Inventors Launchpad Network

Calvin Flowers President & Founder Chicago Inventors Organization Calvin Flowers relates to parents who struggle to keep their teenagers from running up the telephone bill. While growing up, he and his six siblings gave his mother headaches because they abused their telephone privileges. “When the bill arrived, no one wanted to help pay it.” says Calvin, who recalls how his mother unplugged the phone and locked it in her bedroom as a last resort. But his siblings bought another phone, and the bill ended up being higher than ever. Calvin had a passion for electronics and a knack for solving problems. To solve the telephone abuse for his mother, he created the “Tel-Lock”, a telephone-locking device that secures the phone at the jack. When the invention worked, Calvin knew he had something others would want. The road to sucess was not an easy one for Calvin. In 1992, Calvin hired a now defunct invention promotion firm to help evaluate, develop, patent, and market his invention. Calvin was a novice when it c