Light bulb moments require education

The May 29 article in the Business section, “Lone Inventor in the Garage?” is a myth and is just a little shortsighted, in my opinion.

I realize the main point is to bring attention to the fact that R & D has dwindled to nothing in this country for many years. But that was due to corporate economic and market companies, which is another story.

You can have massive corporate labs all you want, but you need that “light bulb” Eureka moment more. We should not lose sight of the creative thinker, which can only be taught with more art, music, science and math, then put them in that lab.

Six years ago I invented a cereal dispenser that had to meet many challenging criteria from the client. It had to be ergonomic, easily assembled and disassembled for cleaning, have no small moving parts, hold 2½ pounds of product in a small space, could not jam, bridge or crush the cereal and had to dispense all these cereals, no matter what the shape was.

It was sold to Kellogg and is now being distributed to universities, hotel chains and the military nationally.

All from an idea, “light bulb” flash from my little lonely two-car garage in Fox Lake.

James Winn

McHenry