Janning did, and after a short time he found the best way was to do it reliably was to deposit the heating elements on the edge of a piece of glass or ceramic with the electrodes running down the sides. This was successful and soon thermal fax machines appeared on the market using Janning’s approach. Janning had made the heating elements out of sputtered tantalum, later changed by Hans Schroeder to indium-tin oxide for longer life.

Unfortunately, at that time in NCR’s history, patents were applied for in the manager’s name and Janning received no recognition for his invention of the thermal printing wafer. It is used today all over the world — especially by retailers in those shiny cash register receipts.


The success would become a prime example in Janning’s later talks on creativity, and how to spot solutions looking for problems. The thermal printer story is also an example of the sort of sharing teamwork at NCR that led to serendipitous discoveries.

Janning eventually became a top engineer at NCR, building on his expertise in physics and his unbounded curiosity about how things work. For the Jannings’ first 45 years of marriage they never had repairmen visit. He fixed everything—washer, car, TV, radio, air conditioning, plumbing and more. That unending curiosity informed Janning’s work and added to his bank of ideas.

Other innovations & invention process
After 30 years with NCR Janning “retired” in 1988 to found JLJ, Inc., an invent-for-hire company that develops products and solves existing problems for companies.

In 1995, Janning developed the Staylit Christmas light. Tiny microchips in each light socket keep the string lighted even if a bulb is damaged or missing. The lights can also be made to flash or twinkle randomly. The lights were retailed across the US, Canada and UK.

On November 7, 2008, Janning was enshrined in the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame. In June 2008 he was presented with the First Annual Joseph Desch Award, named after the legendary NCR electronics pioneer. He is also included on Dayton’s Walk of Fame along with the Wright brothers, Charles F. Kettering and 80 others.

The future of displays
Countless innovations have built upon Janning’s work to bring us today’s color LCDs, capable of displaying high definition video, even 3D, on increasingly larger and flatter screens.

Back in 1964, LCD pioneer George Heilmeier predicted wall-sized flat screen TVs. That’s still to come, but 3D flatscreen TVs are entering the market as of 2010.

At a 1978 public display of innovations at the U.S. Patent Office Janning met a personal hero, Vladimir Zworykin, the inventor of the CRT (cathode ray tube)[3] which preceded flat panel displays. As of 2008 CRT sales had been eclipsed by LCD displays.[4] Janning sees a similar future for LCDs.

Flat screens, touch screens, cell phones, eBooks, games and other handheld devices all use LCD screens. In 2002 Janning predicted that field emission devices are “what you’ll be seeing next”. Now in 2010, Janning sees a bright future for OLED’s (organic light emitting diodes). It may take much longer for field emission displays than previously thought.

“Today’s liquid crystals act like a light valve, blocking it or letting it through. Field emission creates light, so it’s a radical departure. It’ll be in televisions, monitors, everywhere.”[5]

Today John L. Janning, holds over 70 U.S. patents and 250 worldwide patents in areas including plasma displays [orange numbers on supermarket checkouts]. Field Emission Displays, two-sided thermal printing and potentially color thermal printing. Despite failing eyesight, at age 82, Janning keeps looking to the future. It will be here in the blink of an eye.

His latest invention has excited several companies. It is an electronic fuse that will go into the A.C. plug of Christmas lights. When too many strings are added end-to-end, instead of one of those little glass fuses blowing and needing replacement (and causing frustration) — all that is necessary is to unplug the string for a few seconds and plug it back in. It will work down to 40 below zero. A worldwide company is excited and is gearing up to mass-produce this new device. Several manufacturers want a license to use it in their product line.

In recent years John Janning has become a speaker on creativity, giving over 450 talks to groups like the National Management Association. He appeared in an educational video, spearheaded the Inventors Council of Dayton and taught in the Women in Engineering program at the University of Dayton. In the forward to a recent book on inventing he warned that ideas are common and possible but not all turn out to be practical. Everywhere he appears, Janning describes some of his innovation techniques, such as:

“Gonnas” don’t count
Janning says this will be the epitaph on his tombstone.

Ideas are like Belly Buttons — everybody has one
“Make something happen with your ideas — don’t expect someone else to do it for you. Too often, people want others to make their idea happen and all they want to do is cash big checks.”

Find solutions looking for problems
“Look for un-mined diamonds waiting to be unearthed. Develop an idea bank of such solutions for possible future uses.”

Dream big
“Develop a vivid imagination. All things are possible; not all things are practical; wisdom lies in knowing the difference.”

Tinker
“Take things apart and learn how they work. Get stuff free or cheap items at garage sales. You may ruin it, but what you learn will be more valuable.”

Ignore put-downs
“’Why don’t you grow up?’ Don’t pay attention to ridicule and put-downs. ‘What you want to do that for?’ If you always need a reason you may never try it.”

Think and act different
“Avoid habits that keep us from learning—always eating the same way, always dressing the same, always sitting in the same chair, etc. Learn by doing things differently. ‘No one knows where they are best suited until they try.’”

Confident persistence
“When you say ‘I can’t’ it really means ‘I won’t.’ Be like the little engine that could. It always said, ‘I think I can, I think I can.’ I did it by trying—I think I can” says Janning.





FOOTNOTES
1. Fergason, J.L., “Liquid Crystals.” Scientific American, 211 (2), August 1964

2,5. Hamilton, Linda, "Liquid Crystals." Invention & Technology, 17 (4), Spring 2002
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2002/4/2002_4_20.shtml

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Zworykin

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCD


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