Viola! This sparked his idea for what eventually became the Java Log, a one-of-a-kind artificial fireplace log. Months later, Sprules felt inspired to mix dried, recycled coffee grounds with some wax, and he lit the mixture. The topic was preparation of great-tasting coffee, not home heating, but Sprules jotted a note in his "idea book." The article explained how ground coffee beans burn with surprisingly intense heat.
Rod Sprules of Ottawa, Ontario, was a thirty-something mechanical engineer during the mid-1990s when he spotted a short magazine article about coffee, according to. Nonetheless, Ron Popeil was already a multimillionaire four years ago when he sold Ronco for another cool $55 million. GLH-9 Hair in a Can Spray didn't get far neither did the container-opening Cap Snaffler. Microphone, the Smokeless Ash Tray, and finally, the Showtime Rotisserie ("set it and forget it"). Through the years came products such as the Pocket Fisherman ("biggest fishing invention since the hook"), Mr. Ron Popeil wasn't a man with just one million-dollar idea.
Through telemarketing, Chop/Veg-O-Matic went on to sell millions at an original price of $3.98. However, salesmen had trouble carrying enough veggies for demonstrations, so charismatic young Ron Popeil hosted a videotape demonstration. Ron Popiel's father, Samuel Popiel, was marketing the Chop-O-Matic (forerunner of the Veg-O-Matic) door-to-door in New York City during the 1950s. Scores of inventors have capitalized their million-dollar ideas via the TV infomercial, and the pioneer is Ron Popeil of the ubiquitous Ronco Inc. More than 250 million units later, everyone still knows the Slinky. The couple produced 400 units and took them to a Gimbel's department store to sell for $1 each during the postwar Christmas season of 1945. His wife, Betty, came up with the term "Slinky," Swedish for sleek and sinuous. He spent two years testing various gauges of steel, according to the Lemelson-MIT Program Web site, striving to find the ideal material and length that would cause his coil to march down one stairway step to the next. Normally, this would have been simply another moment in time, but James apparently was a child at heart, because he immediately saw the idea for a toy. He observed a torsion spring coil fall from a workshop table and take several "steps" before coming to a stop. Richard James of Philadelphia was doing his World War II duty on the home front in 1943 as a Navy tool worker in Philadelphia. According to Public Libraries of Saginaw archives, the Stengleins and the McDonalds in 1945 sold Spic and Span to Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati for $1.9 million. The two couples started experimenting with various combinations until they came up with a no-rinse, no-wipe mix of three elements: sodium phosphate for deep cleaning powdered glue to absorb the scum and sodium carbonate to prevent the glue from hardening, and to remove the odor.ĭoor-to-door peddling in Saginaw evolved into local, regional and eventually nationwide sales. This produced clean results, except the whole house stank. The second pass of clear hot water produced streaks, so yet a third dry wipe was required.Įlizabeth McDonald noticed that a relative had melted some paste glue into the wash water. The first pass with soapy water imparted scum. One day the women were talking about the drudgery of washing walls. Harold and Naomi Stenglein, together with Glenn and Elizabeth McDonald, wondered how they possibly could make ends meet.
They realized that no matter how dire poverty may become, families still needed to clean their houses. The problem with economic hard times is that even if an inventor comes up with a million-dollar idea, who's going to buy it? A foursome in Saginaw, Mich., addressed this dilemma during the beginning of the Great Depression in 1930. Here's a small sampling of million-dollar ideas, past and present. Still, this doesn't rule out simple hands-on ingenuity for becoming a self-made millionaire. Many of the big million-dollar (or billion-dollar) ideas of this generation are related to technology, from Apple and Microsoft to Google, from MySpace and YouTube to Facebook. Many Americans are fascinated with the concept of the "million-dollar idea." They dream that one day they will become self-made millionaires with the help of a special idea developed in their basements or garages.
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