Inventor turns to e-backers to fund gadget

Neither snow nor rain nor heat stopped Jim Krohn from his appointed rounds during the 37 years he delivered mail on the Island (in Hempstead) for the U.S. Post Office. Well, maybe some of those 30-inch blizzards did, but not much else, Krohn says.

Now Krohn, 58, of Farmingdale, who retired from the postal service in 2008, is facing different elements -- namely market forces and investors, who he hopes will back what he calls the Tablet EReader Smartphone Stand Accessory, or TESSA, a device he invented earlier this year that he says will change the way people use their iPads.

TESSA works like a stand for a picture. It can be attached to an iPad. Its major feature is that it is adjustable, allowing a user to pivot it to 100 different angles -- 50 horizontal and 50 vertical -- doing away, Krohn says, with lots of neck craning.

Krohn received a pending patent for TESSA, and posted the device on kickstarter.com, a company that uses the Internet to raise funds for ventures, and that calls itself "the world's largest funding platform for creative projects." Those interested can pledge money for a project. Krohn posted that he needs $55,000 to develop TESSA. The project will only be funded if that amount is reached by Jan. 19 at 3:01 p.m., according to kickstarter rules. As of Wednesday afternoon, he had seven backers offering a combined $605.

Krohn, however, remains determined. He has invested about $30,000 of his money into legal fees and hiring an engineer to help design TESSA. "I think I have something that will make a splash on kickstarter," Krohn said. "But even if it doesn't, I'm not going to stop.

Craig Stucko of Commack, Krohn's product engineer, said Krohn took "a simple idea" and brought it to "the next step."

"There's nothing this versatile out there," Stucko said.