MEXICO – After seeing his dad unsuccessfully attempt to use a backscratcher for a head and neck rest one night, 14-year-old Stephen Penney decided to invent one.

Penney, an eighth-grader at SAD 43’s Mountain Valley Middle School, then entered his invention – the Neck Napper – in the school’s 2004 Science Fair Thursday afternoon.

The ergonomically-designed device, which resembles a bent tuning fork with mesh netting across the tines, won the Rumford Point youth first place in the eighth-grade competition.

With help from his dad, Arnold Penney, Stephen said he designed a compression mold using maple wood and slats, duct tape and 70 wood screws.

His father then sliced thin sheets of maple veneer and Stephen glued them together painstakingly in four layers, and compressed them into shape during the two-week project.

“I learned that the saying, Necessity is the mother of invention,’ is true,” Stephen Penney said.

Stephen had to formulate an hypothesis for his project, produce a brochure advertising it, and design a display that illustrated the project in logical sequence from design to finished product.

“I also learned that making something more simple would have saved me time. However, taking the time to do things the right way results in a product I can be proud of,” he added.

His mom, Christine Penney, said the innovative device might even be something that would peak the interest of LL Bean.

Other first-place Science Fair winners were:

• Carl Zurhorst, grade six, team one, for a project that tested sound propagation through various materials.

• Myles Mercier, grade seven, team one, for a project that sought to determine which mouthwash – Scope or Listerine – killed the most bacteria.