Invention Convention

Patents recently granted to Medina County residents. Only county residents are included, although there may be additional people listed as patent grantees.

Patent for: Dual Textured Animal Food Product and Methods of Manufacture

Thereof

Number: 11,653,690

To: Daniel Ryan Cabrera

City of Residence: Wadsworth

Patent for: Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

Number: 11,653,800

To: Joseph Saunders

City of Residence: Wadsworth

Patent for: Localizing Binaural Sound to Objects

Number: 11,659,348

To: Philip Scott Lyren

City of Residence: Wadsworth

Patent for: Product Securement and Management System

Number: 11,659,943

To: Stephen N. Hardy

City of Residence: Wadsworth

Patent for: Alcohol Containing NonAntimicrobial Cleansing Composition

Number: 11,660,258

To: Amanda Jo Copeland

City of Residence: Seville

Patent for: Silica Reinforced Rubber Composition Containing a MultiFunctional Group Functionalized Elastomer and Tire With Tread

Number: 11,661,500

To: George Jim Papakonstantopoulos

City of Residence: Medina

Patent for: Processing Segments or Channels of Sound Wit HRTFS

Number: 11,665,496

To: Philip Scott Lyren

City of Residence: Wadsworth

Patent for: Canister

Number: D987,437

To: Darren Keith Robling

City of Residence: Seville

Patent for: Concrete Vibrator End Cap

Number: D987,570

To: David Clute

City of Residence: Valley City

Patent for: Regenerative Burner System and Method of Use

Number: 11,668,460

To: Thomas F. Robertson

City of Residence: Medina

Patent for: Weapon Targeting System

Number: 11,668,547

To: Philip Lyren

City of Residence: Wadsworth

by Michelle Riley

Carrots are a cool season crop and also can be planted in June.

With an average germination-to-harvest rate of 10 weeks, they are typically planted in the spring before the last hard frost.

But given the right container and environment, carrots can be grown all year long and here is how.

• Choose a pot: The container should be at least 12 inches or deeper (depending on the length of the mature carrots) and 6 inches or larger width. Make sure whatever container you use drains well.

• Choose a medium: Use a good seed starter mix that is well-draining. Some options include loose compost, peat moss blend, organic grow mix, sweet peat, and seed start blends.

• Soak your seeds in warm water for 24 hours to speed up the germination process.

• Plant your seeds: Most varieties of carrots should be planted at about ¼ inch depth and given 3- to 4-inch spacing, when planting more than one in a container

• Water: Keep the soil moist, but not waterlogged. When you first plant the seed, you will not need to add a lot of water Keep a close eye on it and water gently as needed. As the plant grows it will require more

• Feed: Once your seedlings form their first true leaves, begin to feed them approximately every two weeks with half strength or less of compost tea, fish emulsions, and organic seed fertilizer. The first set of leaves that grow on a seedling are not true leaves, they are actually considered seed leaves. The next set of leaves that form will be true leaves. These leaves are capable of photosynthesis.

• Sunlight: Provide plenty of light for the seedlings. A grow lamp may be necessary. Carrots can grow with at least six hours of direct light each day. Grab a lamp if needed, clamp lights, small shop lights, classic grow light, any style of lamp will work as long as you are using a sunlight or grow bulb.

• Harvest the carrots once they have reached maturity within eight to 10 weeks or sooner if you prefer

• Temperature: Keep carrots between 65 to 75 degrees.

by Paris Deeter

Ball pythons are by far one of the most popular snake species in captivity. They are found pretty much anywhere you look due to their easy breeding. To provide the absolute best care so your ball python thrives instead of just survives, there are certain items needed.

You will need:

• 4-foot-by-2-foot-by-2-foot (120-gallon) enclosure at minimum

That is correct. Ball pythons, regardless of size or sex, need this size enclosure. While they can survive in smaller enclosures, they cannot thrive. These snakes appreciate a cluttered enclosure because they are active and enjoy exploring their setup.

