SPEECH OF HON. DENNIS A. CARDOZA OF CALIFORNIA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2004

Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great American inventor from Modesto, California, Mr. Andrew Toti. Mr. Toti has invented a number of household items, and has over 200 United States and foreign patents to his credit. He is a perfect example of the ``can-do'' attitude that Americans possess. His ingenuity has created the vertical blinds which many of us have in our office windows, to a device that helped save lives in World War II.

In a 1995 interview with Parade magazine, Mr. Toti stated that the most important element to successful inventing is defining a need for a new product or identifying a problem, then finding an elegant solution. Mr. Toti has been finding solutions to problems, and inventing new products almost his entire life. He credits his parents for nurturing and supporting his craft, and giving him advice on how to become a success.

At the young age of twelve, Mr. Toti created a new kind of combination lock, however it was not marketed very well. He learned quickly from this mistake. Mr. Toti has always been able to admit to mistakes, and this is one of his greatest qualities. When Mr. Toti was sixteen, he had built a boat with a very powerful motor. His mother was worried he would drown, so he began making a life vest using duck and goose feathers. He noticed that these vests were a bit bulky, so began filling them with compressed air. The War Department was told of his invention, and paid Mr. Toti $1500 for the rights. This life saving device soon became the Mae West life vest. This is the same life vest that President George H.W. Bush was wearing when he was shot down over the Pacific Ocean. Without this life preserver, President Bush might not have survived his ordeal in the ocean.

As you know Mr. Speaker, the San Joaquin Central Valley is a lush agricultural area, and our farmers grow anything from peaches to wine grapes, and raise cattle and poultry. Mr. Toti's ingenuity has helped two major industries in the area. First, in 1951, Mr. Toti patented his feather-plucking machine. This machine uses thousands of rubber ``fingers'' to remove the feathers of poultry. Twenty-one years later, he assisted in designing a grape-harvesting machine for Ernest and Julio Gallo, two of the most prominent viticulturalists in the nation. Recently, Mr. Toti developed an endotracheal tube, which aids physicians with rapid intubation of the trachea in situations where the tube needs to bend due to anatomical variations in the body.

I ask all of my colleagues today to help me recognize and thank Mr. Toti for his contributions to our nation. It is my honor to represent such a fine constituent in the House of Representatives.

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