"If necessity is the mother of invention, the Sisters of Invention decided they'd found one innovation that mother had overlooked — a safety alarm to lessen the chances of babies being left in cars.
The "sisters" in question are three good friends from Central Kentucky. "We're sisters by choice, not birth," explained Sally Trimmer, speaking of herself, Lisa Sheehy, and Angie Caporelli.
In the summer of 2005, the three friends began the long road from a novel idea to a finished product. They are still traveling that road and still working at their previous, full-time jobs. Lisa Sheehy has an equine marketing and advertising sales firm. Angie Caporelli works for the Kentucky Department of Aquaculture. Sally Trimmer owns Sally Advertising, but because her schedule and being that she is the most flexible of the three principals, she became the day to day contact person for the new company.
As so often happens, the idea for the product grew out of a group conversation. Someone mentioned the recent death of a local baby who had been left in a soon-overheated car. The consensus was that "somebody ought to come up with something that would keep that from happening." The three friends decided to do some investigating into the situation.
When they looked online, they soon realized, Trimmer said, that "nobody had done anything." With no suitable product already on the market, the Sisters of Invention took two major steps: they each put up some of their own funds and they hired an engineering firm, Superior Electronics in Tampa, Fla.
The engineers, who work in aeronautics and electronics, were noncommittal at best. They weren't used to dealing with either consumer products or with people who knew only what they wanted, but had no technical knowledge of how to produce it. But by late October, they came up with a prototype of the safety alarm system.
Since then, the Sisters of Invention have formalized their company as an LLC, made three trips to consult with the engineers, filed for a patent disclosure, spent about $250,000, and conducted extensive marketing research. Nurses and visitors at the St. Joseph East Maternity Fair and customers at Babies 'R' Us responded favorably to a PowerPoint demonstration of the product and made suggestions, too. Trimmer added that "over 93 percent said they would buy it."
Promising as this product is, some people might think it will give buyers a false sense of security. Trimmer said, "Obviously that is not our goal. People still have to be responsible for their own children." She added, "Our product will help educate people. It will remind them that it's never okay to leave a baby in a car."
Getting any new invention to market requires sufficient funding, so many inventors present their ideas to prospective investors. Dean Harvey, director of UK's Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship, which also serves as the Lexington Innovation and Commercialization Center, invited the Sisters of Invention to make a presentation to the Lexington Venture Club on July 26. Were they nervous? "Of course," Trimmer said, but also pleased when they were met with "a lot of interest and many questions."
The most important part of their presentation was a five-minute video produced by Post Time Video (see separate article about Post Time on front page). The video showed a real mother and her baby demonstrating the alarm system. Potential investors could see exactly how the product would work.
The baby seat safety alarm consists of two parts: a 3-inch by 6-inch pad that fits under the cushion of the car seat, and a key ring with two sensors, activated when the baby is placed into the car seat. The distance sensor sounds an alarm if a person gets out of the car and leaves the baby inside. The temperature sensor reacts if the car's temperature is too hot for a baby, even if another person remains in the car.
The engineers have promised to deliver the final prototype of the system by December 31. They will do extensive testing of the electronic components before sending the system on to an independent lab, and the National Highway Safety Products Commission for more testing. Spinoffs, such as car alarms for pets, have been discussed, but for now the Sisters of Invention are focusing only on their baby car seat safety alarm system. It should be available for sale to customers just before summer 2007.
The road from idea to finished product has brought the Sisters of Invention into contact with many people. Trimmer ticked off some names: Dean Harvey, the maternity nurses at St. Joseph East, the store manager at Babies 'R' Us, the Kentucky Science and Technology people, the Sisters' advisory board members. Maybe it's because they set out to create a product that would help babies, but almost everyone they talked to, Trimmer said, "has been fabulously supportive."