Originally Posted by
jimjim1
Or maybe one of his other "over 1,000 patents".
Or his infusion pump business or his iBot wheelchair business, or his dialysis work or ...
Dean Kamen has had more successes and failures than I have had hot dinners.
That would not appear to be the case. Patents are merely pieces of paper framed on the wall. Most are useless unless economically exploitable. He's had exactly three successes: the first infusion pump, the dialysis patents, and the insulin pump. Those three things were indeed great successes, changed many peoples lives, and made him very wealthy. That wealth allowed him to continue to dabble in areas of engineering that have not proven profitable regardless of their public appeal. He's clearly an outstanding salesman, but since the original three medical device windfalls he has not actually achieved any commercial success. I've met some ex-DEKA employees. All told me he hired only the young and romantic and paid them peanuts. His FIRST science program is a huge scam when I was peripherally involved one year. When I was involved it was an "everybody gets a trophy" program, and the winning teams generally have most of the work done for them by adults and the infusion of cubic dollars, i.e. only wealthy school communities win. And the entire thing made a fortune for the owners of the original Small Parts, Inc. (not to be confused by another company of the same name). I think the old company closed their doors after their fortune was made.