The collection consists of the Safe Water Book, loose filters, and a Tasita, a filter holder that connects two bottles together, created by chemist and inventor, Theresa Dankovich.
Arrangement:
Collection is unarranged.
Biographical / Historical:
Dankovich created the Safe Water Book, a book of silver-nanoparticle filter papers that kill disease and bacteria. The paper filters are called Folia Filters. The filters are used in conjunction with the Tasita, a plastic filter that holds the paper and connects two bottles together. The filters come in the form of Safe Water Books. Each book contains 26 filters and one book provides a year of safe drinking water. Dankovich holds a B.S. in fiber science from Cornell, an M.S. in agricultural and environmental chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D in chemistry from McGill University. She is the Chief Technology officer and Chairwoman of Folia Water, a company she founded in 2015.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Theresa Dankovich, 2016.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents Manny Villafaña, inventor, entrepreneur and founder of several medical device companies since 1971. The majority of the collection pertains to St. Jude Medical, which introduced the mechanical heart valve technology that became the industry standard.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of 10 cubic feet of material documenting Manny Villafaña, an inventor and entrepreneur. The bulk of the collection is comprised of correspondence and clippings related to his professional life. There are a few personal items in the collection, such as a St. Jude prayer card, included with the records of St. Jude Medical and a photograph of Villafaña (1988) at the construction site of the Basilica of St. Mary.
Biographical / Historical:
Manny Villafaña (b. 1940- ) began his career in medical technology as a salesman for Medtronic, Inc., exploring the potential market in Argentina. Upon his return to the U.S. Villafaña went on to found Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. and later St. Jude Medical. During the decade following the founding of CPI, Manny Villafaña business savvy and medical technology know-how would propel him to celebrity in the Minnesota business community and national entrepreneurial scene. Some of the technology introduced by Villafaña's companies, such as the St. Jude's pyrolytic bileaflet artificial heart valve, have become industry standards. Villafaña would eventually found seven medical technology companies, with Kips Bay being the most recent.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Wilson Greatbatch Innovative Lives Presentation, 1996 (ACNMAH 0601)
James A. E. Halkett and Sigmund A. Wesolowski, M.D., Papers, 1948-1951 (ACNMAH 0220)
Van Phillips Oral History and Papers, 1991-2004 (ACNMAH 0859)
George Edward Burch Papers, 1984-1986 (ACNMAH 0316)
James A. E. Halkett and Sigmund A. Wesolowski, M.D., Papers, 1948-1951 (ACNMAH 0220)
Materials at Other Organizations
Conversazione, November 20, 1997, January 21, 1998 and May 20, 1998. Oral history is on file at the Minnesota Historical Society.
Separated Materials:
Related heart valves are in the Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History. See Accession 2015.003.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Manny Villafaña on January 29, 2015.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
5.5 Cubic feet (17 boxes, 1 map folder, digital files)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1983-2010
bulk 1991-1994
Summary:
The collection documents the development of ROBODOC™, the first robot to perform surgery on a human in the United States through correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, press releases, engineering drawings, regulatory policies and procedures, photographs, and audiovisual materials.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the development of ROBODOC™, a robotic surgical system that would redefine precision joint replacement procedures. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, press clippings, press releases, engineering drawings, regulatory policies and procedures, photographs, and audiovisual materials documenting the development of the ROBODOC™. The collection is strong in documentation about regulatory policies and procedures the company undertook for approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Project History and Background Materials, 1985-2003
Series 2: Engineering Materials, 1989-2000, bulk 1991-1993
Series 3: User Guides, 1991-2001
Series 4: Food and Drug Administration, 1987-2001
Series 5: Press Clippings, 1983-2010
Series 6: Audiovisual Materials, 1988-2009
Historical:
ROBODOC™ was the first robot to perform surgery in the United States. It was developed in 1986 by IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, and researchers at the University of California, Davis. They formed a collaborative initiative to develop a surgical device for Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). The team included William Bargar, M.D., Howard "Hap" Paul, D.V.M (1949- 1993), and engineers, Brent Mittelstadt and Peter Kazanides. See US Patent 5,769,092 for Computer-aided system for revision total hip replacement surgery and US Patent 5,806,518 for Method and system of positioning surgical robot, 1998. The original company, Integrated Surgical Systems (ISS) was incorporated in 1990.
