By Alexis Aguirre
According to reports, the number of inventors granted patents in Hays County almost doubled between 2003 and 2015. The number of inventors granted patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the Rural Capital Area (RCA) increased about 40 percent.
Richard Powell is one of those inventors.
With about six patents under his belt and one more pending, Powell was able to leave his job as a vocational coordinator at Crockett High School to focus on inventing full time.
The majority of Powell’s inventions and patents are sports related. Powell focus is on creating pitching machines that are marketed to young children just starting their career in baseball or softball.
Around 1987, Richard Cordona, a baseball coach from Crockett High School, contacted Powell. Cordona came to Powell in need of a machine that would be able to pitch to children accurately.
According to Powell, when adults pitch to children, they toss the ball softly in an arch and the ball comes at them in a downward motion. This leads to children developing an upper-cut in a person’s swing. It becomes a muscle memory that could be hard to unlearn, Powell said.
His machine would also help children from playing in fear because of the speed of most pitching machines.
“You have a 200 pound adult throwing a ball at a kid, they’re going to be scared,” Powell said. “I don’t understand why any dad or coach would want their kids to play in fear. It keeps them from learning.”
Powell gives credit for the success of his inventions to his brother, Steven Powell, a preacher in Alabama who helped him market his machines.
“He has been the one person that has always really believed in my machines and has made a demand for it,” Powell said.
His first patent in 1981, cost him $2,000 and was for a dispenser that would easily fill cups in a church in an efficient and hygienic manner. His last patent on a backyard pitcher was cost him $15,000.
“Patents aren’t free so you have to be careful that you don’t waste your money,” Powell said. “You have to test out your ideas.”
According to Powell, he has a one year period from the moment he has the idea, to patent it. For him, this patent process usually takes about two to three years to complete. This period is called patent peding.
“When I first think of an idea, there are some forms that I have that I have witnesses sign so that I can work on it without anybody being able to steal it,” Powell said. “These witnesses will be able to testify that I had the idea first.”
Powell’s inventions come out of a need for them.
“I did the dispenser not to make money, but because I was lazy,” Powell said. “My wife and I were in charge of filling the cups and I said there has got to be a better way.”
Now his invention is used in half of America’s mega churches.
Currently, Powell is working on a new patent for a hand held machine that uses leverage to pitch different types of balls. The patent is still pending for his product and he is working toward getting it in Walmart stores to sell alongside a particular type of ball.
