A Light Hearted Look At Inventing

The old saying goes... 

"Necessity is the Mother of Invention" 

"Necessity" was too kind a name to call our previous suction system, however the offspring was an invention called the XeroStar Suction System! 

After purchasing and installing a complicated, expensive suction system, I was somewhat disappointed to find that I now owned a machine with a performance that was barely acceptable. 

Taking on a positive attitude, I used the machine for some months, feeling that the capital outlay must in some way be justified. 

The salesman assured me that no-one else had made any complaints about the product ! 

He convinced me that I was just being pedantic, after all who would want to suck lumps of amalgam from the floor of the mouth?  Certainly not the average dentist!   Breakdowns became a weekly occurrence.  Fuses blew frequently, the micro-switches were unpredictable.   Repairs were soon needed. The suction power of this machine gradually deteriorated to the point where it was as efficient as a drinking straw in a thick shake. 

Dedicated weekend cleaning sessions were required to unblock the intricate channels that were designed to trap every last particle of amalgam and tooth. 

The recently aspirated mixture now gurgled in the pipe and was reluctant to leave the premises! 

The time consuming and unpleasant cleaning process was repeated. This brought marginal but only transient improvement. The Staff offered encouraging but unconvincing words such as "it's definitely better than last week...!" 

On our busiest morning of the year, the machine suddenly stopped - which wasn't unusual, however the smell of burnt electrical offerings sent alarm signals to the wallet and elicited groans from all concerned - "not the sucker again!" An emergency call to the service technician found him on our doorstep immediately .... within days. 

He worked quickly and had a replacement ready within a  fortnight.  A hefty invoice for his efforts was already on my office desk.  If this story sounds familiar, then read on... 

Your author began muttering to himself...  "there must be a better way than this!" ... 

One day, a new vacuum cleaner was purchased for the mundane purpose of vacuuming the waiting room carpets.  Our faithful old machine had slowly died over a period of several months and was finally sent to limbo in the backyard shed. 

Impatiently I unwrapped the shiny new toy, eager to take it for a test run as is traditional with inventing types like myself.  I was startled by the kick it gave as I switched the power on, the hose actually distorted under enormous vacuum power at the end of the nozzle!  It was very unfamiliar, an instantaneous hurricane, a dangerous black hole that sucked up everything in its path!  Your author imagined "what if I was able to harness this sort of suction power and use it in the mouth!" 

The next four years were spent in experimenting and developing the suction system based on the humble household vacuum cleaner. 

What first appeared to be merely an untidy arrangement of pipes and hoses, provided a powerful suction system that continued to perform without any breakdowns or the need to call a repair person! 

Eventually your author decided that it was time to let his colleagues know about this wonderful new thing he at first called "The Wheel".
 
 

A Proverb -

"Whatever we possess becomes of double value 
           - when we share it with others."