During my military service in 1974, I was able to obtain my first real patent for an invention and I became very interested in inventive creativity. I was ignited by such powerful ideas as Altshuler's ARIZ algorithm for solving inventive tasks, Osborne's brainstorming, Gordon's synectics. But the most powerful influence on my inventive work was the book The New Idea by De Bono, excerpts from which were published in the Russian magazine Inventor and Rationalizer (fortunately, I had subscribed to it in 1974).
Ten years later, I had gained a lot of experience in how to invent and decided to share it with young tech lovers - readers of the popular Young Designer (Млад конструктор) magazine. With great enthusiasm, I wrote a series of seven articles under the title The Secret of Invention (in Bulgarian). Reading it now, 40 years later, I saw that everything written in it is still valid today... and I decided to post it in my blog and in Circuit Idea. Here is the the first article in which I motivated the reader to become an inventor.

The Secret of Invention

Reprinted from Young Designer (Млад конструктор) magazine, vol. 1, 1984.

Dear readers, the editors of the magazine Young Designer are starting a new section. Firmly convinced that creative thinking is not cultivated by giving ready-made recipes, we start a conversation about one of the highest manifestations of technical creativity - invention. The series The Secret of Invention will be led by Eng. Cyril Mechkov. He himself, not yet 30 years old, is the author of 7 inventions and many rationalizations. Our regular readers also know him from the pages of our magazine, as he is the author of some of the most interesting materials. The funny illustrations were made by the famous Bulgarian cartoonist Borislav Zlatanov. The column is also open to all young innovators who want to share their inventive experience.

Try to Invent!

The new idea! The ways of its emergence are unknown, the difficulties associated with its implementation are countless. And this is not accidental. Every invention essentially negates something that has existed before. The fragile structure, which embodied the new idea, opposes the glamorous and completely perfect machine at first glance, and the unknown eccentric who dared to express the idea - against the famous specialist enjoying recognition. And this struggle has accompanied the development of humanity since its inception until today. Every moment in some corner of the globe, the healing "Eureka!" sounds, followed by the skeptical "No!" Indescribable is the joy of the inventor whose idea overcame the fierce resistance of the old and stood the test of practice. It is also the only reward - the source of one of the greatest human pleasures.

Dear reader, do you also want to taste the romance of inventive creativity? If you have not tried it yet, don't blame yourself. Many and various are the obstacles in the way of an invention. How to overcome them? That is what you wll learn in our series on invention.

What is an invention anyway? Here we will not interpret the definition given in the Law of Inventions but will try to disprove a widespread misconception.

Many people understand the concept of "invention" as a "pioneering invention", that is, something completely new that marks the beginning of a new field of technology. Thus, the wrong impression is created that an inventor can be, for example, one person in a thousand. This suppresses the desire for creativity, creates self-doubt and prevents the emergence of "small but useful" inventions. In fact, an invention is any new technical solution that satisfies some human needs in a previously unknown way. Inventors can be, for example, the handyman if he invents an original tool or gadget; the radio amateur who solders a circuit with previously unknown properties; the photo enthusiast if he invents an original trick photo device; the housewife who has made a hitherto unknown device to relieve her labor in the kitchen, etc.

Therefore, inventions are not only the radio, the gramophone, the laser, etc., but also quite elementary objects at first glance, in which some trick is embedded. So, an inventor can be anyone in whom even a spark of originality burns and the qualities of an inventive intellect are present. It should be noted that the terms "intelligence" and "inventive intelligence" do not mean the same thing, although in some cases they overlap.

Intelligence, understood in the usual sense, presupposes the ability to think logically, which is of secondary importance when solving inventive tasks. The world of science is known to be full of hard-working, highly intelligent scientists who are nevertheless not "generators" of new ideas.

Inventive intelligence is a special organization of the thought process, which is not so much related to the person's own development as to the ability to take a new look at known things, imaginative thinking, etc. How else can we explain the fact that Edison, who was considered mentally retarded at school, managed to make more than 1000 inventions, several of them pioneering? Or that the Patent Office column of the Soviet magazine Yunyi Technik regularly publishes interesting ideas of 10-15-year-old children, and some of these ideas border on inventions?

Therefore, in order to become an inventor, you do not necessarily have to be a "great" specialist, nor is it required that you have completed a university or secondary education. A large number of inventions (especially so-called "physical inventions") are within the power of a high school or even elementary school student. Time has proven that education does not actually develop inventive intelligence. Its main task is for the student to obtain a certain system of knowledge.

And what happens in practice? You are born with the qualities needed for invention but you lack the knowledge and experience to use them. Later in school you get knowledge but in return the ability to think original has disappeared. This would not happen if teachers more often began their lessons with the question "How can this be done?" instead of "This is how it is done."

With all this in mind, in the next few articles we will tell you about the secrets of invention.

Eng. Cyril Mechkov