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A colorful inventor

One of his biggest ideas is to help others develop, patent and sell their creations.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published October 13, 2006

Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, earning one of the most successful patents in history. The Wright brothers created the first airplanes, changing the way we travel forever. Charles Goodyear created the first durable rubber tires after experimenting with a lesser-quality rubber.

John Blue once experimented with rubber as well, and the result was something called Grabb-Backs, a no-slip replacement clutch in case you lose your earring backs. That was 16 years ago and the first of several contributions to the world.

Among his inventions: the Toochoo, a chewable toothpaste tablet, and ZignZ, a T-shirt that features interchangeable advertising signs for the front and back.

At 64, an age when many contemplate retirement, Blue is waiting for his product breakthrough. He estimates he has spent between $150,000 and $200,000, much of it his, developing and patenting and promoting inventions over the past 16 years. Most of them sit as idle prototypes in his University area apartment.

A game called Air Ball, the latest invention, uses a foam ball and paddles for a cross between badminton, basketball and volleyball.

Could this be the jackpot winner?

No biggie. There's more where that came from. In the meantime, the holder of seven U.S. patents and 38 Florida service or trade marks hopes his experience as a seasoned inventor might help other inventors with big ideas.

"There's a learning curve to this stuff that I think every inventor should know," says the founder of Tampa Inventors Club. "I'm helpful. I like helping people. And if I can make a dollar doing it, even better."

Blue's venture as an inventor's agent might be his best idea yet. There's a reason inventors tend to turn to other inventors for help. They are different from other people, as history has proved over and over.

How different? Well, take Blue, who lives with his golden retriever, Jilly, in a Campus Walk apartment off 42nd Street and Fletcher Avenue. He drives a 1978 Pontiac Catalina with racing stripes and Jackson Pollock-style paint splatters. He pays the bills by collecting and selling movie posters on eBay, as well as his services to other inventors who need help patenting or marketing their products. He seems to have a fascination with teeth, as many of his inventions have to do with improving toothpaste and toothbrushes.

In between attending business network meetings and other inventor's clubs, Blue perfects his Air Ball game, which he hopes to pitch to Hoop It Up, a 3-on-3 basketball event that travels around the country. He has been in front of Home Shopping Network, Amway and Nu Skin with his health and dental hygiene products, though he never actually made it into the programming or catalogs. He keeps prototypes of his glow-in-the-dark toothbrush splash guards and an exercise mat with lumbar and head cushions, just in case he needs to show them to someone.

The former fitness center owner sleeps on the floor for health reasons and recharges himself with apple cider vinegar and a special sound frequency machine designed to destroy viruses and bacteria in the body. He is not married - was widowed long ago, then remarried and divorced - but talks every week to his daughter, who is married with children in New Zealand.

Blue is the first one to admit that, yeah, he's a little strange. "I'm a character," he said.

But what inventor isn't? Bell was a noted eccentric, as was Goodyear, who was constantly ridiculed for his life's work in rubber compounds until his death as a 59-year-old poor man. Blue might be quirky, but like other inventors, he can't pry himself from the hope and optimism that come with each oddball idea.

Next to Blue's small kitchen in his apartment, a 6-foot poster hangs on a stand where a dining room table should be. It's a huge portrait of Thomas Edison, with a reminder:

"On the 10,000th try, there was light."

* * *

A recent search on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site showed 2,045 patents held by Tampa inventors. The ideas range from a self-watering pot to a toilet paper roll antitheft system to a method of isolating stem cells.

It costs $500 to file for a patent. But adding the cost and work involved in researching other patents to make sure one doesn't already exist, then adding attorney fees on top of that to make sure everything is done right, can amount to thousands of dollars in the end.

Mike Corbett, 48, of Dover, spent more than a decade working on a new fuel-conserving power system for cars and small trucks. It was the patent application, though, that was a "long, grueling process," he said.

"The hardest part was searching for other inventions," which must be noted in the application, he said. He hired Blue, whom he met a couple of years ago at a local inventors meeting, to help him research. "You spend literally hours searching, and so did John."

Corbett's first application was rejected by the patent office, which claimed the power system was not unique. "We had to send a letter back saying, 'No, what you're seeing is not similar,'" Corbett said. And the process continues.

Overall, Corbett has spent about $3,000 to $4,000 on the whole ordeal. He thinks he would have spent more if he had hired a patent attorney, rather than using Blue's help.

Blue doesn't claim to be an attorney, nor does he act as one. But he has become so familiar with the patent office procedures, he could practically do this stuff in his sleep. He has even sold his advice for $1.49 on eBay, offering to e-mail step-by-step instructions on how to do patent searches online.

"I think that, like most inventors, John has a different way of looking at things," Corbett said.

* * *

Blue hasn't given up on his box of 12 toothpaste flavors or his mouse pad with wrist and forearm support. He has made variations of Air Ball and invited kids to try out the prototypes. He has faith in his sound frequency machine and plans to use it on Jilly if she ever gets cancer.

His latest focus, however, is on other people's ideas. The next Ionic Breeze or iPod is out there just waiting to be developed, patented and sold, and Blue wants to be there to help. He knows all about patents, trademarks and making pitches to Home Shopping Network. He has done hours upon hours of patent searches and other homework, like calling the Drug Enforcement Agency to make sure it's okay for him to have a tablet-making machine for his chewable toothpaste.

He wants to offer his resources to others with good ideas. All he asks is a small fee or a percentage of the profits, should one of his clients reach success.

"Inventors Helping Inventors," is the slogan on his business card.

Blue owns the Florida trademark to protect this phrase, just in case someone steals his idea.

Emily Nipps can be reached at 813 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 08:16:40]