The Inventive Genius of Rufus Porter: A Lecture by Frank Howell and David Gompert

BRIDGTON, Maine - July 26, 2018 - A group of nearly fifty very enthusiastic folks packed the Down East conference room to hear first hand from David Gompert and Frank Howell about creative intelligence, invention and innovation. 

Ideas for inventions can come easy but the hard part is manifesting those ideas into a viable, commercial product. Approximately two to three percent of all inventions fall into that category.

The evening was part of the Rufus Porter Museum's ongoing Curious Arts series of events this summer.

David Gompert is an American government official and former diplomat who served as the acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) following the resignation of Dennis C. Blair in 2009. Prior to his ascension as DNI, he was Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and continued serving in that capacity until 2011.

In between government and academic tenures, Gompert has worked in the private sector. He has worked in senior executive positions at Unisys, AT&T, and most recently as a senior fellow at RAND, a leading research organization that explores topics such as national security, terrorism, economic development, and science and technology. Before that, he was a distinguished research professor at the National Defense University's Center for Technology and National Security Policy.

Frank Howell is the principle of Down East Innovation and an inventor who holds over 20 U.S. patents.

For over thirty years, Down East, Inc. has been developing and producing a wide variety of products, primarily for the United States military.

Since 2004, DEI has manufactured and delivered more than 3 million pack-frames to all branches of the U.S. Military and many allied countries. The introduction of our frame systems established an entirely new level of performance and durability for the military.

Down East, Inc., founded by Howell's parents, Clarence 'Pete' Howell and Shirley Howell, began supplying products to the military in 1973 when it won its first contract with the Navy. In 1964, the Howells also founded Howell Laboratories, now located on Harrison Road.

In 2007, the Army gave Down East a special award, ''The Innovative Small Business Performer of the Year.''

About Rufus Porter

Rufus Porter was an inventor, he was also the founding editor and publisher of Scientific American, and a very well-rounded fellow. From Frank Luther Mott’s Pulitzer-Prize winning series A History of American Magazines(Volume 2):

“The founder of the Scientific American was one of those inventive Yankees whose versatility, ‘handiness,’ and restless ‘projecting’ life have made his type a legend. Rufus Porter was apprenticed to a shoemaker at fifteen, but cobbling was too dull for him; he liked better to play the fife for military companies on their field days and the fiddle for dancing parties. So he ran away from his cobbling. Then he was apprenticed to a housepainter, and during the War of 1812 he painted gunboats and fifed for the Portland light infantry. Later he painted sleighs, beat the drum for the soldiers, taught drumming and wrote a manual on the subject, and then became a country schoolmaster until his wandering feet and impatient mind took him away from the schoolhouse.”

More from the Scientific American article.

Boston Harbor painting by Rufus Porter (1824) includes biography.

David Gompert and Frank Howell

Rufus Porter Museum executive director/curator Caroline Grimm

Rufus Porter Museum co-president Margaret Sanborn