Bio-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 8, 1990
LORIN BEIDLER
Special Correspondent
LITITZ (Lancaster Co.) “I
didn’t like to make my bed,” says
Trevor Styer, a second grader at
Kissel Hill Elementary in Lititz.
And what kid does?
So Trevor did something about
it. He invented the “Cover Winder”
(patents not necessarily pending).
The contraption features a spring
loaded winder (a window blind in a
previous incarnation) with a typi
cal bed sheet attached. Rather than
Matthew Bomberger, Michael Murphy and Trevor Styer display the ribbons they
won In the recent Invention fair held by Mrs. Hopper’s second grade class.
New Inventions Introduced By Kids
spreading the covers out nicely and
tucking them in, as on a conven
tional bed, with the “Cover Win
der” one simply gives a little tug
and the sheets roll up nicely at the
bottom of the bed, all ready to be
pulled out again come evening.
Trevor’s clever device was good
enough for third place in Mrs.
Jeanne Hopper’s class’ invention
fair and competition.
Hopper explains that as part of
the project, each student is
assigned to “think of a problem,
then invent a solution to the prob
lem in a way they can create and
make it themselves.”
The inventions are then put on
display and voted on by other
teachers and school administrators.
While every student receives some
sort of award, special recognition
is given for the top three inventions
at a special ceremony for.parents
(and the press of course).
Elisa Wolf objected to her den
tist’s gloves. “Dentist gloves just
don’t taste good,” she said. By
Michael Murphy explains how his automatic cat feeder
works.
treating typical rubber gloves with
cherry mouthwash she was able to
solve that problem.
Celina Troutman was tired of
her glasses getting splattered when
she went out in the rain. The solu
tion to her problem was a special
rain visor, made from a cutaway
plastic picnic plate and a piece of
elastic.
Michael Murphy took second
place in the competition with his
“Automatic Cat Feeder.” The
device exploits cats’ natural cur
iosity with string. When a cat pulls
on a piece of string, a smalt trap
door in the bottom of a plastic con
tainer mounted on top of an ordin
ary cardboard box is opened and a
small amount of cat food is
dispensed.
The first place ribbon went to
Matthew Bomberger, who had the
unique problem of getting
scratched by his rabbits as he
attempted to feed them. His “Rab
bit Grabber,” a padded glove at the
end of a long stick, allows him to
gently trap the rabbits while he
feeds them.
Hopper, who got the idea for the
contest from the “Weekly Reader”
magazine, has been conducting the
project for the last several years.
She stresses that in addition to
teaching the students creative
problem solving, it is also a confi
dence booster as well. Students
who once thought that they
couldn’t invent anything find that
there’s a little bit of inventiveness
in all of us.