Renovating Woman • Spring/2007

If you’ve ever tried to PLUG-IN the charger cords for your cell phone and your digital music player in the same outletat the same time or your hair dryer and a curling iron you’ll know what Kim Gerard was feeling when she pitched her cell phone charger across a hotel room. The space hog plugs on the two cell phones she traveled with for business would not play together in the electrical wall outlet.

The incompatibilty triggered a frustration driven temper tantrum. It also inspired a revolutionary idea that finally updates electrical outlets to accommodate todays appliances. Motivated, Kim, who has a backgroundin civil and environmental engineering sat down and designed an alternative outlet. “ I sketched out the idea on a napkin,” she said. The invention is plug outlets that rotate 360 degrees. You PLUG-IN one appliance and swivel the PLUG-IN turning outlet and make room for the plug from your second appliance. In 2001, Kim received that patent and bought0outthe partnershe had at the time.

Since its initial iteration, Kim has 0perfected the 360 rotating outlet and successfully put it through its paces at the Inderwriters Laboratory (UL) the century old concern which scrupulously tests products for public safety. Getting her invention on shelves for public consumption is the next big step.

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