A man who wants to sell invisibility is trying to make the most of being seen.
Fullerton-based inventor Raz “Dr. Z” Zeineh, owner of Advanced American Enterprises, has designed what he calls a stealth poncho to keep troops hidden from night vision goggles.
The invisible cloaks caught the eye of The Economist magazine, which has given the small, unknown company a shot at a contract with the military and other defense groups.
Zeineh said he is in several negotiations, but wouldn’t give any specifics.
He works alone in 3,400 square feet of offices full of wires, garbage cans, files, crates and various other items you might see in a tinker’s garage.
“My biggest problem has been convincing people this works,” said Israel-born Zeineh, 78.
On the door to his offices, the barely legible letters of his old company, Biomed Instruments, is a remnant of the business he had selling electronic blood analysis equipment that he invented.
For the past eight years he’s worked on many inventions, including stealth ponchos.
The Pentagon initially rejected his pitch. But he insisted that the chemical he applies to fabric succeeds in making it appear black under night vision goggles, when it normally would appear white.
John Roos, a retired Army colonel in Newport News, Va., told the Economist that while others have produced similar products, Zeineh’s was the best camouflage against night vision he’d seen.
Since the article, Zeineh says Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton has shown interest in his invention, as have other groups.
Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp. paid Zeineh $5,000 to test it. Another contractor, who he wouldn’t disclose, paid $50,000.
But since many of the country’s wartime enemies don’t use night vision technology, contracts to produce the ponchos in mass are harder to come by.
At a price of $385 apiece, the stealth ponchos are made custom for individual buyers. But Zeineh says he’s ready to produce thousands a day with a contract.
Zeineh also is modifying the technology to drape over boats and vehicles or to use in the daytime.
And if that doesn’t sell, he has plenty of other ideas.
“Inventors have a crazy way of thinking,” Zeineh said. “We’re not satisfied until we know how it works.”
His invention for an anti-recoil insert for guns redirects the explosion of the bullet so it doesn’t kick back when shot.
He’s applied for a patent and is keeping the technology under wraps until it comes through.
He’s also working on a machine that washes and dries clothes in less than half an hour, as well as cement that withstands fire.
