Students invent Grippy Cap Bottle Opener, Non-Slipping Go-Kart

Watch out Bill Gates. A pair of RCS elementary school students has created inventions that will make every bottled water drinker who can’t open the bottle happy, as well as every slick-wheeled go-kart driver.

Pieter B. Coeymans Elementary School students Ashley Ricci and Jared Powell have won them semi-finalist status in the annual Invention Convention. Their inventions – which were among 1,092 submitted by area students – will be on display next month along with 98 others from across the Capital Region at the Schenectady Museum and Suits-Bueche Planetarium.

From the 100 semifinalist, 25 finalists will be chosen to advance in the competition, said Kathy  Baumgras, who teachers fourth grade students Ashley and Jared in the RCS Scholars/REACH program.

Ashley’s invention is the Grippy Cap.  She said that “Whenever I buy a water bottle or when my mom packs one in my lunch, I can never get it open!  And I’m always thirsty!  So I end up asking my mom or one of my friends to do it.  It makes me feel weak.” 

The Grippy Cap, Ashley said, is  a regular cap, but with grippers on the edge that allow the bottle owner to stick their fingers in and simply turn the cap open.

“You put your fingers in them, then turn the cap, and pop!  It comes right off, and between each gripper, there’s a soft, rubber pad, so it won’t hurt your fingers!,” Ashley said.

Jared invented the Non-Slipping Go-Kart. 

Jared’s invention attaches sand paper to go-cart wheels,  addressing the problem of slick tires he and others face.

By attaching sand paper so you don’t slip.  Say you were in second place and you spun out, wouldn’t you be mad?  That’s what my invention does, makes you not spin out on the track,” Jared said.

Jared’s and Ashley’s inventions are presently in the design and construction phase. The problem and design of the solution won them placement as semifinalists and the right to construct their designs for the May competition, Baumgras said. The Invention Convention is a statewide invention education program for public and private school students. The goal is to stimulate the development of students' creativity and imaginations, thereby building a new generation of American inventors.