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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1990)
Fishing lures lead inventor to flurry of patents First, it was fishing lures. In 1956, Robert Ges chwender of Lincoln left his architec tural studies at the Univer sity of Ne braska-Lin coln to design fishing tack les. And his career as an inventor be gan. “I’d always kind of been interested in fishing." Geschwender said. “I listened to friends’ comments. It (the lure) ended up being very effective." Although his design wasn’t a com mercial success, “I made a lot of good contacts." he said. Now. 34 years later. Geschwender. 57. has more than 30 patents on prod ucts ranging from a floor seat to an exercise device. “Ever since I was a kid. 1 always made a wide variety of things." Ges chwender said. “I knew that I could do a lot of things other people couldn’t do." But it wasn’t always easy for him to convince others of that. As a child, Geschwender said, a learning disabil ity made school difficult. “I had mixed dominance — now I guess they call it dyslexia." Geschwen der said. “I was having a lot of difficulty .... I couldn’t spell worth a dam." Teachers labeled him dumb because he was unable to read properly, he said. Geschwender dropped out of high school to join the Air National Guard and to attend an electronics school at Scott Air Force Base in Bellevue. 111. “When I was in high school. I was practically flunking. Scott had a com pletely different training program .... I graduated with honors. “1 always felt I knew a lot more than people thought I knew." said the man who designs rotary engines with ease. “I think when a person has a handicap of some type, you end up compensat ing In some ways." After completing his training at Scott. Geschwender returned to high school, but his education was Interrupted again, this time when the Air Guard was called to fight in the Korean War. Although he never returned to high school, he fi nally graduated by writing essays for his teachers. In 1951, Geschwender enrolled at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study arc hiteeture. In part, his learn ing disability played a role in that deci sion. “The same difficulty I was having with reading, I was having with math, he said. “There were a lot more (math related) courses like that in engineer ing" and other science majors. Although Geschwender said most of his classes went well, he dropped out of college in 1956. “I was having real difficulty with certain classes, he said. “Some I’d taken over a couple of times. They were lowering the average that I needed to have to stay in the architecture col lege." He planned to return to college after a year, but never went back, he said. Before the year was out, Geschwender had embarked on the career he would follow the rest of his life. Geschwender joined Celadyn, a di vision of Lancaster Research and De velopment Corporation, in Lincoln. For about seven years, he designed ma chinery to produce honeycomb paper. “There’s a lot areas of potential it could be used for," he said. “It’s used in quite a few different products today, like disposable pallets, ^bulk contain ers and cores for doors.” Honeycomb paper was produced before Celadyn got into the market, Geschwender said. “Basically, what I did was find a lot less expensive way to make it.” The company eventually was bought by a larger one, but Geschwender said he “did not like the idea of the politics of a large company." So he and a partner founded Con cepts Engineering. “We designed a lot of what you might call consumer products," Geschwen der said. “I was involved in design and engineering. He took care of the mar keting.” Under Concept Engineering, Ges chwender designed the invention that has become one of his most financially successful — the Back Jack. The floor seat, designed to sit up right or to recline, has become about as common as the beanbag in television rooms across the nation. More than a million have been sold. They usually sell for about $19 at department stores. Geschwender said. The product has been so successful, he saicf, that a foreign company has begun to copy it and market it in the United States. “We’re attempting to get it stopped. If they’re violating our patent, we can take them to court and stop it." Three years ago. Geschwender left • Concept Engineering to work on his own projects. “I have a lot of ideas — some I haven’t really started yet." Geschwender said. “Right now. I probably have 15 differ ent products under development." Financing his own inventions can be a problem. Geschwender said, but being able to work on his own makes that investment worthwhile. “I don’t want to do them (my ideas) where I have other people’s money involved. Whenever you have other people’s money involved, you limit yourself." While working for other companies. Geschwender said, he didn’t have a lot of say in what happened to the product after it left his workshop. “Now. I’m on my own." he said. “I’ve got a lot more control." But having that control doesn’t mean Geschwender has sacrificed success. “Now, I’ve probably got about four products being evaluated by different companies." he said. He unreservedly calls one of those his best invention — The Life Strider. An exercise machine, it is unlike simi lar devices on the market because it offers “full-body exercise." Geschwen der said. Similar to a stationary bicycle, the Life Strider is used while standing, not while sitting. “You support your own weight." Geschwender said, demonstrating the machine in his living room. Geschwender said he got the idea for the Life Strider when he was having problems with sore knees, hips and shoulders. “They (the doctors) said there was nothing I could do.” he said, but exer cise proved the doctors wrong. *“I wasn’t getting enough movement in my joints.” he said. “I started work ing out. It really did me a lot of good. He began trying to think of an exer cise device that would move joints and strengthen muscles. “I just started looking around at the exercise devices for things I liked ^ . . and made them part of my design, he said. Now, he said, Biyan Memorial Hos pital has three Life Strider machines. Geschwender said the invention has not been an economic success, but he has confidence in it because it has the same idea behind it that all of his products do — mass appeal. “I try to isolate things that a large percentage of the population will be interested in. I don’t even start a proj ect unless I know that it has mass appeal." Geschwender said tnat motto nas made him more successful than the average inventor. “I would say if you have a 25 percent success rate in getting products intro duced to the market, you are doing pretty good,” he said. “It s kind of a gamble.” But it’s not always necessary to invent a number of products to be a success ful inventor, Geschwender said. “If you have a single excellent prod uct. that’s all you need to have,” he said. “You can basically retir e on it.” And for Geschwender. potential re tirement might come through the Back Jack, the Life Strider or one of his other inventions. But commercial success wouldn’t mean an end to his work. “Even if I had sufficient money where I could quit, I probably wouldn’t quit because I like doing this." — Diane Bravton Senior Editor Photos by Shaun Sartin Tamara Zentic demonstrates Ges chwender’s Life Strider. Zentic is an exercise leader at Bryan Memorial hos pital’s rehabilitation center.
