Valley Stream inventors go for QVC success

What started out as two brothers just wanting their mom to rest more easily at night could end up with Valley Stream’s Alex and Dan Luca producing the next breakout QVC product.

Dan Luca, 46, and brother Alex, 35, currently have their Window Safe invention being voted on at QVC.com as part of the TV network’s Sprouts program, designed to find promising inventors. Window Safe is a window-locking system designed to keep intruders out while allowing fresh air in, and according to the product description can be installed without tools.

It all started back in 1997, when Dan, a plumber by trade, wanted to help his mom get some more air in her bedroom by opening the window a little, while keeping it secure.

“My mom was afraid to sleep at night, but she wanted to keep the window open,” Dan Luca said. “She wanted an adjustable device where she could keep it open, but be able to get out of there easily if there was a fire or some other emergency.”

The key, said Alex, was developing something for everybody, which took years to perfect.

“We worked on this [fixing their mom’s window] together, and we decided that we should hone this into something,” said Alex Luca, currently a floating teaching assistant in the Great Neck School District. “It sparked an interest in my mind. And we worked on it, and ended up going to a patent attorney. I thought it would be a great idea for all age groups. People aren’t always going to use power tools and drills, but anybody can install this, so it would be a great thing to sell.”

The patent attorney connected them with Melville’s Brian Fried, 38, a lifelong inventor who runs the Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club of Suffolk County. He also recently founded Nassau’s equivalent with the help of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.

Fried has appeared on QVC to promote his inventions, like Eggstra Space, a collapsible egg tray that expands and collapses based on the amount of eggs you have left.

“Occasionally I bring other inventors’ products with me [to QVC] when I go to meet with the buyers so they can take a look at them,” said Fried, who took Window Safe to the buyers last November.

The QVC Spouts program launched on March 19, and allows QVC.com visitors to vote each week on a number of new products. Winners get their product sold on QVC.com and can make the network telecast if it becomes popular enough.

Window Safe and this week’s other QVC Sprouts products can be voted on here. Video demonstrations of each product are also available.

Voting ends Friday at noon. The brothers are admittedly a bit nervous in awaiting the results, but says Alex Luca, “We’re confident we have a great product.”