My friend, the head of research and development for one of the largest medical device companies, called me on the telephone and asked me to visit him. He had a project for me to develop – a new, low-cost mask for use by surgeons in operating rooms.
Immediately upon saying hello at his office, he launched into criticism of existing masks. They cost too much to manufacture, had too many parts, were too heavy and so on. While listening carefully, I developed images in my mind of a replacement product and could hardly wait until I got back to my studio in Connecticut to begin work.
The major fault of the existing masks was the fact that they required some human handwork. The strings that held them on the surgeon’s face had to be attached by hand, thus making them expensive to manufacture.
I thought and thought. If the strings were the problem, I wondered how to remove them and replace them with some other method of attachment.
The solution turned out to be a case of using my imagination. After giving the problem much thought I got some of the filter material being used in existing masks for testing and learned that it was very specific in both the kinds and the sizes of bacteria the material allowed to pass through the fabric.
The mask, I learned, was not just preventing bacteria from the operating room theater to enter and attack the surgeon; it worked both ways, preventing any bacteria from the surgeon getting past to perhaps affect the patient.
I made many samples of new masks. I made them to completely encircle the surgeon’s head, like a narrow stovepipe but that mask slipped down from the top covering the nose and mouth and both ears so it didn’t work.
Then I had a brainstorm – a new design. I cut circular pieces from one piece of filter material to go around the ears and hold the mask on from one ear across the face below the eyes and to the other ear, thus eliminating the strings.
I cut a center loop of material to slip over one ear, then it went around itself onto the mask, then back across the mask then around itself on the other side and then on to the middle, ending with a loop for the other ear.
This method, though it sounds complicated, worked like a charm. Since it used only one flat piece of filter material the masks could be die cut with one chop of a die-cutter, resulting in no waste; and the end result was that the mask had only one piece and no human handwork was necessary, making it less expensive to produce.
The new mask also met all company and medical requirements. We made 50 samples first, using an Xacto(tm) knife to cut them, and delivered them to my friend. He was very happy with our new design and submitted it to the patent office, eventually gaining a new patent.
Article – Copyright 2000 Stanley I. Mason. Syndicated by ParadigmTSA
