Harvest Includes Swinging Mailbox, Mechanical Scarecrow : North Dakota Yields ‘New Crop’ of Inventions

Peter Konzak of Devils Lake rummaged through the clutter of his briefcase and found a letter as proof that his invention, a “pop-up scarecrow,” has already earned him some attention, if not wealth.

“I am still invited to the Johnny Carson show. It is a standing invitation,” the 66-year-old retired farmer said, answering questions about his scarecrow at the second annual North Dakota Inventors Congress.

Forty inventors and manufacturers, most of them from North Dakota, showed off gizmos, gadgets and thingamajigs at the show that ended Tuesday.

Spokesman Scot Nething said only four of them had displayed their wares in last year’s show. “It’s a whole new crop.”

The inventions showcased this year ranged from an ultra light airplane manufactured in Edgeley to a swinging mailbox that a Minot man devised after a neighbor complained about his mailbox getting knocked down by snowplows each winter.

‘Pest-Scaring Device’

And then there was a lawn mower doubling as a fertilizer spreader, a clothes dryer vent closure, a crayon holder, a retractable engine heater cord and a wheel bearing packer.

Konzak’s pride and joy stood at one side of his booth on the floor of the Jamestown Civic Center.

It was a steel contraption wearing fluorescent work gloves, decked out in red and yellow ribbons and sporting a dummy’s head adorned with a cowboy hat.

In a sunflower field, the clumsy-looking “pest-scaring device” jumps up from among the plants, twirls and whistles to startle blackbirds and keep them from feasting on the seeds, Konzak said Monday.

“All you need is one on 40 acres,” he said. “With the buzzer in here and all the stuff, it can pay for itself in one year.” A battery and propane tank give the scarecrow its life.

Since getting his mechanical scarecrow patented in April, 1986, Konzak has made about 30 of them and sold them all at about $500 apiece, he said.

But he said he hasn’t made any money yet. “I’ve just made my expenses. I put $20,000 into patenting this thing.”

Business hasn’t even been that brisk for the ultra light maker, Jackson Manufacturing Co. of Edgeley, which built its first ultra light airplane a year ago and has sold two so far, sales manager Gene Hanson said. A yellow one displayed at the Inventors Congress costs $7,450, not including options.

“Ranchers can use them. Retired people. Anybody who likes to fly can use them. It isn’t any different than boating, motorcycling and snowmobiling,” Hanson said. Ultra lights don’t require pilots’ licenses.

Gordon Johnson of Cando displayed his “Garda-A-Lok,” which he patented a year ago. It clamps around the outside door handle of motels or apartments, a lock over a lock. “Nobody gets into that room,” he said.

“Tonight, there will be one on our motel room when we leave it,” he said.

Walt Behrens of Minot developed his damage-proof mailbox last fall and sold 16 so far at $46.90 each.

The idea is simple--a mailbox that swings back into place if a snowplow or other vehicle gets off the side of the road and bashes it.

Behrens, who retired after 28 years as an assistant airport manager, came up with the idea after a neighbor complained about how difficult it was replanting an uprooted mailbox when the ground was frozen.

Behrens said he provides his own testing laboratory: “I got my own out by the road, of course, and I give it a bat and a swing to see how it’s working.”