Young Inventor of the Year: fiberlight international.

• Author: Hartman, Philip
• Position: [INVENTORS SHOWCASE] - Brief article

"I do a lot of different things," says Philip Hartman, the 2008 Young Inventor of the Year. Besides playing banjo in the Hartman Family Band with his siblings, he excels in his studies: At 14, Philip is tackling 10th grade coursework. And he's an inventor and something of a prodigy in fiberoptics.

His invention, the Fiberlight, "is a new and unique way to fuse optical fibers," he says. "It can splice together multiple optical fibers simultaneously and at a much lower cost. It also requires less training than the current methods."

Instead of using traditional electrode-based technology, the Fiberlight employs a heat filament. "Essentially, we're melting the fibers together," Philip says.

Philip got his start in fiberoptics tagging along with his father Jim, who teaches fiberoptics classes in Estes Park. "I would go up with him and help him teach," he says.

Philip says he was just "goofing around" one day and came up with the Fiberlight. "I told my dad, 'Here's a new way to do it,'" he says. "Then I did a lot of testing. I experimented with it."

Aiming for a target market of both field technicians and manufacturers, Philip hopes to start manufacturing Fiberlights and assorted accessories in 2009. But he's just getting started. "I have some...