Ideas I Really Wish I'd Had

One of the 10 Commandments translates into something like "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:17) I have always suspected that the real intent of this particular 'law' was to caution people away from the dark risks that are a part of any type of coveting at all. Wanting, yearning for, plotting to acquire or just drooling over anything that belongs to anyone else is probably not such a good thing. But I plead guilty. I covet some ideas had by others that I wish had been my own. Yes, I am a sinner.

The paper clip, a rudimentary and ubiquitous object found in literally every office and most homes in the world, is an item first developed and patented by Samuel B. Fay in 1867. He made a lot of money on it as did several other developers of essentially the same basic idea. Bend a piece of wire so as to be able to attach papers, labels or other thin things together without mutilating or perforating them. The royalties and residuals from the continuing manufacture of paper clips are still paid to the descendants of the inventors - all of whom live quite well. I sure wish that I had thought of that.

How about Post-Its? Developed and patented by an Arthur Fry (Fay/Fry: coincidence?) in 1974 literally revolutionized the activity of brief notations on documents or objects - making them easily visible without permanently disfiguring the noted object or document. The light adhesive on the back was the key. I have worked in offices for nearly 40 years. I sure wish I had thought of that one. I'd be a rich man today.

The common zipper was originally developed as an alternative to buttons on shoes. It went through several advances and incarnations before becoming the sliding zipper so commonly a part of out clothing today. Along the way, at least several people became extremely rich and at least two companies increased their share value exponentially when they introduced the technology on their products. I think I might have been able to think of that if I were alive at the time.

The man who invented the computer mouse developed originally by Douglas Englebart at Stanford and later improved and popularly promoted by Bill English at Xerox made no one rich - Xerox holds the patent as do all companies whose employees develop new ideas while on their payroll. Still, it is quite an accomplishment to have designed an item so necessary and usable by most computer users in the world. I think I could have thought of that. WWW. Wickipedia.com can give you information on these and hundreds of other 'common' items that did not always exist.

Of course, I am just kidding myself. Hindsight being what it is, it is always easy to think of things that have already been thought of. And while the first time an idea occurs to us, it is genuinely 'new,' that does not mean that we are the first one's to have the thought. I understand that in the several years immediately following the patenting of the Velcro fastener system was patented, at least two dozen patent applications for the exact same device were received by the US Patent Office. New to us does not equal new to all.

I remain, none-the-less, envious. I can think of simple things - sometimes even complex ones. But ideas come and go quickly, often with no real energy applied to working at actualizing the, I believe that this is the more common experience and the one that separates people with ideas from actual inventors. The idea is simply not sufficient. For a patent, one needs to submit diagrams and detailed schematics illustrating how the device is made and functions. Most of us stop thinking about things before we get that far.

So sin though it may be, I covet the fine - albeit simple ideas that have changed the world in small and large ways. Perhaps what I really covet is the motivation, drive and skills needed to turn a reasonable idea into an actual object.