Merrick Seymour Sr., the inventor. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Jamaican inventor Merrick Seymour Sr. is on the hunt for a manufacturer to produce the knuckles which he has created, an invention which, he says, could revolutionise the construction of homes.

The man, who spent all his working life in Europe and the United States (U.S.) this year, along with son and engineer Merrick Seymour Jr., applied for patent for his eight-sided knuckles, defined in the document as 'a collection of joints for telescopically connecting a set of hollow structural members in an array'.

Son Merrick states that the knuckles, once made, can be used to make anything from toys, through furnishings and homes.

Junior, who put up the financing to get the patent, and who is an aircraft engineer with Heavy Lift Technical Services of Britain, states, "Whoever buys them (the knuckles) can use them for shelves, furnishing, housing, practically anything you want.

"I have been working on this for 10 years," Merrick Sr., who now resides in Kingston, told Outlook.

Now that the patent has been sorted out, the welder has been having talks with a number of fabrication plants about producing the knuckles.

Seymour, who says that he taught himself welding, has worked all over the world at his craft, including stints in the Arctic, the Sahara desert, the Mediterranean and "right across Europe".

He first left Jamaica for the United Kingdom in the 1950s after growing up in Friendship Gap, St. Mary. As he puts it, he "came of age" in London.

The last 10 years of his working life were spent in the U.S. In 1997, he left New York to retake permanent residence in Kingston.

The welder sates that he has been spending his time here working on several inventions and expects, by the end of 2007, to have three other ideas ready for patenting.

He claims that he really wants the knuckles to be manufactured in Jamaica so that the "benefits" can remain here.

- Outlook Team