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12/26
1997
112
Business
Israeli Inventors
And Clever Creations
CARL APLERT
Special to The Jewish News
7
he disproportionately
large number of Jewish
Nobel Prize winners may
have led people to believe
that Jews are also among the leaders
in creating ingenious new inven-
tions. There is indeed a list of distin-
guished Jewish inventors.
To mention but a few: Levi Ben
Gershon, who invented a new type
of navigation quadrant used by
Columbus, David Schwartz who cre-
ated the first dirigible airship 1892,
and closer to our own times, Emile
Berliner, who invented the micro-
phone and disc records, and Charles
Steinmetz, who pioneered in the
transmission of high voltage electric-
ity over long distances, among oth-
ers. By and
large, however,
Jewish contri-
butions have
been mainly
in the fields of
the theoretical
sciences, phi-
losophy, litera-
ture and the
like.
However,
the Israel
patent office
reports that
some 1300
requests a year
are received
from Israelis
who wish to
register what
they consider
ingenious and
creative break-
throughs.
Indeed, some Israeli inventions have
already become world renowned.
Who has not heard of the Uzi sub-
machine gun, an item quite remote
from what had been regarded as
areas of Jewish interest? In quite
another field, a few decades ago, the
tile game known as Rummikub, cre-
ated by an Israeli, swept the world of
home games as a challenge to mah
jongg. Is it still being played?
The concept of drip irrigation,
which has revolutionized home gar
dening and agriculture alike
throughout the world, is a native
Israeli creation. Inventors in Kibbutz
Hagoshrim brought millions into the
kibbutz coffers with their creation
and marketing of Soft and Easy, a
device to remove hair from women's
legs and arms. Then competitors
took over the market.
Those are already in the past, but
there is no lack of new inventions,
some of which are already penetrat-
ing markets abroad. The Tel Aviv
locksmith who devised a burglar-
proof door with four internal inter-
locking bolts, first made 10 such
doors. This brought him 100 new
customers, and these brought anoth-
er thousand, all without publicity or
promotion of any kind. The Rav-
Bariah company went international,
and under the name of Multi - Lock
has an annual turnover of $100 mil-
lion.
Popular ideas can often be rela-
tively simple. An ingenious Israeli
car owner devised a folding carton to
spread over the inside of his
windshield to
protect the
interior from
the heat of the
sun. Visiting
Americans
leaped at the
idea, and
today there are
some 15 mil-
lion such
shields in use
in the U.S.
Advertisers
were quick to
realize the
value of these
shields, promi-
nently dis-
played on cars
parked all day,
and a new ele-
ment was
introduced.
Though inter-
nationally
patented, the simple idea has many
imitators.
The huge American toy market is
flooded with no less than 5,000 new
toy creations each year, and Israeli
inventors and manufacturers work
overtime to reap some of the harvest.
Look for the small print, where you
will often find "Created in Israel."
Among other new products
already available overseas is an inno-
vation in toothbrushes. An inner
spring adds to the intensity of the
vibration. It's called Oralspring
toothbrush. It appears to be doing
well, but the inventors figure that
there are 3 billion people in the
world who brush their teeth regular-