Raleigh invention gets national exposure

A Raleigh dentist has developed a way to create cloud-like, floating ads: "Flogos." Think Mickey Mouse ears, Olympic rings or beer logos soaring across the sky.

Brian Glover, the part-time inventor, has been juggling calls from "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and "Good Morning America," where he'll appear Friday.

"On a daily basis, we get people calling from so many countries, I can't even tell you. It's crazy," Glover said. "A slew of them from Turkey, the Middle East, Dubai, Greece, Italy, everywhere -- China. We have a distributor in Japan -- we've already sold better than a dozen machines to him."

The nontoxic sudsy concoctions are squeezed from a reservoir through stencils, a la the Play-Doh Fun Factory, then sent soaring up to 100 feet in the sky. Like bubbles, they burst when they come in contact with harder surfaces.

Although the concept is simple, the machines used to produce the 4-foot Flogos are about the size of a Mini Cooper and cost $30,000. Glover and his partner, Francisco Guerra, rent the machines, customized logo included, for $3,500 for four hours.

Glover said a cheaper consumer version is in the works.

Glover, 41, moved in April from Long Island to Chapel Hill with his family and commutes to Raleigh to see patients at Gentle Care Dental on Glenwood Avenue.

Flogos are just one of his inventions. While in dental school at Columbia University, he put to use mechanical engineering classes he'd taken at Stony Brook University on Long Island, and, in 1997, invented a high-output bubble machine.

He and his wife, Angela, spent nights putting together the machines and, on weekends, Glover would travel to trade shows to market them.

"It was a hit. I had people coming up to me from places like Disney, Universal Studios, saying 'I want a bubble machine.' It was really kind of crazy."

Within two years, Glover said, he sold nearly 300 Bubble Master machines at $1,500 each. He says the machines went on tour with Cher, Ozzy Osbourne and Britney Spears and are used in Broadway shows. Disney uses them at its theme parks.

Glover remembers watching Osbourne's reaction to his new special effect on an episode of MTV's "The Osbournes:" "I'm the Prince of Darkness -- you can't give me bubbles!"

Faux foam

Glover and Guerra met in 1999 at an Orlando trade show, where Glover was demonstrating his bubble machine and Guerra was pushing his fake snow machine. The purveyors of puff hit it off, sharing ideas and cross-promoting their products. Eventually, a partnership was born. Among their other creations are coasters with test strips that can be used in bars to detect date-rape drugs such as Ketamine and GHB.

Guerra lives in Lexington, Ala., where SnowMasters, Flogos' parent company, is headquartered. Glover said he expects Flogos to begin turning a profit within two months.

The men have been busy racing around the country for Flogos dates: The Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York on June 8. City Stages in Birmingham, Ala., June 13-15. A fundraiser for St. Jude's next weekend. A demo for the New York Jets is coming up.

When asked whether he'll pursue his side projects full time, Glover admits dentistry is his real passion.

"I went to school too long, and I really love doing this," he said. "It's just a foam fun project."