John Langrehr wasn’t thinking of the Ancient Greek inventor Archimedes when he dropped his chalk cube into the pool table hole.
Archimedes was famous for having leapt suddenly out of his bath and run down the streets Syracuse, Greece naked when he discovered the answer to a problem he had been assigned to solve.
Langrehr, who lives in Secaucus, didn’t engage in a similar feat. Instead, he simply thought, “There must be a better way to chalk a pool stick without dropping the cube all the time or getting your fingers covered with chalk.”
Like Archimedes, he had what inventors like to call an “ah ha” moment, during which he could see the answer in his head. Four years later, after much work, Langrehr may indeed reap the rewards of that moment when his simple invention hits the market place and promises to bring him financial dividends.
“Everything you use in life had to be invented by somebody,” the 38-year-old truck driver said. “These things didn’t just appear out of nowhere. Someone had to think them up.”
Although Langrehr could not go into specifics about what is soon to be marketed as the Automatic Pool Dye Chalker, he did hint that it is a simple device that will help revolutionize pool chalking everywhere.
“Actually,” he said, “there are two designs. One is better suited for sale in the sports stores, the other one for bars and billiard halls.”
For those not familiar with the reasons why pool players chalk the tips of their pool cues before shooting a shot, chalk helps create friction that allows the player to control where the ball goes. Chalking helps stop flubbed shots that are frequently called miscues, and allows the player, professional or amateur, to control the spin of the cue ball.
Pool players – as made evident by the Paul Newman/Tom Cruise movie The Color of Money, frequently coat the tip of their cue sticks. The Automatic Pool Dye Chalker, Langrehr noted, eliminates fumbling around for the small cube all the time.
Langrehr, who is originally from Jersey City, moved to Secaucus when he was 10. Although he has played pool for most of his life, he is hardly a professional, frequenting local pool halls throughout the county on weekends. He learned in his family’s house.
“We had a pool table in the basement when I was a kid,” he said.
His “ah ha” moment came in 1999 while playing pool at a local hall.
“Dropping it into the hole got to be a bother,” he said. “I thought there had to be a better way.”
Sketched it out
Working from the idea in his head, he sketched out his invention — noting that hardest part seems to have been all the paperwork he has had to fill out in getting the idea to a marketing company.
“I submitted the idea to Invent Tech last May, and they loved the idea,” he said.
Invent Tech is short for Invention Technologies Inc. out of Coral Gables, Fla., the company that is helping him promote the project nationally and internationally.
“This has already been to trade shows all over the world,” Langrehr said. “It was just featured at a Chicago trade show. It’s due to go to London soon.”
The device, although simple, has been patented in his name, and the company feels it will generate a significant amount of sales. How much is anybody’s guess, but Langrehr believes his fortune is made. Although he isn’t spending any of the money yet, Langrehr is looking forward to a time when he can set up college funds for his kids and buy a home.
Will he give up work as a truck driver? Absolutely, he said.
“I would like to travel,” he said, grinning a little.
The success of this one idea has inspired him.
“I have an idea for another invention,” he said, with a secretive air. “I won’t tell you what it is, but its sports-related.”