On Friday 20th October, Costas Constantino won a Gold Medal issued by the British Inventor’s Society for inventing the world’s first handheld wine glass polisher. His exciting and efficient idea secured the votes of three out of four International Judges. The award ceremony was held at the prestigious Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors headquarters in Parliament Square, a building and an institution fit for celebrating technological advances.
Mr. Constantino said, “It was my first time attending any such event. It was a tough competition; many companies competed with entries from as far afield as Afghanistan.”
“AFTER A LONG TIME WE FINALLY MASTERED IT”
As the website of Sparkle Wizard T/M reads; a great quote summarising in a short sentence the challenges facing inventors. Projects are often ongoing, requiring a lot of attention to detail and having to adhere to countless Health & Safety measures, as well as being ergonomically and efficiently designed.
Mr. Constantino is of Cypriot decent, living and working in UK. He has been inventing all different types of products on a regular basis since he was a child, his curiosity and thirst for understanding led him to deconstruct components from an early age.
“I always used to take toys apart because I was fascinated with how they work.”
Sparkle Wizard T/M is the world’s first handheld wine glass buffer/polisher, the only handheld device on the market that will buff up and sparkle wine and champagne glasses; it can also be used on other stem and tableware. Sparkle Wizard T/M comes in three parts, the handheld motor driver that powers the brushes delivering the torque and speed from its air-cooled motor. The brushes are microfibre socks that slip over a foam base that allows for several brushes to be attached to the end of the motor to fit all shapes and sizes of glassware.
“I have always had an active mind and can spot a good idea from a problem or an event. I am happy to help others develop their products.”
Mr. Constantino is always working; focusing on a further development of three ideas at present, especially confident of one in particular which he hopes will be a big hit in the parking industry. It’s an idea that came to him when he noticed two workmen struggling to deliver a large glass pane across the road. We are left somewhat in suspense of Mr. Constantino’s latest development.
“Inventions come from real life situations; nobody wakes up with a good idea,”
Being a good food and wine enthusiast, Mr. Constantino noticed that waiters spent a lot of time polishing wine glasses by hand and immediately questioned this, that there must be a solution to this arduous and delicate task. He began developing Sparkle Wizard T/M some two years ago and came across many problems. Getting the correct torque, wobbling brush, electrostatic build up, operating voltage and overheating motor were the main stumbling blocks. Now, Sparkle Wizard T/M wine glass polisher can do the job in seconds and reaches areas that would normally be hard to reach by hand such as the inside of champagne flutes or wine glasses shaped in a way that making the buffing inside difficult to access. Using Sparkle Wizard T/M is the beginning of the end of the traditional hand buffing process we are so used to seeing.
Mr. Constantino is a very level headed individual focused on making useful solutions to the everyday problems. Not only is he an inventor but an entrepreneur of which there is a great distinction as one has to consider the practicality of producing products. As well as being a visionary, one must all be a realist.
Costas Constantino is a founder of Flashpark, the latest car parking management online facility that allows you to report unauthorised cars parked on private property.
Credit: Costas Constantino, www.sparklewizard.co.uk www.inventionnews.co.uk/news
George Charalambous