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Silver Spring residents Shaun Sablowski and Catherine Sumi Kay say they have always had great ideas for inventions, but never followed through on them. But now the auto parts salesman and the stay-at-home mom are channeling their inner-Edisons and making good on those ideas.

Both have patents pending for two vastly different products: Sablowski invented flavored pen tops and Kay developed a portable potty training platform made of recyclable plastic.

At the end of 2007, Kay was struggling through a divorce and failed online business endeavors. Her father also suffered a debilitating stroke.

"I was at the depths of despair," said Kay, 40. "… All I had for myself were the ideas in my head."

When searching for business ideas online, she came across the Whirlpool Brand "Mother of Invention" program, a competition for "Mom-trepreneurs" with invention ideas.

Kay reverted back to the potty training of her 4-year-old daughter Natalie and how difficult it was to find a safe and convenient stepping platform for her daughter when using the toilet. With the help of her brother, she made sketches of a safe, "green" potty-training platform and developed a wooden prototype.

With her daughter as the model, she submitted a photographic essay explaining her product to Whirlpool. While design details for the product could not be disclosed because her patent is still pending, Kay described the invention as a "safe, stable stepping platform" that is not available in stores.

Of the more than 2,200 contest entries nationwide, Kay was the first-prize winner for the "Green Category," because the platform is made of recyclable plastic. She was given $7,000, which will go toward legal fees during the patent approval process.

The most valuable part of her prize was a "business boot camp" held in October. Executives from companies such as Wal-Mart and Gerber taught contest winners how to develop products and manage a business.

"As a mom, if I had her invention with my first child it would have changed everything we did around potty training," said Whirlpool Brand director of public relations Audrey Reed-Granger, who created the competition four years ago.

Now, Kay said she works full-time on the invention while raising her daughter. She is confident this idea will allow her to finally start her own business.

"What better confirmation do you need than winning a major competition?" she said.

Sablowski took a more traditional approach to his invention and hopes to chew up the competition in the stationary-you-can-taste industry.

His flavored pen tops will function like plastic tops on standard pens but will be infused with a variety of flavors "the same way you make a piece of candy."

"I chew on pens and I work with people who do," said Sablowski, 28. "It's a habit and it's unsanitary but it's something people do. Why not do it and have flavor to it?"

Standard fruit flavors are an obvious choice, but Sablowski is also considering nicotine-flavored tops for smokers or cold medicine tops.

Sablowski decided to pursue the invention in 2007 and approached Advent Product Development, a South Carolina-based company that assists inventors through the patent process, manufacturing and product design.

The company chose Sablowski's pen tops out of about 5,000 ideas it receives per month and signed him to a two-year contract. Advent would get a cut of the product's proceeds only if the pen tops are manufactured. Sablowski has had to use his own money for the product but would not disclose how much.

While Sablowski doesn't anticipate a product being on the market until at least June 2009, he is content with his day job.

"I'm not trying to take over the world and end up in a Ferrari," Sablowski said. "I just want to know I designed this product and be recognized for it."