The goal of ISS was to create a robotic surgical system that would redefine precision joint replacement procedures. Drilling into bone by hand is not always precise, and often requires glue to fill in empty spaces. Additionally there is a danger the bone will splinter. In this regard, ROBODOC is similar to computer-controlled machine tools. ROBODOC "mills" the bone or joint for accurate fitting similar to machine tools.
In May of 1990 the device was successfully tested on dogs. Since 1998 when it received 510 (K) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Total Hip Arthroplasty over 28,000 procedures have been performed worldwide.
ROBODOC™ was eventually sold in 2007 to Novatrix Biomedical, Inc. which formed Curexo Medical, Inc. to handle the acquisition of Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc. (ISS). ISS became THINK Surgical, Inc. in 2014.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Odex I Walking Robot Collection (AC0203)
Massie/McLurkin Innovative Lives Presentation and Interviews (AC0603)
Computer oral History Collection (AC0196)
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records (AC0929)
Provenance:
Collection donated by Think Surgical, Inc. through Dr. Mun In-Ki, CEO and President, April 2016.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Slides (photographs)
Transcripts
Audiocassettes
Digital images
Cd-roms
Date:
2005 August 3
Summary:
Jose L. Hernandez-Rebollar was born in the state of Puebla in Mexico. He is the inventor of the AcceleGlove, a prototype device which can translate the alphabet and over 300 words into American Sign Language. The collection contains original and reference audio cassettes of Dr. Rebollar's presentation, "The Process of Invention: The AcceleGlove," a transcript of the presentation, photocopies of his power point presentation slides, and a CD-ROM containing digital images taken at the presentation.
Scope and Contents:
Collection documents Dr. Jose L. Hernandez-Rebollar's invention prototype of the AcceleGlove. In his power point presentation The Process of Invention: The AcceleGlove, Rebollar discusses his childhood in Mexico and his educational background, emphasizing his Ph.D. work on the AcceleGlove at The George Washington University. Dr. Rebollar describes his research and his attempt to solve communication and translation problems associated with turning American Sign Language into spoken words and text. Rebollar also discusses American Sign Language and its applications. A demonstration of the AcceleGlove is given. The presentation concludes with a question and answer period.
Series 1: Original Audio Cassettes, 2005, is one audio cassette recording of Dr. Rebollar's Innovative Lives Presentation on August 3, 2005. The recording is approximately 70 minutes.
Series 2: Reference Audio Cassettes, 2005, contains copies of Dr. Rebollar's Innovative Lives Presentation on August 3, 2005.
Series 3: Transcript of presentation, August 3, 2005
Series 4: Digital Images, 2005, consists of one CD-ROM containing 46 digital images (jpeg files) documenting Dr. Rebollar's Innovative Lives Presentation. The digital images were taken by Richard Straus of Smithsonian Photographic Services.
Series 5: Power Point Slides contains two photocopied sets of the twenty-one slides used during Dr. Rebollar's power point presentation The Process of Invention: The AcceleGlove.
Arrangement:
Collection is divided into five series.
Series 1: Original Audio Cassette, August 3, 2005
Series 2: Reference Audio Cassettes, 2005
Series 3: Transcript of Presentation, August 3, 2005
Series 4: Digital Images, 2005
Series 5: Power Point Slides, 2005
Biographical / Historical:
Dr. Jose L. Hernandez-Rebollar was born in the state of Puebla in México. He completed his B.S. in electronics at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in 1993 and received his masters in Electronics Engineering from the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica (National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics) in 1997. In 1998, Dr. Rebollar obtained a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. at The George Washington University. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Science in Electrical Engineering in 2003. He majored in Signals and Systems with a minor in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and Bioelectronics.
Dr. Rebollar's invention, an electronic glove, called the AcceleGlove, can turn American Sign Language (ASL) gestures into spoken words or text. The glove is placed on the hand and strapped to the arm, allowing sensors on the glove to generate signals from the movement, orientation, and positioning of the hand and the fingers in relation to the body. These signals are analyzed by a micro-controller to find the position of the fingers and hand trajectory. The AcceleGlove translates the alphabet and over 300 words in American Sign Language.
