A British schoolboy was set to earn up to £250,000 ($410,000) after inventing a doorbell that fools burglars into thinking somebody is home at an empty property, The Mail on Sunday reported.
Laurence Rook, 13, from Whyteleafe in southern England, is the inventor of Smart Bell. The device dials a homeowner’s mobile phone when pressed, allowing the homeowner to talk to whoever is at their front door.
The invention uses an inbuilt SIM card and existing cell phone technology, and emits a small amount of white nose to give any unexpected guest the impression that they are speaking to someone inside the house on an intercom system.
Laurence has sold 20,000 of the devices and is finalizing a deal with a telecommunications company for a further 25,000 units. He stands to earn up to £250,000 from the deal.
“At first I designed the idea because my mum was fed up going to the Post Office to collect deliveries made when we were not at home,” he said.
“When I started to develop the Smart Bell, I realized it could also be a great burglar-deterrent. Most opportunist burglars ring the doorbell first to see if anyone is at home, but Smart Bell has the perfect way to counteract this. If you are out and a burglar comes up to your door and rings the doorbell, after ten seconds Smart Bell will ring through to your mobile phone and you will be able to answer,” he added.
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7 Responses
Cute idea. But this leads me to a question about something that happended to me last week- A meshulach came to my door and when I gave him some tzedaka he asked me, “Can I also ask you one thing? Can I use your bathroom?” Feeling terrible I said, “no, sorry.” What would you have done?
is this a jewish boy?
So you answer the phone and say, “So sorry, I’m not home.”
Poppa very funny! *LIKE*!
I’m sure you remember carfones. Someone had an ansafone message on his that went like this: Thank you for calling. Unfortunately I’m in at the moment, but I will call you back as soon as I’m out again.
I have a friend living in Manchester, England who has had this device on his front door already for years.
It rings to his mobile and if he can’t pick up the phone it even goes onto “welcome to orange answer phone”!
to #1 I usually let and then wash it well. i feel bad not letting someone use the bathroom. if i am home alone than i do not let them in because of safety.
KIsh Echad BLev Echad, you followed your instincts, which was correct. Unfortunately, unless you know the collector, there are a lot of horror stories of collectors who come into the home.