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MISSISSIPPI: Local man invents vibrating toilet seat
The Laurel Leader-Call ^ | November 13, 2008 | Eloria Newell James

Posted on 11/14/2008 2:38:21 AM PST by Stoat

Local man invents vibrating toilet seat


By Eloria Newell James, community@leadercall.com

 


Jones County native Johnny Henry talks about his invention, the vibrating toilet seat.
Photo/Eloria Newell James /

 

A Jones County native has developed a new twist to a traditional item.

Johnny Henry of Laurel has developed the vibrating toilet seat.

“I believe in thinking out of the box,” Henry said. “I wanted to create something that is a little unusual.

“This invention is designed to stimulate,” he said. “It’s to make you feel good while you are there.”

Because of Henry’s invention, he recently attended the Invent Bay International Inventors Convention held at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“It was great,” Henry said about the convention. “You get to meet with licensers, buyers and investors, and I got a chance to promote my product. ... It was really nice.”

Also while at the convention, Henry, a native of Soso, made a pitch for the Jay Leno Show and The Discovery Channel.

Henry said he currently has a provisional patent on the product, however, “hopefully I’ll get on one of the shows and be able to introduce my product to a national audience.”

Henry said the vibrating toilet seat “is a novelty item that can also be used as a gag gift.”

When asked how he developed the idea, Henry said he “wanted to add some life to the otherwise lifeless toilet seat.”

Henry, a 1968 graduate of Roosevelt High School in Ellisville, attended Jones County Junior College and Alcorn State University before entering the United States Army in 1973.

After three years in the Army, Henry enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

However, Henry said the inventors convention was very educational.

“The convention was very exciting. There was 300-400 investors there,” Henry added. “I gained a wealth of knowledge about how to market inventions and how to get a product going.”

Henry, who began working on his invention in 1997, has now developed a prototype.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Hobbies; Humor; Local News
KEYWORDS: invention; seat; toilet; vibrating
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A solution in search of a problem?
1 posted on 11/14/2008 2:38:21 AM PST by Stoat
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To: Slings and Arrows; martin_fierro

Jones County native Johnny Henry talks about his invention, the vibrating toilet seat.
Photo/Eloria Newell James /

From the article: 

Henry, who began working on his invention in 1997, has now developed a prototype.

11 years from conception to prototype phase....could the electrocution of test subjects possibly have slowed the product development process?

2 posted on 11/14/2008 2:39:01 AM PST by Stoat (Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
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To: Stoat

Hell, I’ve had a vibrating toilet seat for years.

It operates on natural gas.


3 posted on 11/14/2008 2:41:51 AM PST by shibumi (...vampire outlaw of the milky way...)
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To: Stoat

"Analysis, Spock?"

"Hell if I'm parkin' my Vulcan @#$ on that thing, Captain."

4 posted on 11/14/2008 2:42:27 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: Stoat

74 CPS


5 posted on 11/14/2008 2:42:36 AM PST by Waco ( Crapa democrat)
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To: Waco

I am a patent attorney. You would not believe the number of patents (or at least patent applications) directed to toilets.
People do a lot of thinking there, I suppose.


6 posted on 11/14/2008 2:47:38 AM PST by freedomlover (Make sure you're in love - before you move in the heavy stuff)
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To: Stoat; Slings and Arrows
Hmmm, mine could use an upgrade, I guess…

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

7 posted on 11/14/2008 3:03:06 AM PST by cartan
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To: Stoat

Clinger shaker offer?

Dingleberry reduction device?


8 posted on 11/14/2008 3:06:57 AM PST by Into the Vortex
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To: cartan
Ah! The ImmacuTush 4000! Excellent machine for the money! ;)
9 posted on 11/14/2008 3:07:29 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (G-d watch over and protect Sarah Palin and her family.)
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To: Stoat

Who gives a $hit?


10 posted on 11/14/2008 3:08:54 AM PST by RouxStir (No peein' allowed in the gene pool.)
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To: Stoat

11 posted on 11/14/2008 3:33:30 AM PST by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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To: Westlander

The second story seems to be an ideal location for the automatic noose applicator. ;0)


12 posted on 11/14/2008 3:52:01 AM PST by seemoAR
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To: Stoat

I´m glad there are people out there who are dedicated to solving the most daunting issues of our age.


13 posted on 11/14/2008 3:52:11 AM PST by villagerjoel (1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual!)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

It might help the users get rid of Klingons.


14 posted on 11/14/2008 3:56:47 AM PST by listenhillary (No representation without taxation! ~~ Mark Steyn)
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To: Stoat

I just bought a toilet for a bathroom I’m putting in the basement. You would not believe how expensive a crapper can be. Up to six hundred bucks for a plain old toilet.


15 posted on 11/14/2008 4:06:39 AM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote!)
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To: Stoat
He's too late.

--from Japan

16 posted on 11/14/2008 4:19:55 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo (Just Watch! The MSM will change their tune & NOW have that our troops in Iraq are HEROES & WINNING.)
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To: Stoat

No matter how new we men are going to pee all over it.


