Kid Inventors

Kid Inventors, ePals Corporation, an education media company and leading safe social learning network, and the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation are happy to announce the 15 student winners of their international K-12 Invention Challenge. Coinciding with Kid Inventors’ Day, which commemorates the January 17th birthday of inventive founding father Benjamin Franklin, today’s unveiling of winning products showcases a range of unique student inventions, including a cycle umbrella, cell phone radiation shield, portable spot cleaner, overnight pet feeder, cherry slicer, and more.

With an invitation to think, explore, sketch and create, the Invention Challenge encourages kids to discover the key steps of the invention process and a range of higher-order thinking skills from identifying a need, through researching, building, refining and marketing their products. Students were able to use up to five common household items, such as bottle caps, buttons, playing cards, sponges, tape, cardboard, and kitchen utensils in their inventions and had the option to submit final projects in video, PowerPoint or document form.

Notre Dame Academy Elementary School (Los Angeles, CA) kindergarten teacher Patricia Genovese, two of whose students were among the winners, says her students reacted “with awe and excitement” to the Invention Challenge, and adds, “What has been most rewarding is the students’ realization that they can make a difference in our world.” And teacher Rob Potter, whose four-student team of seventh graders at Cameron Street Public School (Collingwood, Ontario, Canada) invented a winning dog vacuum, says he hopes their recognition “will inspire other students throughout the school to pursue scientific excellence.”

Among the criteria ePals and Smithsonian educator-judges looked for were originality, effectiveness, creativity, and technical quality.

Tricia Edwards, Education Specialist at the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and Invention Challenge judge, says, “We were thrilled with the quality of the inventions students entered. The kids were very engaged in the process and excited about their projects.”

The Invention Challenge this year recognizes 10 winners and five runners up from around the globe and represents students in grades kindergarten through 11.

“At ePals, we’re so happy to be supporting teachers and students with opportunities such as the Invention Challenge that encourage creativity and innovation, while also reinforcing critical science and literacy skills,” says ePals Co-Founder, Tim DiScipio. “This kind of applied learning experience helps plant the seeds for important Science, Engineering, Technology and Math (STEM) skills, but is also just plain fun for the whole class.”

Magnetic Locker Wallpaper

Magnetic Locker Wallpaper, An electromagnetic lock, magnetic lock, or maglock is a locking device that consists of an electromagnet and an armature plate. By attaching the electromagnet to the door frame and the armature plate to the door, a current passing through the electromagnet attracts the armature plate, holding the door shut. Unlike an electric strike a magnetic lock has no interconnecting parts and is therefore not suitable for high security applications because it is possible to bypass the lock by disrupting the power supply. Nevertheless, the strength of today’s magnetic locks compares well with that of conventional door locks and they cost less than conventional light bulbs to operate. Power supplies incorporating a trickle-charged lead-acid battery pack can be used to retain security for short-term power outages.

Electronically controlled magnetic lock assembly
The electromagnetic lock was patented on May 2, 1989, by Arthur, Richard and David Geringer of Security Door Controls, an access control hardware manufacturing firm. The device outlined in their designs was the same in principle as the modern magnetic lock consisting of an electromagnet and an armature plate. The patent did not make any reference to the manufacturing methods of the electromagnet and detailed several variations on the design, including one that used a spring-loaded armature plate to bring the armature plate closer to the electromagnet. The patent expired on May 2, 2009.

This device was a shear magnetic lock as opposed to the original (and now ubiquitous) ‘direct pull’ electromagnetic lock and was an improvement on a 1984 patent cited in the same document.