COMMACK SCHOOLS

James Del Giudice inspired future inventors on Monday with the story of his own family’s invention.

Del Guidice, a CHS counselor, and his 83-year-old father John shared with Project Lead The Way students the inspiration and process behind getting their “Jimmy Wrench” into the marketplace.

John Del Guidice was inspired to create a wrench that handles multiple sizes of nuts and bolts while he was working on a project and realized that existing wrenches in the marketplace only worked on a specific size of nut or bolt.

The father-son team on Monday described for CHS students the entire invention-to-marketplace process.

After the idea conception, they did an initial search on the internet — primarily on Amazon and via Google — to see if their idea for a wrench that worked with multiple sizes of nuts and bolts already existed. After failing to find any similar product in their searches, they sketched the idea and then used an attorney to do a preliminary patent search.

Eventually, via a different patent attorney — and after an exhaustive process in which the concept was written down in a technical, 30-page document — they formally received a patent for their idea.

James and John Del Guidice shared with the students how they hired engineers to help create multiple prototypes before finding an option that worked properly. They then hired a manufacturer, created a company logo and packaging, and worked on setting up distribution through Amazon.

The Del Guidices encouraged the students to become inventors too, advising them to write down and sketch their ideas as they arise in everyday life. The father-son team noted that inventions can be an improvement on an existing item — not necessarily a completely new idea.