Translating inventions into marketable products and services requires a delicate balance between uniformity and diversity; innovation flourishes in this milieu and needs the pressure of both.

Mr. Waldman said his invention, which has not yet been approved by the Federal Communications Commission, requires only two phone calls to change call-forwarding instructions.

Most inventions involved costly, intricate mechanisms and required the user to perform complex manipulations.

But inventions under way at the computer science labs will require such rapid-fire calculations that the world will hunger for more computing power.

The 65-foot-high pachyderm stands today, of course, an icon of the Jersey Shore whose invention once required the attention of the federal government.

The human had an odd look on his face, that look that gnomes get when they realize an invention requires no more modification.

The invention of the aircraft and its subsequent military use required a protective force to guard the aircraft and defend the people who fly and fight.

This invention, while actually working fairly effectively (if slowly), required an external generator, making it quite impractical.

Since copper and tin are rarely found together in the ground, the invention of bronze probably required a long series of experiments.

Calculus is the math of motion and change, and as such, its invention required the creation of a new mathematical system.