not think i could ever be an inventor.
During
the normal course of my week I was reading my New York Times and Cosmopolitan
magazine. I was stunned to find two articles about Margaret Crane, an inventor
who has not gotten nearly enough attention. Her invention as you can see from
the title was the home pregnancy test. It is now a $40 million industry but
without Ms. Crane there would be no such pie to divide up. Her idea happened
matter-of-factly one day in a “flash of genius” moment.
The term
“flash of genius” has been imprinted within my mind since I saw the movie by
the same name in 2008. It tells the lifelong story of Robert Williams Kearns
and his struggle against Ford Motor Company and subsequently Chrysler
Corporation for his idea and creation of the intermittent windshield wiper
systems used on most automobiles from 1969 on. When he presented it to them
originally he was of course denied the usefulness to his face but then the
companies turned around and starting installing them without paying him so much
as a nickel. His idea had already been patented some years earlier thus to
court they went. It was the law then that said a true inventor has a “flash of
genius” moment.
This is
Robert Kearns story:
“The
inspiration for his invention stems from an incident on his wedding night in
1953, when an errant champagne cork shot into his left eye, leaving him legally
blind in that eye. Nearly a decade later in 1963, Kearns was driving his Ford
Galaxie through a light rain, and the constant movement of the wiper blades
irritated his already troubled vision. He modeled his mechanism on the human
eye, which blinks every few seconds, rather than continuously.”
The basis
of the judgment, which ultimately was a thirty million dollar settlement, had
many consequences such as his wife divorcing him, distant relationships with
his children, and spending his life as his own attorney. He spent about ten
million dollars in legal fees. But a principal is a principal.
When I
read the stories of Ms. Crane (how she was referred to in the articles) it made
me think of Robert Kearns and his “flash of genius” moment. While her story is
a lot less dramatic she was still struck with a flash after seeing how doctor’s
processed pregnancy tests in a lab and thinking of how much easier it would be
if a woman could learn about her own body in her own surroundings without a man
(doctor) telling you, which was the normal in those years.
Ms.
Crane’s process went like this:
“Inside a
clear plastic box that had been holding paper clips on her desk, Ms. Crane
fitted an eyedropper, along with a test tube that sat just above a mirror. The
customer would squeeze a few drops of urine into the tube, and then peer
through the transparent wall of the box at the mirror. In its reflection, she
could watch the bottom of the test tube, where a compound was reacting with the
drops. If, in two hours, a red circle appeared, she was pregnant.”
Her
invention was created in 1967 but didn’t go on sale to the public until ten
years later, in 1977. There was fear of doctor’s losing business or that women
were too stupid a.k.a. emotional to understand how to use the tests.
Long
story short Ms. Crane bursted into a meeting her bosses were having about a
home pregnancy prototype (naturally without notifying her) and she stuck her
version on the table to be considered. Clearly it was her idea that stole the
show. To show her generosity she
sold her patent for one dollar, which she apparently never received. Figures.
Robert Kearns would not be pleased.
My
favorite part is that prior to being an inventor Ms. Crane was an artist, not
someone who had a medical profession. After though she moved on and in with one
of her bosses and they went on to have a lifelong romance working together as
advertising executives.
Without
Ms. Crane’s invention there would not be the many home testing kits I see every
time I am at the pharmacy. I can’t believe what I see, like the home test for
cocaine, which definitely took me by surprise. But I guess if you have a need
there should be a supply. The HIV home test kits were invented back in the
1980’s although stigma and fear of what the reaction would be, held them back
from being sold in stores until 2012.
I guess no one is safe to learn about themselves by themselves.
But by
now shouldn’t we as humans be able to accept that we are built to deal with
complex emotions? I guess we are a society of slow learners.
During
this week I found out about a series on YouTube called “It’s Ok To Be Smart”. I
think it is a genius idea. This bright young Ph.D tackles a wide range of
topics explaining how they came to be. This week it was about salt and pepper
and how that combination came to be a staple in all of our homes and
restaurants.
Watch the
video below to find out more about their connection:
It just
goes to show you that anyone is capable of anything.
I am glad
that this series is doing what I hoped it would, educating us about why we do
the rituals that are apart of our everyday life.
Next
Friday I hope to answer the burning questions from your lives.
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