prepared to leave, he warned Grandpa to slow down. It seemed a logical step for this student inventor to devise a radar detector-shaped electronic box for the dashboard. When stopped for speeding, Grandpa can now push a button that generates a radio signal to call the cop somewhere else. Plaque-be-Gone The bathroom represents a hotbed of opportunities. Toothbrushes are particular targets. A second-grader decided to use “little pieces of soap in the bristles” for a better cleaning job than she could obtain from mere toothpaste. For the eventuality that “you get an important phone call,” a fifth-grader added a cell phone to a toothbrush and hairbrush combination. One fifth-grader suggested a “Drive-Thru Dentist.” After the dentist finishes working on a patient in the car at a first window, “he pulls in toward the second window to pay.” Wake-Up Calls One of the problems that seems universal among children and regular people is waking up in the morning. The Invention Convention receives a significant number of alarm clocks and wake up machines each year. One invention featured a progressively louder audio recording repeating, “get up, Get Up, GET UP!” Another alarm clock featured selectable, customized messages at 15-second intervals. Another included a nagging voice. The gentlest alarm clock, however, included a mother’s loving audio message to get the heck out of the bed. Some alarm clock inventions reflected a violent tendency among the inventors. A gloved hand was described to emerge at a high rate of speed from an alarm clock to “punch you in the eye” or “smack you in the face,” apparently striking the sleeper into consciousness. A variation directed a mechanical hand to tickle the sleeper awake. If a punching, smacking, or tickling hand failed to work, a sixth-grader thought he had just the solution: a machine that “splashes cold water . . . onto my face.” In fact, a number of disclosures squirted or threw water—always cold—to accomplish the wake up task. A sixth-grader invented a “Runaway Alarm” that
squirted water and, with the help of a motion sensor, quickly moved away from the waking person who attempted to shut it off. A second-grader created a very scary robot to forcibly “pull you out of bed.” With invention titles like, “Shaker-Waker,” “The Lift, Turn, and Tip,” “The Tumble Alarm,” and “Rock-Awake,” you can easily imagine the inventive processes to “shake and wake you up.” But an eighth-grader compassionately stated one side of the bed was to be tipped “gently . . . at 3 miles per hour so there are no broken bones.” A thoughtful second-grader devised a machine that would pinch and punch, but also “show a ‘hallogram’ of mice” to rouse his father in time to take the student to school. A fourth-grader focused sunlight into a sleeper’s shut eyes, while a less subtle second-grader used a trumpet to do the job. A fifth-grader invented a robot that first “brushes
your teeth, combs your hair, gets you dressed” before actually wakening the sleeper. An eighth-grader combined electrical paddles and a timer to create “the ultimate alarm clock.” The disclosure is titled, “Defibrillator Alarm Clock,” and the inventor promised “nothing worse will happen to you all day.” Scents and Sensibility A number of our young participants understandably are involved with food and other substances that have or should have flavors and scents. For example, a third-grader believed that bug sprays used at picnics should be tasty and edible, while still being effective bug repellants. She suggested flavors like “cherry squirt, chocolate mist, and salsa spray.” A sixth-grader also objected to an odor. He thought gasoline could be improved by adding
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