RUMFORD – A Rumford inventor has put her best foot forward to join those shoes by dancing out a line of bubble-emitting sneakers.
Lynn (Mercier) Root, 40, who graduated from Rumford High School in 1981, hopes children across America will soon be striding everywhere in her patented Bubble Shoe.
“I just think that this would be fun footwear for the whole family,” said Root, who now lives in Flagler Beach, Fla., and summers in Rumford. “Everybody loves bubbles. Children love bubbles.”
In fact, Root has promised the first manufactured pair of Bubble Shoes to her 18-month-old daughter, Scenic, who “is a little shoe freak and loves to blow bubbles.”
The offbeat shoes work on the air system principal, and, unlike light-up shoes, do not require batteries.
Tucked inside the heel of a Bubble Shoe is a bubble-generating component comprised of a one-way air valve and a one-way nozzle valve.
“The shoe has an opening where you pour the bubble solution into a self-contained holder. Then, as you walk, pressure causes the bubbles to come out of the shoe,” Root said.
The air valve closes during a compression step, forcing the bubble solution to exit through the nozzle at the back of the heel. This also allows air to enter the bubble generator reservoir before the next step. The sneakers come with an on-off switch to control the functioning of the bubble-generating component, Root added.
Initially, the footwear will be manufactured in sizes for children aged one to nine, selling for between $20 and $35.
Later, it will be manufactured and marketed for adults.
In December 1999, Root applied for a patent and received it in March 2000.
In 2002, Root hired America’s largest inventor service company, Invention Submission Corp. of Pittsburgh, who submitted her idea to industry.
For marketing information about Root’s Bubble Shoe, contact ISC’s sister company Intromark at 800-851-6030. For more information about ISC and INPEX, call Mullen at 800-424-2089, Ext. 4154 or visit www.isc-online.com.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
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