By SHEILA YOUNG
http://www.seyoung.co.uk/GuyLesticianHistory.html
"There is nothing documented to acknowledge Guy Lestician's start as an inventor. But then, who documents such a thing? Who believes this is a vocation in life? Who would choose to be an inventor?
The truth is, you don't chose to be one. It just happens.
For Guy Lestician, he started on the road to invention when at 5 years old he began to breed fish. The fish tanks were a source of fascination to him and he loved to see the lights and filter system. But he was only a kid - wasn't he? What could he find so fascinating in electricity at that age? Hmmm ...
Guy went to Trent Catholic Grammar School and when he moved to Hamilton Public School he was kept back a year. He was in 6th grade and 11 year olds tended to be a little bored if they're held back. But it did give him time to let his mind wander to the unusual.
His father ran a trucking business and was quite successful. It was called Lestician Trucking and was one of the first trucking companies to distribute newspapers across the US States. ‘Pop’, as Guy refers to him, was always on the road and one of Guy's brothers was also into trucking. When Guy grew up, he worked for 'Pop' for about 5 years but got sick of hard labour. He then decided that he would pursue his hobby of tinkering with electronics.
To entertain himself, Guy used to take stereos out of cars and took them apart. When he put them together, sometimes they would blow apart and he’d try to fix them. Between the ages of 12 – 13, he hooked up an antenna radio – in those days they were all tube radios so already he was beginning to break traditional rules regarding electricity.
His father would finance the buying of equipment and the sort of things he started with were a go cart made of wood, then he progressed to mini-bikes.
'Pop' never really knew what his son was up to, but he did believe in his ability. His father would be shown the things Guy invented but it was only when other people actually said things like, “You’re son’s invention is amazing,” etc, that he gave them his full attention. Running a haulage business wasn't always easy.
While at school, Guy was really into electronics. His teacher, Mr Lang, at Steinert High School Hamilton, NJ, was his inspiration. During his electronics lessons, Guy would allow his mind to think laterally with Mr Lang's encouragement. In fact, when Mr Lang retired, Guy had his own business and employed him. In total, Mr Lang was in Guy’s life for about 15 years.
Guy was like any teenager and was into bands and played rhythm guitar. He fixed up all the lighting and sound effects for the band’s gigs. One of his bands was called Purple Mist – he was a Jimmy Hendrix fan.
When he was 20 years old he worked for Matel and developed systems which would enable 16 kids at once to play with some of the inventions.
In 1981, he designed the first point of sale computerized system for tills - OT International was converted to French and sold well on the Continent.
He then was working for the Atari Computer Company, and managed to invent a system which could run 60 keyboards off the same computer. It was compatible with Lenux and the design concept was sold to Tokyo Electrics.
In 1985, he set up the Zebra Computer Production Company. A man called Bob Piece (an investor of the Astrodome) invested in the company along with Sylvester Stallone. At that time the investors were looking into the hospitality industry and the invention Guy first worked on was an interface for the till. It had the ability to print out the bill for the meal as well as automatically opening the till.
The same interface enabled a sprinkler system to be installed and would water grass. Prior to this invention, Mexicans generally watered the grass and would leave it on, soaking the grass and the road and making it hazardous to walk or drive on. Guy’s interface was linked to two probes, one either end of the grass. Once it sensed the ground was saturated it would turn itself off, saving water and the dangers a wet road brought with them. This item was solar powered.
In 1987, Guy set up the Omni Computer Company. He was developing computer hardware when Bill Gates was developing the software. He was involved with Bill and they often messed about together with other friends, building carburetors, looking at cars, etc. They both went their different ways, however, and the rest was computer history.
In 1995, Guy worked with Dick Lang, his old teacher and Ben Giero (sp), who was a very creative man in Hollywood and worked on things such as the Star Trek toys. The three men works on radio controlled cars, which were the in thing at the time. The work was for Matel Toys and the funding came from Zebra.
How does an inventor get his ideas? One of the inventions he would like to work on and will as soon as the EBU unit is in full production, was inspired by his son, Chris's project for a Science Fair. Guy exploded a bug under a light he invented for part of the project. He began to think about how the light could be harnessed for other things.
The system of light similar to a flourescent tube, he realised, might be able to explode bugs in humans - cancer bugs. This is still in the thinking stage, but it could be a revolutionary idea to help cancer patients by killing off the cancerous cells. During trials the FDA brought an amputated breast full of cancer for Guy to fire under a light. The cancer simply disappeared and the breast flesh remained untouched. The FDA couldn’t believe that the test tubes he had with bugs in changed from yellow or red, to a variety of colours inbetween which proved that the experiment had been successful..
Guy still finds time to help at his local church and he has produced some solar powered lighting which has been sent to Togo (near Guyana). He is currently working on a solar powered refrigerator for the same village.
He and his family are currently working on the EBUnit."
http://www.ebunit.com |
