But in 1996, however, according to a document from the Department of Commerce, the United States revoked McCarthy's export privileges for 10 years for "willfully, knowingly, and unlawfully dealing and attempting to deal in property intended for exportation to Iraq, specifically an underground shelter known as an 'S30 Remote Tactical Base."'
McCarthy said that he never actually shipped any shelters to Iraq but that doing so would present no moral quandary for him. "I think of it as a humanitarian product," he said. "Do children in Iraq deserve to be protected? It's the same thing if someone from the Ku Klux Klan or some supremacist group calls me, as long as they are going to use it lawfully. I despise all of the hate groups, but I can't play God. I can't say they don't deserve to live."
Personal safety seems a preoccupation of many inventors. Dozens of patents have been issued recently for inventions offering protection against more conventional threats.
A shoe heel for personal items
Dorene Jean Munoz, of Racine, Wisconsin, received a patent for "footwear having concealed storage cavity for personal items." It is essentially a shoe with a hollow heel that screws into the sole. "I thought of the idea when I went to a formal because it was difficult to dance with a purse swinging around," said Munoz, who said she did not want to leave her purse at a table for fear it might be stolen.
The heel can hold keys, lipstick, money and medications. Munoz hopes to license her patent, 6,289,612.
Joe Thornblad, of Saint Peter, Minnesota, has patented a wristwatch that serves as a smoke detector and a kidnapper alarm. The smoke detector sets off an alarm inside the watch; to activate the kidnapper alarm, a child would push a button that silently alerts the police of his location. Thornblad has not yet built a prototype, but said he hoped to license patent 6,285,289.
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