The myth that ball pythons need small enclosures started because people were not giving cluttered enough cages to their ball pythons, causing them to be stressed and hide constantly.

• A heat source

Ball pythons need both IRA and IRB light to thrive. This cannot be provided by heat mats, ceramic heat emitters or other similar heat sources, so those sources should only be used for supplemental heating. The best heat sources to use are deep heat projectors or a halogen spotlight, as these give off both IRA and IRB light.

A heat source should be connected to a thermostat for best control. It is also important to monitor the enclosure’s ambient temperatures and humidity using a hydrometer and thermometer.

• Lighting

Ball pythons require UVB to thrive. Without UVB, reptiles are at risk for metabolic bone disease. The best UVB to offer is a T5 10.0 linear UVB. It is best to avoid coil UVBs as they put out uneven amounts of UVB which can be dangerous.

• Hides and fake or live plants

Ball pythons prefer highly cluttered enclosures, which can be achieved by using fake plants, live plants, branches, and hides. They do best when they have a few hides that are tight fitting as they do like to squeeze themselves into small spaces.

• Substrate

The best substrate to use would be a mix of organic topsoil, coco fiber and children’s play sand. Do not use reptile carpets or wood shavings. It is important to ensure the enclosure is clean, so regularly remove waste in the substrate and remove it.

• Appropriately sized feeder rodents

Ball pythons eat rodents. The best feeder rodents for ball pythons are rats and African soft furs.

If you can, try to always feed thawed frozen rodents. Feeding live is unnecessarily cruel to both the snake and the rodent.

The snake can be injured or even killed by the rodent, and the rodent does not experience a very peaceful death. Unfortunately, not all ball pythons will accept frozen thawed rodents, no matter how hard you try, and these rare cases will need live rodents. It is best to dust feeder rodents with calcium and vitamin powder prior to feeding.

Ball pythons are wonderful pets, but without the correct setup, they cannot thrive and will have premature deaths. It is important to research any pet you keep and ensure that they have the proper equipment, moisture, heat, and food they need to thrive.

Paris Deeter lives in Brunswick and has raised a wide variety of critters from spiders to rats. She welcomes questions and column suggestions, which can be sent to Joy@ BlakeHousePublishing.com with “Critter Crawl” in the subject line.

by Chris Pickens

Always a classic dish, macaroni and cheese is an all-time U.S. favorite. If there are any leftovers, they freeze well, too!

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 1 1/2 cups plant milk

• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 cup cheddar cheese

• 1 cup mozzarella cheese

• 8 ounces cooked macaroni

• 1/2 cup favorite bread crumbs

• favorite pasta sauce for dipping

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt butter in pan. Slowly whisk flour into butter in pan. Slowly whisk in milk, then add 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Once everything is melted, pour over cooked macaroni. Pour mixture into cups of muffin tin. Top with remaining cheddar cheese. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 10 minutes. Remove foil, bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Scoop out mac-n-cheez bites and dip into your favorite pasta sauce. Enjoy!!

Chris Pickens, a vegan since 2016, is a certified holistic nutrition coach, a health and wellness coach, a holistic health practitioner, and a holistic health coach. To learn more about Pickens, go to https://bit.ly/3FqhEId Email her at momof4chris@gmail.com, with “The Joy of Medina Attn: Chris” in the subject line.

by Amy Barnes

It is ironic that, according to the FTC, Ring video doorbells and other video security devices, designed to help increase home security and help customers feel safer, were allegedly used for just the opposite by Ring employees.

Designed to be used as video security doorbells, as well as indoor and outdoor security cameras, Ring products enable homeowners to see what is happening on their front porches and in their homes, but, according to the Federal Trade Commission, it was not just homeowners viewing the videos.

The FTC reports that Ring, LLC, also allowed company employees and contractors to illegally access customers’ private videos and failed to stop hackers from taking control of the cameras, videos and accounts.

Ring’s video security products are for use outdoors as well as in individual indoor rooms, such as a child’s bedroom, so that, as one of their marketing taglines states, so customers can remotely “See your home. Away from home.”

