Stanley I. Mason, who I met once later in his life before he passed away was what we might call a true inventor. He was kind enough to show me his shop and to g

Stanley I. Mason, who I met once later in his life before he passed away was what we might call a true inventor. He was kind enough to show me his shop and to give me some of his design notebooks (I returned them to his daughter after he passed). He invented the disposable diaper, the form-fitting sanitary napkin, the squeezable bottle, the granola bar, microwave cookware, the underwire bra, the garbage compactor, stringless band-aid packaging, heated pizza boxes, and much more from his home in Connecticut. I remember a few things quite clearly: - He had a map of all the places he had flown to, much of it on his own plane. - He was adamant that I learn how to draw if I ever wanted to invent something I could patent. - There was an old Mercedes in his driveway that he modified to run on soybean oil and he regretted that he wasn't able to convince car companies or congress to take it seriously. - He was incredibly generous with his time. - His home was part workshop and he didn't have a long commute. It's actually hard to believe that the man doesn't have a Wikipedia page. For those who are interested, he wrote a very short book called "Inventing Small Products" which could be taken as inspiration, not a "how-to" guide. He also wrote a book called "Going Solo" which I haven't read but for $3.99 used will order immediately.