What do you get when you combine bubble wrap and orange trees? You get young Eric Baker’s invention, the “Orange DeBruiser.” One of 15 semi-finalists in the fourth annual Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors, Eric is hoping that his invention will bring home the $10,000 prize reports the OrlandoSentinel.com.
Eric likes to create things out of Lego blocks and recently spent a week working on a model of a space station for a class science project. He also tries come up with inventions — from string to motion sensors — that will detect when his two little brothers have been snooping in his bedroom.
But he turned his attention to Bubble Wrap after his science teacher asked every kid to come up with a Bubble Wrap invention. While doing his chores, Eric began pondering how Bubble Wrap could help him.
You see, each weekend, Eric has to climb a ladder and pick oranges off the trees. But invariably, during the week, some oranges fall off the trees, hit the ground and split open or get bruised.
And that is the story behind Eric’s Orange DeBruiser. When an orange falls, it lands on the layers of bubble wrap, then rolls down an inclined surfaced into a receptacle.
No more muss, fuss, no possums eating the fallen fruit.
Photo by mollypop