Wet bibs prompt mother to become an inventor

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By Sandra Baer, Contributing Writer 1:01 PM Thursday, December 30, 2010

Improving the home and inventing new products is something that Annie Pryor enjoys doing during her spare time, but the busy mother of three has resolved that despite her success, she will not lose focus of her family and the importance of being there for her children.

“I really got tired of having wet bibs drying all around the kitchen, so I invented the Bib Drying Rack,” said Pryor, who features the rack on her website: www.mommygenius.com. “When I just had one baby it was OK, but when my daughter was born, I had double the number of wet bibs and nowhere for them to dry.”

Pryor was born in Youngstown and graduated from high school in North Canton in 1994. While in college at Ohio University, where she studied biochemistry, Pryor returned to North Canton during a winter break to work at The Disney Store where she met her husband, Jonothan, an engineer and avid Disney fan. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, Pryor went on to Ohio State University where she earned a doctorate in biochemistry and married Jonothan, who also was at OSU earning a doctorate in electrical engineering.

It was in graduate school that Pryor learned to experiment while working part time in an OSU research lab.

“I did a lot of experiments in the lab finding solutions for problems, so when I became a stay-at-home mom, I just continued solving problems,” said Pryor, who lived in Florida one year and visited Disney World frequently before three hurricanes and a job offer for her husband resulted in a move to Sugarcreek Twp.

“I’m so blessed that I can stay at home with my children,” said Pryor.

The couple has three children: Jon, a kindergarten student at Stephen Bell Elementary School, Katie Scarlett, 3, and Michael, an infant.

“The bibs were driving me nuts, so I went shopping to find something to dry them on,” said Pryor, who looked at banana hangers, fingertip towel holders and mug trees, but remained unsatisfied. “Some people put the bibs on the faucet to dry, but as a stay-at-home mom, I use the sink every 10 minutes. I just said, I want to invest in a drying rack.”

Pryor bought a book about inventing products and then sat down with her husband to design a metal rack. She sent a sketch of the design to a manufacturer in Indiana, who made prototypes in black and silver metal. Pryor was surprised when the first 10 produced sold immediately. A second order of 100 also sold quickly, so she put in an order for 250 racks. In addition to selling the racks on the Internet, Pryor also has them displayed at Cutie Patooties, a children’s store in Centerville. The racks can be bought individually, or as a gift set containing organic cotton washcloths and two polyester, waterproof bibs with pockets.

“I thought other mothers would like it, because it simplifies the process of using bibs,” Pryor said.

Contact this columnist at (937) 432-9054 or jjbaer@aol.com.

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