The check in his hands wasn’t quite big enough for him to quit his day job, Gaylen Hicok said. But the meaning and feeling behind it is priceless.
“It felt really good,� the 54-year-old rural Charles City man reported of receiving his first royalty check from an invention he had patented and then sold to a Minnesota-based manufacturer. “My wife was pretty excited for me. It was a big congratulations and a, “you finally did it!�
“I actually came up with this idea (for his ‘funnel adapter’) about five years ago, but really didn’t pursue it until now,� Hicok said.
The idea, he said, was really a simple one that he couldn’t believe no one else had done yet. Hicok developed his small, plastic funnel adapter for two specific applications — holding a funnel in place while pouring his drained engine oil into a recycle container and holding a funnel while allowing a removed engine oil filter to drain. The adapter is designed to fit both gallon jugs and quart containers.
“I found there were all sorts of applications for my adapter that people told me about that I had never thought of,� commented Hicok. “I continue to find new applications almost daily.
Photo by Charles City Press.
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