Wednesday, October 29, 2003

By Bob Batz Jr., Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Melanie Patterson's appointment with Oprah looked to be in peril, but she's an inventive person. Her husband, Bob, with son, Cody, had driven her from home in Belle Vernon to the Pittsburgh International Airport for her Oct. 4 flight to Chicago. But when she tried to pick up the e-ticket Oprah Winfrey had paid for, she realized that she'd left her driver's license in a different purse.

Do you have another government-issued ID? the gate agent asked. Social Security card?

Patterson did not. Then she remembered what was in her suitcase: Two U.S. patents for the disposable bibs on a roll (like paper towels) she invented and markets as PIBS.

Sure, said the agent, but what about photo ID?

Patterson thought for a second and presented a packet of newspaper and magazine stories about her.

She was on her way to Chi-Town.

Patterson was one of about 30 inventors quickly culled from thousands and invited to vie in "The Oprah Winfrey Show's" "Million-Dollar Idea Challenge." The Washington County woman was contacted that Tuesday and asked Thursday if she could come on Saturday. As if she could say no.

That Sunday in Chicago, the inventors set up their wares for a small "invention convention" judged by two representatives from shopping channel QVC, who listened to their spiels and asked questions.

"Like a job interview. Or a pageant," says Patterson, a former schoolteacher and 1993 Mrs. United States. She came up with the idea for rolls of disposable bibs when Cody was an infant in 1996, and got them placed in Giant Eagle and other stores in 2000. This summer, she added disposable changing pads.

Alas, she wasn't one of the seven inventors chosen to be featured on the show, which also showcases several self-made "millionaire moms." But she was invited to stay and attend the Tuesday taping of the show.

That's when Patterson got a surprise that made her mouth drop to the floor: She and her bibs do appear briefly in the taped intro.

"My 15 seconds of fame I'm calling it," she says from home, where she plans to watch the show during an "Oprah party" with family and friends when it airs nationally tomorrow.

She won't say which of the seven inventors the audience chooses to win eight minutes of selling time on QVC. But the occasional model expects viewers will get glimpses of her sitting in the front row, since the camera was on her a lot. "I was smart to wear red."

She and the other semifinalists got more than samples of the winning inventors' products. That Monday -- her 44th birthday -- they went out to eat (on the show's dime) and shopped and talked about inventing's tribulations. They bonded so much that they dubbed themselves "Oprah's Inventors" and have kept in touch ever since they were limo'd to the airport.

Not having her driver's license stopped her from opening charge accounts at Chicago stores, but didn't stop her from getting home.

"It was just a really fun experience," says the PIBS Ltd. CEO/president, who has several other patents pending, and who hopes this trip will prove a catalyst for more success. Meanwhile, she got to shake Oprah's hand, if not sit with her on stage.

"I'm going to save that for a couple years from now when I really get successful and I'm a millionaire mom."

For more information, go to the Web site www.pibsonaroll.com or call 877-930-PIBS.

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