Patent no longer pending for cadet Published Oct. 11, 2007 By Butch Wehry U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) -- A cadet's father brought an industrial air filter design problem to his son's attention to pass the time during a holiday break. "I had a general idea of a solution but just could not make it work," said David Nicholas, father of Cadet 2nd Class James Nicholas. "I brought the problem home to Jay, who was still in high school. I did not really believe he could solve the problem but it was over the Christmas school break, the weather was lousy and gave it to him for something to do." His son soon proved that young people who take physics should not be discounted. In just a few hours, Cadet Nicholas came back with a solution. They made a prototype and it worked. Today, J-Track-Module is the standard device for Mr. Nicholas's company and is currently being used at more than 30,000 locations in 50 countries around the world. Part of an air filtration system, it is being used in industrial computer rooms, airports, hospitals, museums and even the Sistine Chapel to protect Michelangelo's frescoes from attack by airborne pollutants. "My dad brought the problem home that he and his engineers were having trouble at work designing and asked if I could figure it out," said the systems engineering mechanics major from San Antonio. "I turned it into a simple calculus problem. I always liked fixing and tinkering with stuff growing up, so anything of that nature interested me." The box filter rides on a single, angled track. He had to find what the angle was and how far down the box it had to be cut in order to get an equal pressure seal on the other side of the filter. Cadet Nicholas was awarded a Patent No. 7,264,644 in September for his design. "It's pretty cool that a system that I helped to design is being used all over the world," said Cadet Nicholas, a member of Cadet Squadron 36. It could have made him wealthy, but generally people who come to the Academy don't become cadets for the money. "I already sold the rights to the company for $100," he said. "I got a nice truck out of the deal as well. Currently the only thing I am working on is graduation, so any future inventions or innovations are put on the backburner." Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link) View the comments/letters page