Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Bringing A Little Light To The World™

Eric has a post up about a flashlight I'm developing. I'm not going to tell you everything about it in a public forum - yet. Let me just say that it is quite small and uses ordinary batteries. The prototype pictured below uses a standard 6 volt lantern battery case because they are low cost and have lots of room inside for doing different variations. Here is a picture Eric took of the prototype.

What I want to do next is to develop a version much closer to the final design. I also need to do more extensive testing including a more exact determination of battery life and operational temperature range. For that I'm going to need the help of a mechanical engineer and some cash. At this point I'm looking for Angels rather than investors because I have no vehicle that people can legally put money into in the hopes of a return. In fact that is one of the things that needs to be developed to make the light a commercial success. Eric and one of our commenters have been my Angels so far, so they are definitely in on the ground floor as is the First Mate who has helped me considerably by being a personal supporter of my efforts and doing a bunch of grunt work including pulling money out of her food budget when needed to make things happen.

Interested parties can leave a comment here or contact me by e-mail.

And if you are concerned about my engineering ability you can read my columns at ECN Magazine. I have done everything from commercial work to aerospace engineering with a focus on Research and Development.

6 comments:

CE said...

The difference between investors and people who help investors to get needed money for R&D, is that some inventors lack the verbal written ability to state in a concise manner:
what is different about this flashlight?
what can this flashlight do that other flashlights can't do?
Can you post just a picture of the flashlight,
and not a confusing picture of a bunch of objects?
Are the forks and essential part of the operation of the flashlight?
What does the flashlight weigh in my hand if I pick it up?
Will the forks dangle and jab me if I run with the flashlight?
Is this item an exhibit in a New York Art Gallery, or do we really want to go there?

Did you know that there is a group that made a video about how they are asking U.S. Congress for millions and millions and millions of R&D dollars and they say it will only cost them 1 Billion dollars to paint Los Angeles white so that it will be a few degrees cooler?

You know what to do for the national budget when you are thinking of asking US Congress for R&D dollars,
make marijuana legal and tax it.
The illegal drug dealers are going to sell it anyway,
and they pay no tax. Get it? Comprende?

Cris Ericson is running for United States Senator for Vermont
for the United States Marijuana Party in Vermont.
Please buy campaign t-shirts to show support for her:
http://cafepress.com/USMJP1

Cris Ericson talks about making marijuana legal on this TV Debate Aug. 1, 2012
http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/us-senate-independent-candidates

M. Simon said...

Thanks Chris.

First off your link:

Cris Ericson talks about making marijuana legal on this TV Debate Aug. 1, 2012

Second:

What you see is a picture of a prototype. I will give details to interested investors.

The most important feature (IMO) of the product is the trademark.

M. Simon said...

Chris says buy campaign t-shirts.

David Freeman said...

This seems more like a kickstarter project than full-blown investment opportunity. What's the 30-second elevator pitch?

Doug said...

"The prototype pictured below uses a standard 6 volt lantern battery case because they are low cost and have lots of room inside for doing different variations."

I recently read that lantern batteries are made of a bunch of Double A's.

With Sanyo AA rechargeables, it would keep running and running and running.

Doug said...

Reading further, apparently most lantern batteries consist of 4 F Cells.