RADNOR — On the second floor of 771 E. Lancaster Ave. is a business incubator spurred from the success of the Skycam that one owner hopes will lead to manufacturing jobs in Chester.
Ablaze Development Corp. joined the Keystone Innovation Zone a year after its 2005 inception to build technology products and to fund the creativity of their own ideas.
Clients, such as the Army, Navy or those in the private sector, give Ablaze concepts that they want created.
“It’s basically designing product for them,” Edmond Dougherty, president and CEO of Ablaze, said. “If you have an idea, where would you go? The harder it is, the better. We’re your technology department.”
One of their products include the ESP Systems, which is a mechanism placed at the table in casual dining restaurants like Applebees that alerts the server when pressed. The server wears a watch-like device that vibrates when activated.
“In a way, it’s just a dinner bell,” Dougherty said.
Profits generated from these projects are invested in ideas of Ablaze’s owners – Dougherty, his son, E.J. Dougherty III, and Greg Giegerich.
Dougherty’s business ventures began in 1984 with the establishment of August Design in Ardmore, which was involved in the development of the Skycam.
“I know the Skycam inside and out,” Dougherty said. “It’s a tremendous thing for football and everybody loves it.”
Twenty years later, he sold the firm to focus on teaching fuzzy logic at Villanova and, then, the formation of Ablaze Development.
In 2007, Wavecam Media was created and housed on the first floor of Ablaze’s office and the Wavecam, an aerial camera system used for coaching and broadcasting, was created.
The Wavecam is suspended by “a high-tech fiber stronger than steel, so thin you can’t even see it, Dougherty said. The permanent installation captures aerial shots not previously available with ordinary broadcasting equipment.
He said the Wavecam is used mostly in university settings, as it was in the fall at Villanova University when 5,000 people filled the Pavilion to view a filming of Hardball with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
As the company works on developing the 5.0 generation of the Wavecam, Dougherty, who’s a company part-owner, would like to see demand for this technology transfer into jobs in Chester.
He said if there are weekly requests for the device, then, they would look into opening a facility there. “We thought it was something that could be manufactured locally,” Dougherty said.
The reason the Wavecam is centered on academic facilities, Dougherty explained, is because it’s one-third the size of the Skycam and more conducive to indoor environments, as it does not need to be dismantled and shipped all over the globe after usage.
“We’ve actually had fifth graders come in and operate the system,” Dougherty said, adding that was his initial intent when they visited.
His edict was originally, “Don’t touch the machine” upon their arrival.
But, then, he said, “They were so nice. Next thing I know, they’re flying it all around.”
Dougherty said he uses that experience in the machine’s marketing, saying a fifth grader can be taught to use it in five minutes.