Alaska's inventors.

• Author: Stewart, Corenne
• Position: Jim Ables of Anchorage who invented the Flextension disposable tip for caulking guns

Jim Ables of Anchorage invented the Flextension, a disposable tip that fits onto any caulking gun, allowing craftsmen to bend and work the tip of a tube of caulking material as much as 180 degrees.

They are plumbers and taxi drivers, husbands and wives. They are airplane pilots and custodial workers, students and fishermen. They're body builders, magicians and heavy construction workers.

They labor full-time at jobs that put bread on the table. They raise families, take in foster kids-and in their spare time indulge fancies, spin dreams, conjure and construct. Meet the Alaska inventors.

"There is no quintessential profile for an inventor," says Dan Benesch, chair of Alaska Inventors Alliance. "It's the biggest blessing and the biggest handicap we face. They are everybody and nobody."

Anchorage resident Jim Ables didn't set out to impress anybody with his invention. It just happened. The Juneau-born. Anchorage-raised by builder and Harley rider graduated from East High in 1996. A construction foreman for Chugach Electric and a registered big game guide, Ables came up with his "Flextension" in 1993 out of what he calls necessity. Back then, Ables was working as a general contractor, remodeling a lot of bathrooms. Every time he had to work sealant around a pipe there'd be some spot or another almost impossible to reach.

For years he threatened to invent something that would solve the problem and one day he did. Ables' device, a disposable tip that fits onto any caulking gun, allows craftsmen to bend and work the tip of a tube of caulking material as much as 180 degrees.

The gadget competed against 148 inventions in the Alaska Inventors Alliance Open Competition in February and scored in the top 10 percent. Ables went through two separate rounds of judging and then on to win the prestigious Franklin Award, along with more than $2,000 worth of advertising.

Spenard Builders Supply has picked up the Flextension and Ables has his product in all SBS stores in Alaska. Flextension is also available at Allen & Petersen, Central Plumbing & Heating and Anchorage Sand & Gravel. "Spenard's been great, and the others too. And a couple of statewide distributors are playing with the idea," he said.

Still, he's the first to admit the road has been long and frustrating. Indeed, if you ask him, he'll say he's not sure he'd do it again. Unfortunately, to actually make money he'd need to capture the interest of retail chains like Eagle Hardware and Garden, Ace...