Tony Dallojacono believes he’s always had a flair for science. He also said that he’s constantly thinking of new ideas and new products.
“I see something and then I start to think of stupid things,” said Dallojacono, a 40-year-old North Bergen native and letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. “Like the one time I wondered why we couldn’t have solar-powered air conditioners. I was good at science in high school (at North Bergen High). It was a good subject for me. So ideas hit me all the time.”
One day, seven years ago, while getting ready for work, Dallojacono tried to put styling gel into his hair, but found the gel bottle nearly empty. There was still enough gel at the bottom of the bottle to give Dallojacono the proper grooming to do his rounds that day.
“But I couldn’t get the gel out of the bottom,” Dallojacono said. “I kept shaking the bottle and squeezing and it wouldn’t come out. I got aggravated and was about to throw the bottle out, because I couldn’t get that last little bit out of the bottle. Then I remembered that I had similar problems with other bottles around the house, like Windex and detergent. I started thinking that I paid good money for that stuff and was never able to use the full bottle.”
Dallajocono figured that there had to be a way to get the last drops of gel or window cleaner out of the manufacturer’s bottle.
“I figured that gravity has to have a way to force everything out,” Dallojacono said. “It has to be able to come out somehow. So I sat down and drew a diagram of what I wanted to do.”
With that, the birth of the “V Bottle” took place, although Dallojacono had no idea what he was doing.
“I just drew the diagram, but I didn’t think much of it,” Dallojacono said. “It was just a drawing until a few years ago. One night, I was watching late-night television and I saw a telephone number on a commercial, saying, ‘If you always wondered how to get an invention patented.’ Well, that was it for me. I called the number.”
The company doing the advertisement was Invent Tech, a Coral Gables, Florida-based firm (formally known as Invention Technologies, Inc.) that helps inventors find possible manufacturers to produce their clients’ inventions.
With the help of Invent Tech, Dallojacono has been able to get a scale model of his invention, as well as to receive contact information from prospective manufacturers who would then produce the invention and market it to packaging firms throughout the nation.
In November of 1999, Invent Tech began to help Dallojacono make contacts with manufacturing firms.
“They signed a release telling me that they would not steal my idea and that they would help me through the process,” Dallojacono said. “I checked out the company with the Better Business Bureau and they seemed to be reputable.”
Invent Tech devised a scale model of the invention and believed that Dallojacono’s V Bottle, named because of its shape, was an excellent idea.
“They told me that they couldn’t see the bottle not working,” Dallojacono said. “Because of its accessibility to all bottles, the people at Invent Tech thought it was an excellent invention, one that could work and could be produced.”
Dallojacono had to pay a startup fee to Invent Tech – “a few grand,” he says – in order to receive the initial materials in order to contact the manufacturers.
“It was a basic gamble,” Dallojacono said. “But I felt the gamble was going to be well worth it eventually. I haven’t received any responses yet, but I think it’s going to pan out. I was told it was going to take some time and was not going to happen overnight. But I can now see something happening. It’s getting closer.”
Because the V Bottle has not received a U.S. patent as of yet, Dallojacono could not produce the scale model or a drawing of the plans, for fear that someone else may see the plans and pinch the idea. A licensing agreement has to be reached or the V Bottle needs patent protection.
“But I can really feel that it could be any day now,” Dallojacono said. “It’s the reason why I signed on with Invent Tech in the first place.”
Dallojacono said that Invent Tech encourages its clients to see if they can help defray startup costs by encouraging sponsors to invest.
“But that’s not me,” said Dallojacono, who used to have a regular mail route in North Bergen, but now drives a mail truck. “I kept it to myself. It wasn’t a great amount of money. I didn’t want to take anything from anyone because I couldn’t guarantee anything back. But I didn’t want to look like I was being greedy.”
Dallojacono said that he has no concrete time frame as to when he’d like to see the V Bottle purchased and manufactured.
“It’s been seven years already,” Dallojacono said. “I’m in no hurry. I basically have to wait and see what happens.”
In the meantime, Dallojacono will continue to deliver the mail in his hometown while he waits for someone to deliver the good news about his invention.
And he’ll keep shaking the gel bottle to get the last bit out.
“There are times I want to throw it against the wall,” Dalljacono said. “And you have to get that last bit out, because you need it to go to work. There isn’t any more in the house. It’s very frustrating.”
One man’s frustration could lead to another man’s elation, if the V Bottle becomes a reality.