17 posted on 11/14/2008 4:44:45 AM PST by vietvet67
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To: Stoat

If it vibrates, won’t that increase the chance of men peeing on it?


18 posted on 11/14/2008 5:07:14 AM PST by Red in Blue PA (Little known fact: Barack Obama translated into Kenyan means "Jimmy Carter")
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To: raybbr
Up to six hundred bucks for a plain old toilet.

...and probably needs to be flushed 3 times completely clear.

19 posted on 11/14/2008 5:11:22 AM PST by Malsua
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To: Stoat
PlumbingWorld.com Down to earth prices at plumbingworld.com
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Thanks to P & M magazine for allowing us to share the information about Sir Thomas Crapper

Thomas Crapper: Myth & Reality

The debate over who Thomas Crapper was---or even if there was a Thomas Crapper at all---continues. His contributions to the plumbing industry are even more suspect. But with this article we intend to replace myth with fact, for we have found a cadre of Thomas Crapper scholars who have made it their life's work to prove that Crapper is more than just a slang term brought home by the World War I doughboys.

For this article we interviewed Dr. Andy Gibbons, historian of the International Thomas Crapper Society, and Ken Grabowski, a researcher and author who is writing a book on Crapper’s life.

THE WATERFALL- click here to see a new oldfashioned toilet Myth: Thomas Crapper as a person never existed.

Fact: Though we do not know his actual date of birth, we can now say the man Thomas Crapper probably was born in September 1836, since he was baptized the 28th of that month. Crapper did have a successful career in the plumbing industry in England from 1861 to 1904.

The date of Crapper’s death has also been a source of confusion for many years. For example, "Chase's Annual Events," the authoritative book for listing special days and dates, has listed January 17 as Thomas Crapper Day and January 17, 1910 as the date of his death.

After all his research, Gibbons was certain that Chase's was 10 days off. The actual date of Thomas Crapper's death was January 27, 1910. The error probably resulted from an honest typo in "Flushed With Pride," by Wallace Reyburn, says Gibbons, "but I waged a 10-year battle with Chase's to get them to change the date." He finally won his battle this year after supplying them with a photo of Thomas Crapper's tombstone, notes from a living descendent and a copy of the man's official death certificate.

Myth: Thomas Crapper invented the toilet.

Fact: No one in the know about Thomas Crapper would ever make this statement. In his research, Grabowski has created a detailed history of Crapper's business life. The man holds nine patents: Four for improvements to drains, three for water closets, one for manhole covers and the last for pipe joints. Every patent application for plumbing related products filed by Crapper made it through the process, and actual patents were granted.

The most famous product attributed to Thomas Crapper wasn't invented by him at all. The "Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer" (No. 814) was a siphonic discharge system that allowed a toilet to flush effectively when the cistern was only half full. British Patent 4990 for 1819 was issued to a Mr. Albert Giblin for this product.

There are a couple of theories on how Thomas Crapper came to be associated with this device. First, is that Giblin worked for Crapper as an employee and authorized his use of the product. The second, and more likely scenario, says Grabowski, is that Crapper bought the patent rights from Giblin and marketed the device himself.

Myth: Thomas Crapper never was a plumber.

Fact. Oh yes he was. He operated two of the three Crapper plumbing shops in his lifetime, but left the business three years before the final and most famous facility on Kings Road in London. When Crapper retired from active business in 1904, he sold his shop to two partners who, with help from others, operated the company under the Crapper name until its closing in 1966.

Several of London's current plumbing companies trace their trade roots to Thomas Crapper. One, Mr. Geoffrey Pidgeon of Original Bathrooms (Richmond upon Thames, Surrey, Great Britain), continues the trade of his great uncle and grandfather, both of whom apprenticed under Thomas Crapper.

Thomas Crapper did serve as the royal sanitary engineer for many members of England's royalty, but contrary to popular myth, he was never knighted, and thus isn't entitled to use the term "Sir" before his name.

Myth: The word "crap" is derived from Thomas Crapper's name.

Fact. The origin of crap is still being debated. Possible sources include the Dutch Krappe; Low German krape, meaning a vile and inedible fish; Middle English crappe, and Thomas Crapper. Where crap is derived from Crapper, it is by a process know as, pardon the pun, a back formation.

The World War I doughboys passing through England brought together Crapper's name and the toilet. They saw the words T. Crapper---Chelsea printed on the tanks and coined the slang "crapper" meaning toilet.

The legend of Thomas Crapper takes its flavor from the real man's life. While Crapper may not be the inventor of the product he is most often associated with, his contribution to England's plumbing history is significant. And the man's legend, well, it lives on despite all proof to contrary.

This series of articles may NOT be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of Plumbing & Mechanical magazine. Contact them at pmmag.com.

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20 posted on 11/14/2008 5:12:15 AM PST by Focault's Pendulum (Shut Up and Drill!!!)
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