by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Sharon Moore says she comes from a family with big ideas.
Her brother, a military aircraft mechanic, created a tool used for the repair of a specific type of airplane.
And Moore remembers her father, a truck driver, talking about how great it would be if someone could plug a destination and a starting point into a device that would then figure the shortest route between the two points.
“That was 20 years ago,” said Moore. “He did take the idea to Texas Instruments, but nothing ever came of it.”
Of course, someone else created MapQuest.com and has made road trips a lot easier.
“My father and brothers were always coming up with ideas, but unfortunately they never really did anything with them,” said Moore, the youngest of six children.
Moore, a Jacksonville resident, has decided to do something with her big idea.
She invented the Toy Sterilizer, a product that, as its name suggests, makes children’s toys germ free.
A mother of three, Moore first conceived of the idea when her youngest, Olivia, was six months old.
“At that age everything goes into their mouths,” she said. “I was trying to keep everything clean and sterile, and I thought, ‘There has got to be a better way.’ ”
Her product is a device that holds toys — especially ones with small pieces such as Legos — so they can go through a sterilization process in the dishwasher. She said it would work great for homes and for child care businesses, where a single toy gets passed to dozens of children.
Moore played with her idea for two and a half years, and then last March she called Invent-Tech, a Coral Gables-based firm that helps inventors get their ideas off the ground.
“They help with marketing and lead you in the right direction,” she said.
With the patent process already in the works, Moore’s next step is to find a manufacturer and a licensing agreement.
She has big plans for the Toy Sterilizer and sees it being sold at places such as Wal-Mart, Target and Toys-R-Us.
“I’m hoping it will be the next baby shower must-have,” she said.
For now, Moore is focusing on the Toy Sterilizer, but it may not be the last product to bear her name.
“I have lots of other ideas floating around inside my head,” she said.