Ashland man's invention claims national prize - By John Darling - for the Mail Tribune

May 28, 2006

Ashland man's invention claims national prize
By John Darling
for the Mail Tribune

With a prestigious $25,000 "Modern Marvels" grand prize from the History Channel and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Ashland "green" inventor David Ward and his Strawjet seem poised to take a bite out of the world's building materials market.

"The recognition and validation that it gives us from the scientific community is huge and we hope and expect it will bring investors," said Ward's co-inventor and business partner, Leo Palombo of Ashland.

It also might bring a buy-out offer for the fledgling company — which "we might go for under certain conditions," he added.

Developed mainly by Ward in his backyard shop and relocated to big shops in Talent last year, Strawjet Inc. produces a machine that gleans waste straw from fields, weaves it into cables, then, using a clay-cement material, binds the cables into building materials, such as blocks and beams.

Ward's prize, the 2006 Modern Marvel of the Year comes from the History Channel, which featured the winners as part of its "Great Inventions Week" on Saturday, and from Invent Now, a subsidiary of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation.

Ward says he began his trek as a "green" inventor after getting seriously ill from contact with building materials in his job as a construction supervisor.

Finding that no modern green materials compared in strength to traditional ones, Ward decided to invent them.

His central vision of using farm fiber waste came to him while driving a combine on a farm — and after 10 years of research, and using many hand-made parts, he built the first prototype. Seeing deforestation in Latin America further motivated him to find a wood alternative.

Ward was one of only four out of 380 applicants to win the Environmental Protection Agency's Small Business Innovation Research grant, allowing him to build a full-scale model capable of making wall sections.

It was successfully field-tested at the Oregon State University Experiment Station here — and Ward and his board of trustees set up nonprofit ASET — Ashland School of Environmental Technology — allowing Ward to get grant money and use the project to mentor area students, including those from Wilderness Charter School at Ashland High School.

Ward, 54, was traveling after the award ceremony and could not be reached for comment for this story.

The invention of the Strawjet has special significance, Palombo said, because it's a major departure from existing technology, because it creates strong building materials from abundant waste and because China and other emerging nations, needing to build millions of new homes, are looking for alternatives to scarce and expensive steel and timber.

A hand-fed version of the Strawjet is likely to be in demand in disaster-prone regions, such as quake-stricken Afghanistan or the hurricane-thrashed Gulf Coast, Palombo said, adding, "There's a staggering amount of potential in China and the Mideast, where there's certainly not enough lumber, concrete or steel."

The corporation has focused on straw because it's abundant, but is already exploring stronger agricultural fibers, such as hemp and "virtually indestructible" palm fronds, either substance capable of supporting a 10-story building, Palombo said.

The panel of judges, which included Steve Wozniak, co-inventor of the personal computer, chose Ward from 4,300 entries examined over the last eight months. Main criterion was "their potential to make a dramatic global impact and be true modern marvels," according to a statement on the History Channel's Web site.

"The big ideas behind these inventions are mind boggling," said Wozniak, on the cable TV network's Web site. "The Strawjet has the potential to revolutionize how we build in the less developed regions of the world by using one of our few remaining and endless resources: straw."

Invent Now President Jeffrey Dollinger said Ward's invention is "an extraordinary advancement in the global construction industry, and it is one that has the potential to end up in our Hall of Fame one day." Inventions of the 25 finalists toured major cities over the last three months. Inventors were hosted at the award banquet and an invention seminar by the History Channel, National Inventors Hall of Fame and Time Magazine.

Inventions have been on display at Grand Central Terminal and will be viewable through September at the Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.