Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Invention intervention

Mainers get boost turning ideas into jobs

By David F. Robinson drobinson@onlinesentinel.com
Staff Writer, Morning Sentinel

JAY — An inventor in Jay has come up with a new harness racing cart that he says will revolutionize the sport.
Gaylord Boutilier said he has been leading up to this breakthrough for decades, tinkering in the industry that he views as a lifelong hobby.
Now his goal is to turn the invention into a business in Maine.
And it’s a goal that fuels the belief that local inventors are a key to the state’s economic well-being, according to Alison Hagerstrom, executive director for Greater Franklin Development Corporation.
The challenge is giving inventors like Boutilier the support they need to fulfill this role, said Hagerstrom.
“Oftentimes people get patents, or they invent something, but they don’t do anything with it,” she said. “We’re trying to find those entrepreneurs and hook them up with the inventors.”
Like many inventors, Boutilier, 78, learned through trial and error. He even owned a small factory in Detroit for a short time where he manufactured an early version of the improved technology for racing carts, known as sulkies.
More recently, he has been learning about what Maine has to offer local inventors.
An area company, Bonnevie Machine Shop in Livermore, helped to develop a working model for tests, according to Boutilier. Then engineers at University of Maine worked on testing the invention, known as the equalizer because it stabilizes the ride by isolating the horse from the sulky, he said.
An agent in Farmington helped him secure a patent for the invention, and the economic development agency has introduced him to investors and developers in the area.
For Boutilier, this support is leading toward a new business venture that could create jobs in the area, he said, something that may have been difficult to accomplish without help.
“Without this interest, I’m not sure how I would have approached this,” Boutilier said. “This has been a problem since Ben-Hur and his chariot.”
He has been looking at the former Wausau Paper Mill, recently renamed the Otis Falls Mill in Jay. Mary Howes and Tim Demillo own the former mill as Otis Ventures LLC. They are in the process of renovating the building, and have been talking with Boutilier about locating his business there.
State investment, through programs like the Maine Technology Institute, also has a major role in keeping these ideas local, Hagerstrom said. The state Legislature created the institute in 1999 to support research and development while promoting investment.
A state grant was used for an attempt at manufacturing the new sulky, according to Boutilier, but it wasn’t the final model. The project is still seeking more grant and facility assistance from the state, according to Hagerstrom.
Despite the recent progress for Boutilier, it’s still unclear when his invention will turn into new jobs. He said there is a business plan in place, and investors are interested in moving forward in the spring.
These unknowns are a reality in many cases because inventions do not turn into businesses overnight, according to Dennis R. Haszko, the registered patent agent in Farmington who helped Boutilier.
“I often have to remind clients and would-be clients that a patent is just a business tool, not a quick path to riches,” he said.
Even the ideas that have had past support can struggle to maintain momentum in uncertain economic times.
Khameleon Nails in Carrabassett Valley has used state technology funding, and the support of about 20 private investors, to develop a new type of nail, according to Tom Tanner, company president.
The original plan was to create a self-concealing finish nail, eliminating the need to seal a nail hole with putty, and the idea received a patent in a little over a year, he said. But no nail gun on the market fit their nail, and one idea soon turned into a need to invent two new products.
In 2007, Khameleon was one of five area companies that shared more than $500,000 in state funding to develop inventions. Their share from the state was $165,000, according to Tanner, and it required a $250,000 matching investment from the company.
Only the recession and slumping housing market, which is a big target for the new nail, have kept the company from raising its share, according to Tanner. So despite gaining state support, and having raised thousands of dollars from private investors in the past, the project is in a holding pattern, he said, waiting for the market to rebound.
Referring to the struggle to bring an invention to market, Tanner said, “It’s all a matter of survival because it’s how bad do you want this.”

David Robinson — 861-9287
drobinson@centralmaine.com

click image to enlarge

HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY: Inventor Gaylord Boutilier poses with his carbon fiber frame sulky in his workshop in Jay recently.

Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans

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