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April and May 2005 Issue
Contents:
Letter From Lindy - Everyone's
Invited to the Fiesta!
The Lemelson Center: Illustrating
the Importance of Scientific Creativity and Invention
Certified Transmission, Geared For
Success
ConAgra Foods, Inc., April
Sponsor of the Month
Welcome Fund, Giving Everyone A Childhood
Give to Omaha Children's Museum through the Wishlist
Letter From Lindy - Everyone's
Invited to the Fiesta!
.gif) A
fiesta, a time of joyous celebration, a festival of delight,
is coming to Omaha Children’s Museum Saturday, May
7. This year’s 26th annual “For The Kids” Benefit
will be spicy hot as our Rainbow Connector’s Guild
plans a party to help raise funds to support Omaha Children’s
Museum.
Every spring, a group of dedicated volunteers
wrap up a year’s worth of work when they present the “For
the Kids” Benefit. Last year, over 600 tickets were
sold to this fabulous celebration and $200,000 was raised
to support the exhibits and programs of the children’s
museum. This year the talented team of Laura Doll, Jill Goldstein
and Kathy Neary have vowed to break those records and generate
an even bigger buzz in the community. Assisted by our generous
and awesome Honorary Chairs, the Nelson Family (John and
Anne Nelson and John and Susie Nelson), we are confident
in the success that this year’s “For the Kid’s
Benefit” will bring and grateful for the time and energy
they have all put into making this event a record-breaking
success.
There isn’t a program or exhibit that could happen
without the support of our hard-working and dedicated Rainbow
Connectors Guild. Did you enjoy the Cobweb Castle last October?
All of the funds used to build the Cobweb Castle were generated
by our 2004 Benefit funds. For those of you who visited Invention
at Play or plan to visit our next traveling exhibit, Five
Friends From Japan, it is because of the efforts of the 2004
For the Kid’s Benefit that the museum was able to bring
those exhibits to Omaha. Our popular outreach, Discovery
Ports, was also created in part by the use of these proceeds.
The list goes on.
I am incredibly grateful to this group of
talented women, whose passion is to make your Omaha Children’s Museum
the best it can possibly be. You can show your support of
the efforts of the guild by attending our Bunch-a-Lunch programs
on Tuesdays or by calling now to reserve your seat at this
year’s Spicy Hot “For the Kids” Benefit.
It’s going to be hot, hot, hot!
Lindy J. Hoyer
Executive Director
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 The Lemelson Center: Illustrating the Importance of Scientific
Creativity and Invention
For those Omaha Children’s Museum
visitors that have already experienced the excitement of
Invention at Play,
the Lemelson Center might sound familiar but the history
and the inspirational story behind the construction and
mission of this center might appear to be somewhat ambiguous.
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation is part of the
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Founded in 1995
by the late inventor Jerome Lemelson and his family, the center encourages inventive
creativity in young people. It explores invention and innovation through the
use of outreach programs, exhibits and research opportunities.
Jerome Lemelson, created various inventions which we still use today. From bar
code readers, cassette players and cordless phones to crying baby dolls, he demonstrated
an immense amount of creative versatility. In 1951 Lemelson invented one his
favorite creations, a robot with machine vision. This breakthrough invention
used computers to analyze digital images from video cameras. Along with Lemelson’s
interest in industrial machinery he also created patents for various toy and
novelty items. In October 1953 he licensed his first invention, a wheeled toy
to the Ideal Toy Company.
Although Lemelson’s successful inventions made him a multimillionaire,
his success did not come easy. Over time he fell victim to the hardships of rejection,
patent infringement and financial difficulty. Because he could not afford to
hire a patent attorney, he wrote the applications himself, including the research
and the legal work.
In a past interview with Kenneth Brown, author of Inventors at Work, Jerome stated, "In
the beginning, I wanted to manufacture certain ideas I had in the toy and hobby
field and become financially independent. After that, I planned to get my own
lab and machine shop and develop my ideas further. I made several efforts to
get into manufacturing, and they weren't very successful. I was working on a
shoestring, and the money I had wasn't enough to carry me through. . . . It wasn't
until my last failure in business that I realized I should become a professional
inventor and spend most of my time at it."
Lemelson’s first encounter with patent infringement involved Lemelson’s
idea of a cut-out face mask located on cereal boxes. Lemelson filed a patent
and presented it to a major cereal manufacturer. The company rejected his idea
however three years later Lemelson was shocked when he witnessed his idea throughout
grocery stores’ cereal isles. Outraged Lemelson presented this case in
court but the case was dismissed on an appeal. This was the first court appearance
but not the last for Lemelson. Over the years he spent 20 percent of his time
defending his patents or paying huge legal fees. This was not only time consuming
but also financially consuming. With financial support from his wife’s
income, Lemelson was able to continue pursuing his passion to invent and make
ends meet well into the mid-1960’s. In the late 1960’s Lemelson set
up Licensing Management Corporation, a company that allowed him to market his
patents and those of a few other inventors. It is during this time when Lemelson
began to establish some success with patent licensing. Although in the coming
years he encountered a few more obstacles dealing with patents, his drive and
passion carried him through and in 1975 he was appointed to the Patent and Trademark
Office Advisory Committee. This appointment successfully aided in Lemelson’s
goal to change the legality in dealing with patents.
