Jump to full article: Brockton (MA) Enterprise, 2008-08-11
Author: Allan Stein ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
Intro: The Whitman couple have patented a deceptively simple idea for Steppin' Outs, a pack of 20 color-coded cigarettes in three different sizes.
The idea is that smokers can either gradually reduce their intake in order to quit, or those who don't can still have a two-minute butt break without wasting most of a cigarette.
"The more people we've told about them the more they said they liked the idea," said Dean Roberts . . .
The three sizes of Steppin' Outs would be green for regular-size cigarettes, yellow for mid-size cigarettes, and red for small cigarettes. A patented step-spacer separates the cigarettes according to size. . . .
It was one night over dinner and Keno that he and Michelle, who is the Abington Health Agent, talked at length why there shouldn't be cigarettes made in different sizes for smokers in a hurry.
They gave it even more thought, and in April 2004, they contacted the Invention Submission Corp., which conducts extensive background research on patent ideas to determine their novelty and sales potential.
The ISC looked as far back as the 1800s to see if anyone had come up with a similar idea.
Turns out nobody had. The ISC reported back to the Roberts with a top "A" rating for their patent idea.
On March 3, 2005, the Roberts filed an official patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and on May 27 this year -- coincidentally, Dean Robert's birthday -- the couple received a letter from the agency.
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