Preteen inventor wins national contest

Friday, Oct. 6, 2000 | 9:21 a.m.

Seventh-grader Michael Isaacs has reinvented the wheelbarrow -- which he can use to carry around all the money he won for improving upon one of oldest tools around.

Isaacs, 12, was the national winner in the sixth-through-eighth grade category of the annual Young Inventors Awards Program, co-sponsored by Craftsman tools and the National Science Teachers Association.

The Hyde Park Middle School student won a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond for his creation, which he calls the Push Me-Pull Me Wheelbarrow.

He plans to use the money for college.

"It was a sixth-grade assignment last year in science class," Isaacs said. "I wasn't going for the nationals. I was mostly interested in getting an 'A' for the project."

His science teacher was Brandy Cahoon, who routinely enters all of her students' science projects in the national competition, if the projects meet the qualifications.

Cahoon is proud of her former student.

"He is an awesome young man. I was totally excited when I found out he won," she said. "I know on a lot of projects the parents actually do the work. But Michael did almost everything himself. He sat down and took it upon himself to come up with the idea and plan it and build it.

"He worked very hard on it, day and night."

Cahoon, who said she turned in about 30 projects for the contest, accompanied the Isaacs on the trip to Chicago.

"So many parents and teachers came up to me and told me what a great kid Michael was and how much he deserved to win," she said.

Isaacs' wheelbarrow is designed to be more stable and easier to use than the standard piece of equipment. He added two small wheels (casters), attaching them to the support frame under the wheelbarrow's bucket, so that if the load is extremely heavy a person doesn't have to pick the back end up to roll it -- it may be pushed like a cart.

He also changed the handles so that they may be in one of two positions, straight up so they be gripped and used to push the wheelbarrow, or the normal, straight-out position.

"We had to either invent a new tool (for the contest) or modify an existing tool," Isaacs said.

The student came up with the idea while doing chores. He noticed the wheelbarrow was hard to push, tended to wobble and easily tipped over.

Nationwide, more than 3,000 students in second-through-eighth grades entered the contest. Other inventions that won first place in various categories include an onion slicer that allows onions to be cut without shedding tears, and a bed that can be made by turning a crank.

Isaacs and his parents, Lori and Mike, were notified that his wheelbarrow was a winner two days before the Sept. 22 awards ceremony, held at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

"It was so close to the day of the ceremony we thought he didn't win, that they were just calling to tell him inform him he lost," Lori Isaacs said.

The family spent four days in Chicago, where Bob Vila (former host of the PBS show "This Old House" and current spokesman for Craftsman) handed out the awards.

Isaacs won a $5,000 savings bond for winning at the regional level in June and another $5,000 for winning nationally.

It took Isaacs more than two months to complete his project, from the time he came up with the idea until he tightened the last bolt. He paid about $70 for the wheelbarrow and all of the new parts.

He said he did most of the work himself, although his grandfather, Richard Bishop (who also attended the Chicago ceremony), helped when it was necessary to use power tools.

Bishop, a bit of a craftsman himself, taught his grandson how to transfer dimensions onto a scale drawing and other skills needed to put together the new wheelbarrow.

Lori Isaacs said her son spent between 10 and 20 hours each week on the project.

Isaacs shipped his wheelbarrow to the contest's organizers last April for judging. Now that it won, it is on a national tour of classrooms and conventions. He may not see it again until sometime next year.

The Isaacs thought about getting a patent for wheelbarrow, but found the $10,000-plus price tag too steep.

"Patent attorneys have to do an exhaustive, international search," Lori Isaacs said.

Isaacs plans to enter the contest again this year, this time entering a device he said will make it easier to start campfires.

His mother said her son has become more inquisitive about how things work since he entered the contest.

"One of the speakers (at the award ceremony) said it teaches students to think beyond the box," she said. "He said that without new ideas, things stagnate."