Page 82 - The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design

Steve Roach

7. 7. Signal Conditioning in Oscilloscopes

and the Spirit of Invention

The Spirit of Invention

When I was a child my grandfather routinely asked me if I was going to
be an engineer when I grew up. Since some of my great-uncles worked
on the railroads, I sincerely thought he wanted me to follow in their foot-
steps. My grandfather died before I clarified exactly what kind of engi-
neer he hoped I would become, but I think he would approve of my
interpretation.
I still wasn't sure what an engineer was when I discovered I wanted to
be an inventor. I truly pictured myself alone in my basement toiling on
the important but neglected problems of humanity. Seeking help, I joined
the Rocky Mountain Inventors' Congress. They held a conference on
invention where I met men carrying whole suitcases filled with clever
little mechanical devices. Many of these guys were disgruntled and
cranky because the world didn't appreciate their contributions. One of
the speakers, a very successful independent inventor, told of a bankrupt
widow whose husband had worked twenty years in isolation and secrecy
inventing a mechanical tomato peeler. The tomato peeler had consumed
the family savings, and the widow had asked the speaker to salvage the
device. With sadness the speaker related the necessity of informing her
that tomatoes were peeled in industrial quantities with sulfuric acid.
Apparently the inventor had been too narrowly focused to realize that
in some cases molecules are more powerful than machines.
I didn't want to become disgruntled, cranky, or isolated and I didn't
even own a basement. So I went to engineering school and adopted a
much easier approach to inventing. I now design products for companies
with such basic comforts as R&D budgets, support staff, and manufactur-
ing operations. Along the way I have discovered many ways of nurturing
inventiveness. Here are some techniques that seem to work:
Give yourself time to invent. If necessary, steal this time from the un-
ending rote tasks that your employer so readily recognizes and rewards. I
try to work on things that have nothing to do with a particular product,
have no schedule, and have no one expecting results. I spend time on
highly tangential ideas that have little hope for success. I can fail again
and again in this daydream domain with no sense of loss.

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