Even though Lemelson spent a lot of time concentrating on his work he did not
resemble the stereotypical sheltered scientist. He enjoyed the company of his
wife, children and friends. He also enjoyed educating and encouraging others
to pursue invention and innovation. His passion to inspire others led him and
his family to create a highly successful philanthropy organization known as the
Lemelson Foundation. This foundation strives to inspire and encourage recognition
of inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs and their work.
On October 1, 1997 Jerome Lemelson died. His legacy, however, has
not
been
forgotten.
Throughout his life, Lemelson’s hard work earned him more than five hundred
patents and numerous awards and honors.
In 2003 the American Association of Museums awarded Invention at Play, one of
the Lemelson Center’s traveling exhibitions, the 2003 Excellence in Exhibition
Award. This award was one of only five issued nationally. Along with this honor,
Invention at Play also received a separate MUSE Gold Award for its companion
website, inventionatplay.org. This award winning traveling exhibition was developed
by the Lemelson Center, in partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Through a combination of artifacts and interactive experience it encompasses
the views of the children’s museums throughout the country by encouraging
young people to discover inventors, innovators and the playful side of invention.
Omaha Children’s Museum recognizes the importance of engaging young people
in imagination and to create an excitement about learning and is proud to house
the Invention at Play exhibition ending on May 1, 2005. In addition to the artifacts,
case studies of inventors, videos and the large-scale invention interactives,
Omaha Children’s Museum offers two other exhibit pieces from Certified
Transmission and Ballantyne of Omaha. These local additions act as extra outlets
for visitors of all ages to enjoy the creativity and excitement behind science
and technology.
Resources: http://invention.smithsonian.org/about/about_bio_jerome.aspx
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Certified Transmission, Geared for
Success
Transmissions and gear ratios may not get everyone’s
engines revving, but it can sure make a great hands-on
exhibit.
That’s what children have discovered at Omaha Children’s Museum.
Alongside the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit Invention at Play, Certified
Transmission has created its own interactive tribute to innovation.
Long before the Invention at Play came to town, Certified’s founder, Peter
Fink, was inventing his own industry of transmission remanufacturing in an old
Omaha service station. Today, Certified Transmission has thirteen repair centers
in four states and two state-of-the-art centralized remanufacturing plants, making
it one of the largest independent remanufactured transmissions repair and remanufacturing
facilities in the country. With the help of its 275 employees, Certified Transmission’s
sells over 250,000 transmissions each year, 97.5 percent of which are considered
perfect. Along with these high quality transmissions, Certified Transmission
also keeps approximately $1.5 million in parts on hand to guarantee a quick
turn over and next day service.
Over the years Certified Transmissions’ efforts have been recognized for
its quality services and products, ethical workmanship and entrepreneurial spark.
In 1994 it was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” for the Midwest Region
by Inc. Magazine, recognized seven times as one of the 25 fastest growing businesses
in Omaha and granted the National Ethics Award in Washington. D.C. In 1995 and
1996 Certified Transmission won the Better Business Bureau’s Integrity
Award. At the time, it was the only company in the automotive industry to have
been granted this honor.
Certified Transmission is also the only company in the automotive industry to
have an exhibit piece on display at the museum. The piece allows children to
launch a car down a racetrack through the correct turning of certain gears.
“ Just as transmissions are the gears essential for moving an automobile,
so, too, are the gears of the exhibit the catalyst for starting the cars down
the tracks,” said Christian M. Burk, director of marketing and public relations. “We
hope it get kids’ own gears moving about science and innovation.”
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ConAgra Food, Inc.
April Sponsor of the Month
ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America’s largest packaged
food companies, serving consumer grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and
other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include:
ACT II, Armour, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Brown ’N Serve, Butterball, Chef
Boyardee, Cook’s, Crunch ’n Munch, DAVID, Decker, Eckrich, Egg Beaters,
Fleischmann’s, Gulden’s, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s,
Kid Cuisine, Knott’s Berry Farm, La Choy, Lamb Weston, Libby’s, Lightlife,
Louis Kemp, Lunch Makers, MaMa Rosa’s, Manwich, Marie Callender’s,
Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, Parkay, Pemmican, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Rosarita,
Ro*Tel, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp’s, Wesson, Wolf, and
many others. For more information, visit www.conagrafoods.com.
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Welcome Fund, Giving
Everyone A Childhood
By Hillary Nather, Dir. of Development
Currently,
the Museum has welcomed over 473 members to the Museum through
the Welcome Fund program. The Welcome Fund program is a 100%
donor-supported fund designed for the purpose of sharing
the museum experience with families and children who may
not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy our program and
exhibits due to financial restrictions (low-income families).
The Welcome Fund is open to the public. OCM also works with
a variety of designated “Title One” elementary
schools and social service non-profit organizations to ensure
that the program’s funds are reaching a broad audience
of those in need.
Please show your support of OCM and the Welcome Fund by
returning the appeal enclosed in your newsletter. For more
information regarding the Welcome Fund, please contact Hillary
Nather-Detisch, Director of Development at (402) 342-6164,
X418 or hnather@ocm.org.
Give to Omaha Children's Museum
through the Wishlist
By Hillary Nather, Dir. of Development
Omaha Children’s Wish List
You can help support Omaha Children’s Museum in many different ways. OCM understands
that not everyone has the financial means to sponsor an exhibit or program, but
we are need of many smaller, necessary items such as books, office products and
tools to help us in our daily operations. Please click here to
visit our wishliist. For questions concerning the wish list, please contact Hillary
Nather-Detisch,
Director
of
Development,
at (402) 342-6164, X418 or hnather@ocm.org.
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