The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation was founded in 1995 at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History through a generous gift from the Lemelson Foundation. The Center's mission is: to document, interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation; to encourage inventive creativity in young people; and to foster an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States. The Innovative Lives series brings together Museum visitors and American inventors to discuss inventing and the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on activities related to each inventor's product. This collection was created by the Innovative Lives Program of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
Provenance:
Transferred by Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, January 30, 2006.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Presentation of Elwood ("Woody") Norris, the inventor of HyperSonic Sound (HSS) at the Arlington Public Library in Arlington, Virginia; and oral history interview with Lemelson Center staff member Paul Rosenthal. Norris discusses his life and inventions.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Elwood "Woody" Norris began his training in electronics by repairing broken radios as a child and learning all he could about the field. A classic independent inventor, Norris is self-educated, self-funded and self-motivated. With inventions spanning fields from acoustics to aviation to medicine, Norris is changing technology for the better. His achievements have earned him the 2005 Lemelson-MIT Prize.
Devoid of a woofer and tweeter, Norris' HyperSonic Sound (HSS®) system consists of an emitter measuring as little as one-sixteenth of an inch thick, digital processor and amplfier. Designed to control the direction of sound emitted, HSS is focused like a laser beam. When aimed directly at a listener it has the effect of wearing headphones, almost like a voice inside one's head. It projects high-frequency sound in the air, which produces ultrasonic waves that can also be made to bounce off walls or other objects, unlike conventional speakers which are larger and typically require a box. The sound is clearer and remains at the same level for all listeners over great distances, since it does not radiate in all directions like a conventional speaker. HSS has been used for targeted messaging and capturing customer attention with sound, with additional applications targeted for the future, such as surround sound in home theaters. A side benefit of HSS is that people can move aside from the sound beam if they don't want to listen.
In 1967, inspired by Doppler radar, Norris created a sonar tool to isolate different movements inside the human body. This Transcutaneous Doppler system, which sends ultrasound through the skin, was designed to listen to targeted sounds, and was a precursor to the sonogram.
Mostly computer operated with handlebar assistance, Norris's AirScooter® invention is a personal transportation vehicle that weighs just over 250 pounds. The AirScooter has two counter-rotating blades with two pontoons, and Norris plans to offer an optional GPS navigational system in the future. While originally envisioned for recreational users, it has also sparked the interest of law enforcement officials and general commuters.
In the mid-1980s, Norris created a hands-free ear-mounted speaker/microphone device operating on the principle that sound travels through the bones in a persons head. The device was designed at the request of NASA, as a replacement for the built-in microphone in helmets used by astronauts. Norris's patents were sold to the Danish audio company, JABRA Corporation who produced a commercial version of the cell phone headset.
Another invention by Norris is Flashback® the first handheld recording and playback device that eliminated audio-tape. It uses non-volatile flash memory and is totally solid state—no moving parts.
Norris founded and served as Director and President of Parametric Sound Corporation, now known as Turtle Beach Corporation, and also served as Chief Scientist at Turtle Beach. He also founded LRAD Corporation and was the Chairman of LRAD Corporation's Board of Directors before retiring in 2010.
Most recently, Norris has been working on BolaWrap, a handheld, non-lethal restraining device, currently being used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies. The small device works like a lasso, designed to detain people without causing severe injury. Norris expects to offer a range of new product solutions to "help meet the challenges of modern policing."
Norris, who grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, attributes some of his success to his high school drama group which developed his public speaking and confidence and even earned him a national thespian award. Norris has garnered over 100 U.S. patents in the fields of electrical and acoustic engineering. He currently serves as Chief Technology Officer for Wrap Technologies Inc.
Source
Lemelson-MIT Program (https://lemelson.mit.edu/award-winners/elwood-woody-norris last accessed on April 21, 2021)
Provenance:
Audio and video recordings created by the Innovative Lives Program of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, March 10, 2007.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
