TUSTIN : Invention Opens Door for Girl, 9

The problem was simple enough. Lizards and wasps were getting into the house and Stephanie Smith, 9, was tired of her mother’s constant reminders to shut the patio door.

Applying lessons she learned in science class, she found the solution: a door closer using string and a milk jug half-filled with water that automatically pulls the screen door shut after it’s opened.

Nothing dramatic to change the world, her mother, Kathy Smith, said of the pulley device. But Stephanie has reaped rewards and now national recognition for her ingenuity.

They began with kudos from her third-grade teacher. Later, Stephanie, now a fourth-grader at Helen Estock Elementary School, was honored by the Tustin Unified School District and also at a countywide school invention fair in Irvine. Competing against other third-graders, her invention was also selected the best in California in 1992-93 and the best from 10 Western states by Invent America.

Last month, the United States Patent Model Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit agency that runs the Invent America program, picked her invention as finalist for a national award.

The program is intended to promote inventions among young Americans, said Nancy J. Metz, Invent America executive director. National winners from each grade level receive $500 in U.S. savings bonds.

“We’re surprised,” said Stephanie’s father, David, an engineer, who helped her daughter install the device in their house. “We thought it was not creative enough.”

“It looked good, but it won’t change the world,” said Stephanie’s mother, who added that she is nevertheless happy for her daughter.

Kathy Smith, a former elementary school teacher, said they knew Stephanie had the makings of an inventor at age 7, when she created a toy hat with headlights that was supposed to come on whenever she nodded off.

The invention didn’t work most of the time, Kathy Smith said, but it encouraged Stephanie, the eldest of two girls, to tinker.

“I’d get some wood, a hammer and nails, and she would just let go,” David Smith said. “She’s pretty much self-directed.”

Stephanie says she wants to be a scientist some day.

“I like to create things,” she said. “I like to solve problems.”

She also likes animals. In third grade, she said, classmates called her Frog Lady, because “I liked frogs so much.” At a recent trip to nature park, Kathy Smith said, Stephanie spent the time counting banana slugs.

“But when she saw a lizard shed her tail, she freaked out,” Kathy Smith said.

Evelyn Brantley, Stephanie’s teacher, said that it was probably the girl’s precise explanation of her invention that won her the awards.

“She stated the problem clearly and what she did to solve it,” Brantley said.

In addition, students must verify that the invention hasn’t been done before. In Stephanie’s case, most automatic door closing devices use springs or electronic gadgets, not pulleys, Brantley said.

“It caught my eye,” she said. It was not dramatic but it worked.”