INVENTION INTENTION; CREATIVE MINDS PURSUE THEIR HOLY GRAIL - THE NEXT NEW GADGET THAT WILL GRAB CONSUMERS LIKE VELCRO.

Byline: Heesun Wee Daily News Staff Writer

About once a week, inventor Timothy Nicely leaves his Woodland Hills home and heads for the privacy of a Canoga Park garage he has converted into a combination office and workshop.

Surrounded by his computer, books, newspapers, files and prototypes of toys and other products that didn't make it to store shelves, Nicely tinkers away into the wee hours of the morning, finally crashing on a nearby bed between 1 and 2 a.m.

A mini-kitchen in the garage keeps him fed. Sparky, a three-legged dog, keeps him company. And when Nicely needs a boost of energy, he passes on the cup of java and reaches instead for a hot mug of ground ginkgo biloba leaves, which some believe boost the brain's activities.

Each visit to the garage can last hours to days at a time, depending on Nicely's creative mood. ``I don't like to be disturbed,'' said Nicely, who is getting royalties from two of his inventions - a photo image and a book published on the Internet. Nicely is far from rich, but he's working on it, as he has been for the past two decades in between other paying business ventures.

Like thousands of small-time inventors around the world, Nicely is in hot pursuit of that holy grail of inventions - a unique product that sells like hotcakes. We're talking about the suitcase with wheels, the granola bar, Velcro.

But getting there is no easy task, Nicely is quick to say. ``It's a lot of self-education.''

Business brawn needed

In the world of inventions, business savvy is almost more important than creative ingenuity.

``It's a science all its own,'' said Ted De Boer, founder and executive director of the Inventors Assistance League in Glendale. The 35-year-old, nonprofit organization includes thousands of members worldwide and helps wanna-be inventors learn the ropes.

One of the most common - and costliest - mistakes among green inventors is assuming you need a patent to obtain legal ownership of an idea. In the United States, the first to invent an original idea - not the first to get a patent - claims legal ownership.

Besides, getting a patent can take more than a year and cost several thousand dollars - and there's no guarantee the public will buy the patented idea. ``Ninety percent of all patents issued don't make any money,'' said Rusty Ruscetta, also with the Inventors Assistance League.

But if a manufacturer or investor likes your idea enough, they will pay for the patent process, De Boer said.

Instead of pursuing a patent initially, De Boer suggests inventors establish legal ownership of an idea by documenting it in writing. Use a workbook and develop a paper trail that includes dates, scribblings of ideas, conversations with business people. Such diligent paperwork will hold muster in court.

``I keep notes in a notebook. It's very specific,'' said Michele Weiss of Sherman Oaks, who by day works in advertising sales and by night squeezes in several hours on her ideas for new toys and dolls in her home office.

In addition to keeping a written record of her work, Weiss also carries a small tape recorder wherever she goes to capture any flashes of ideas. ``If I have an idea, I just record it as a blurb in my tape recorder. My mind is always going,'' she said.

Another common error among inventors is bungling the marketing process. Too often, beginners chat up their brilliant ideas so much that they end up revealing their secrets to business people, including potential manufacturers and investors.

``A lot of people will say, `Just give me your idea and we'll see what we can do,' '' Weiss recalled.

Do your homework

With so many pitfalls in the way of invention success, perhaps one of the best storehouses of helpful - and free - information for would-be inventors is, of all places, your local library.

Before you start investing too much time or money developing a brilliant idea, the public library can be the best place to pursue a patent search to determine if your idea has been done already. No one wants to reinvent the wheel.

Nonprofit organizations such as De Boer's Inventors Assistance League and other organizations also can offer guidance and warn new inventors of pitfalls.

Trade shows and events can be useful excursions, too. This year at the annual Invention Convention in Pasadena, inventors rolled out everything from motorized in-line skates to a 500-pound bed consisting of a wooden frame and stone mat that its maker claims releases healthful infrared rays into the human body.

Finally, all three Valley inventors said being a successful inventor means keeping abreast of new products - the competition. From new toys to unique plates, they regularly make time to examine and take mental notes at stores to capitalize on good ideas.

``If I go into a mall, I see what's out there,'' Weiss said.

Several years ago, Bette Smith of West Hills joined the ranks of inventors when she fashioned her first set of porcelain plates, with grooves to hold hard tacos upright. The idea came to her 20 years ago in her kitchen, when she grumbled to her late husband about tumbling tacos.

Now a second line of plates, featuring sections similar to paper plates, fill her house. Smith molded both creations out of supplies from an arts-and-craft store and tested them out on family and friends.

``When I go to restaurants, I turn them (plates) over. `Who makes this?' '' said Smith, whose quest to find better plate designs never ends.

Through the Internet and gift stores, Smith estimates she has sold several thousand plates across the United States and in Japan. She's working on marketing her products through a television shopping program.

``I've had a lot of manufacturers that said they could come through and they didn't,'' said Smith, who now has her own company, Platter-Puss Inc., based in her home. ``It takes a lot of stamina. Things do not come overnight.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) THE WHEELS ARE TURNING

That bright idea can make you a millionaire... or a pauper 

(2) Timothy Nicely, also pictured on the cover, invents products for children in his Canoga Park workshop.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News

(3) Since designing a plate that holds tacos upright, Bette Smith has turned out variations on the theme.

Evan Yee/Daily News