AN INVENTION BY AN 11-YEAR-OLD: WATER TALKIE

Richie Stacowski was 11 years old when he went on a holiday with his parents to Hawaii only to return home with an idea that would enable him to make a lot of money. When Richie and his father dove under while swimming, he saw many beautiful things and wished to be able to speak with his father about the things he saw underwater. He hoped to have something like a tool or a toy that would help him do it, but there were no inventions for this type of underwater communication. Realizing that this could be a great business idea, he started researching underwater acoustics and trying out early versions of his inventions in the public pool. Then he finally created the first version of the Water Talkie, a device with a blow valve and plastic membrane that enables people to talk with each other underwater.

Next, Stachowski went to New Jersey and persuaded Toys“R”Us to sell his product. With the help of his mother, Stachowski started a company called Short Stack LLC and continued inventing other successful pool toys. Then, when he turned 13 in 1999, he sold his company to Wild Planet Toys. The company said they paid “a substantial amount of money” for it.