According to the FTC, one Ring employee viewed thousands of video recordings belonging to female users of Ring cameras that were located in such rooms as their bedrooms and bathrooms. The employee was not stopped until another employee discovered what was happening and reported it.

Utilizing the camera’s two-way function, according to the FTC, “hackers taunted several children with racist slurs, sexually propositioned individuals, and threatened a family with physical harm if they didn’t pay a ransom.”

Hackers also can turn off security cameras and then break into a home, according to Mozilla, who also researched Ring devices and found they were vulnerable to wi-fi deauthentication attacks, which means they are easily disconnected from the internet by third parties and later reconnected without any notification to the device’s owner. Mozilla, Ring employees, and other outside security researchers warned Ring of the vulnerability and were ignored, according to Mozilla and the FTC.

As a result, Mozilla went public with the information on June 6, 2023.

The FTC is seeking to have a court approve an order that would force Ring to refund customers the mutually agreed upon amount of $5.8 million.

If approved by a federal court, Ring also would be forced to delete all data related to the allegedly illegally accessed data. The order also would require installation of safeguards against such actions happening again. Safeguards include security controls on human review of videos and multi-factor authentication for customer accounts and employees.

Ring, LLC, is based in California and was purchased by Amazon in February 2018.

by Robert Soroky

Over the last several months, we have covered the e-bike craze and the benefits of owning one.

But one aspect of e-bike purchases that sometimes gets overlooked, or could even be a roadblock to buying, is transportation.

If you own an SUV or truck, transporting an e-bike is straight forward. Just load it into the vehicle and done! Nothing more to buy.

But if you have a standard car, then a bike rack is necessary. However, it is important to note that not every rack is e-bike friendly. Let us review.

Trunk-mount style car racks require bikes to be hung by their top tubes from extendable arms. They can carry as many as three bikes, each weighing up to 35 pounds.

Most e-bikes tip the scales at around 50 to 60 pounds.

So, if the three-bike rack can carry a total weight of 105 pounds, logic would suggest that it should be able to handle two 50-pound e-bikes, right? Wrong.

The reason it cannot is because the small cradles on the extendable arms that the bikes hang from are designed to handle only 35 pounds. Anything heavier could potentially crack the cradles and the straps holding the bikes. A disaster waiting to happen. Even hitch-style racks with the extendable arm design have the same limitations.

The only real solution is the platform-style hitch rack.

With these racks, the bikes sit in wheel trays on a platform, with a bar that locks down onto the top tube or front wheel to hold the bike in place.

Since the platform part of the rack is much lower than the extendable arms of a hanging rack, the bike does not have to be lifted as high to mount it.

This is an awesome feature even if you have just regular bikes.

The biggest bonus with platform racks, though, is that there are versions specifically designed to carry non-traditional bikes, like fat tire and e-bikes, and can handle weights up to 60 pounds per tray.

Many e-bike-rated racks even have integrated or separately attachable ramps so the bike can be rolled right up on the platform.

Since not all racks are created equal, be sure to research whatever brand you are looking at to confirm they have e-bike rated racks in their lineup.

Robert Soroky is a lifelong cyclist who regularly participates in long-distance charity rides and is the manager of the Century Cycles Medina location. To learn more about Soroky, go to https://bit.ly/3Vof7DX Contact Soroky at robert@ centurycycles.com to suggest column topics, for further information or to chat about bikes. T

by Kelly Bailey

Sorry, gone trekking to Tuscany! Check back next month!

A certified personal trainer and certified holistic nutrition coach, Kelly Bailey owns and operates Kelly Bailey Wellness. Find her blog, visit the Food Freedom page, and contact her at https://www.kellybailey.fit/ Learn more about Bailey at https://bit.ly/3B9HkGm Following any recommendations are solely at your discretion and responsibility. Consult your medical professional prior to undertaking any suggested diet, lifestyle or exercise change or routine.

by Jerry King

“I get the feeling this is going to be a long flight.”

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