A paper airplane origami puzzle is Ken Shelton’s latest nvention. Photo by Sam Arendt
By CAROL POMEDAY Ozaukee Press staff Posted 1-9-2008 on Ozaukee Press Website for one week.
Ken Shelton of Grafton plays with paper airplanes. More precisely, he plays with ways to market paper airplane origami puzzles he has patented.
Shelton has dozens of airplanes that can fly 100 feet or more, depending on how they are thrown. When folded correctly, they look like robots, pandas or koala bears.
“A child can solve the puzzle in one to two hours. Parents will take at least four or five hours,” Shelton said. “But once you learn to fold the airplane, it doesn’t mean you have the answer. There are a couple of folds you have to make that aren’t in the instructions.
“When you see a kid working on it, you can see the mind working.”
He has a Web site that shows kids flying the planes and how to order them. He even has the answers to each airplane puzzle on-line and offers discounts for businesses and fund-raisers, but he hasn’t figured out how to get people to his Web site or the product into retail stores.
Shelton’s brother John, who lives in Brown Deer, has invented a musical instrument that combines a dulcimer and a bass guitar. He has a patent on the fretless stringed instrument he calls the Bassimer that can be played on the lap or in classical guitar style.
Musicians are entranced with the instrument when they hear it and learn to play it, John said. He’s hoping a top musician will play it and create a market for it.
The inventor brothers are experiencing a common frustration — how to get the public to see what ingenious items they have created.
A third brother has invented carpentry tools for his business. Unlike his brothers, he doesn’t want to market them. They just make his job easier.
The brothers have always made things.
In 1969, Ken built a perpetual motion machine that took first place in the Marquette University science fair.
“Our father was very creative. If he needed something, he made it,” Ken said. “He taught us to be creative and use tools.”
When Ken’s wife was killed in a car accident in 2003, his life suddenly changed and it made him realize he shouldn’t wait to pursue his dreams.
“You step back and look at your life and ask, ‘What’s happening?’” Ken said. “I went back to school to where I always wanted to go, which is Milwaukee School of Engineering.”
He was providing technical computer support at Northwestern Insurance Co. in Milwaukee at the time and is now a freelance computer engineer.
The origami paper airplane puzzle originated in an entrepreneurship class in which he had to develop a business plan for a new product that had a picture on it.
“I’ve had the paper airplane since I was a kid, but the idea to have the hidden images and great artwork is new,” Ken said.
He got an A on the project and decided to test his business plan when he graduated in 2006. He became a self-employed computer scientist so he could devote more time to developing his product and Web site.
He has four airplanes — a robot soccer player, koala bears, panda bear and bugs. He also has artwork for dragonflies, flowers and robots playing other sports.
Ken held a contest for the artwork. A high school student designed the robot sports figures.
He realizes he is becoming a bit obsessed with his airplanes and tries to put his dream into perspective as he searches for ways to get the product into retail stores.
John, a computer engineer who used to play the guitar in bands, has been making instruments for years in a woodworking shop in Thiensville that he shares with a friend. He’s made 18 guitars.
At a furniture shop in Kentucky, John met a musician who made a dulcimer out of walnut that had four colors and a streak of blue in the wood.
“He found it (the walnut) that way and made it into a musical instrument,” John said. “I couldn’t afford to buy it and decided to make it.
“I really am a guitar player and decided to make a dulcimer I could play like a guitar, and it just came to me to put an octave on one of the strings. Because the strings are so long, the sound lasts a long time.”
There are five strings on the 30-inch neck with the fourth string an octave. A sustainer can be activated that takes the sound of the strings and sends it back, causing it to vibrate.
“The problem for a guitarist is you can’t just pick it up and play it,” John said. “But they’re intrigued with the sounds it can make. You don’t understand how full it sounds until you hear it.”
John has spent thousands of dollars on parts and made six instruments, two with sustainers.
The instrument he likes best is made of rare tropical woods with a walnut neck that would sell for about $1,000. A painted instrument would cost about $600.
John is involved in the nonprofit Guitars for Vets program, which provides guitars for veterans at the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Administration Center in Wood.
He is also a songwriter and has a recording studio in his home. His music and videos are available on his Web site.
“It’s pretty much free music to anyone who wants to listen,” he said.
The brothers are working with patent attorney Jill Welytok, who coordinates the Ozaukee Northshore Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club, which meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Frank L. Weyenberg Library in Mequon.
The club’s Web site has provided contacts for the brothers.
Information on Ken’s paper airplane origami puzzle is on the Web site www.toddsshopboard.com.
Information on the Bassimer is on the Web site www.bassimer.com.
Todd's Origami Paper Airplane Puzzler™
Benefits: Challenge Friends & Family!
Brain Teasers! Created to fly! Get Airborne!
Features: Puzzle Art! Mental Challenge! Group Activity! Clean Family Fun!
.gif)
