Student has solution for garbage can spills
Locking platform keeps receptacles in place
In the Earley household, it’s Damian’s job to take out the trash and recycling. It’s been this way since the 17-year-old junior who attends Whetstone High was 7.
It’s also Damian’s job to clean up the mess that’s made when the family’s trash container tips over and spills its contents.
After said container tipped over one too many times, Damian decided he had had enough and invented what he calls The Garbage Lot, a locking platform that uses sand or water to weigh down a garbage or recycling receptacle.
The receptacles are secured by a hook attached to an axle.
On a recent Wednesday, Damian showcased a wooden prototype he and his father built a few years back. He said it’s since held up against the gale force winds Columbus sometimes has.
For the invention, Damian in 2021 won the Patent Application Award at the Invention Convention U.S. Nationals, a K-12 invention program. As the award’s name suggests, Damian received advice on how to patent The Garbage Lot.
Fast forward to the present day and Damian has received his patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, giving him the exclusive right to make, use and selling his invention for a certain period of time.
The next steps are finding a buyer for the patent. Early said he plans to use the money from the sale to help pay for college.
Damian has never been a one-off inventor, however. In fact, he’s been inventing things since he was little, often submitting them to the Ohio Invention League, a state affiliate of the Invention Convention.
In 2015, Damian said he had an idea of using drones to deliver prescription drugs directly to consumers. The following year, Damian invented a robot that was designed to feed and water pets. And the year after that, he created a glove that could extend his fingers when playing the piano. “Because I have small hands I couldn’t reach the octaves,” he said.
“Damian is an incredible representation of the impact of Invention Education in Ohio,” Robin Hilsmeier, executive director of the Ohio Invention League, said in a news release. “Ohio’s young inventors, like Damian, not only tenaciously solve real-world problems, but continue to push to ensure that people have access to the life-changing inventions that they create.”
Damian said he takes after his dad, Matt, whom he said has renovated multiple rooms of their Clintonville home.
“I think I do a pretty good job at either avoiding obstacles or overcoming them,” Damian said. “I really like inventing because it’s really cool to see a problem and be like, ‘Hey, I have a solution for that or I can make this better.’”