Gadget Nation. FastPencil Premiere

persuade the patent office that my design was unique. I thank my patent attorney for achieving that.”

      Beyond placing SwingSrite in their backyard, it makes an attractive addition to a garden or public place. “That’s where I’ve had the most success in selling it. At Eureka College here in Eureka, Illinois—it’s the college that Ronald Reagan attended—the senior class had a budget to do something nice for the college. They looked at my swing and bought two sets.”

      Dorman sees this invention as more than a relaxing swing and piece of landscape art. After selling one to a therapist for use with an autistic man, he thinks the market could be lucrative if he pursued buyers with disabilities. “The therapist loved the swing’s design and stability. She trusted it enough that she feels safe leaving her autistic patient alone to swing for hours. The swinging motion calms him down.”

      Ideally, he could sell licensing rights to a swing company that would make a plastic mold and produce it for less than its current price of $1,235. “I’ve invested about $10,000, including $6,000 to get the patent. I’ve made and sold about twenty so far, so I’m probably in the black. At least I’ve recovered my costs.” Because it’s handmade with all stainless steel hardware, the SwingSrite is expensive to produce. And Dorman doesn’t have a factory set up. It takes him at least two days with a helper’s assistance to build each one specially ordered.

      As a 66-year-old contractor who already works forty to fifty hours a week, Dorman doesn’t have the time or interest to delve into marketing SwingSrite. But he sure enjoys inventing. “My mind is cranking all the time.” He’s invented a hammock that’s easy to get in and out of. He’s devised a method to make it easy for Shirley to move between the pier and their pontoon boat. He’s even come up with a better way to barbecue burgers, using metal plates that go on top of and underneath a hamburger patty. You see, the plates have metal spikes that go through the patty to cook the meat evenly in the same way skewers in potatoes help cook them faster. And because of the holes from the spikes, condiments easily ooze into the heart of the meat.

      Dorman is especially proud of an exercise machine he’s invented. It’s a three-wheeled side-by-side recumbent bicycle that lets Dorman and Shirley cycle down the streets of Eureka beside each other. The way he’s put together the gearing, they can even be pedaling at different speeds just by adjusting the gears. “Shirley and I love to go pedaling down the road, talking and fully sharing the experience.”

      I’m sure you’ve realized what is obvious to me now—that the story of Dorman Rhoades’s inventions is really a love story. Anyone have a handkerchief?