Footballer Kelsey aims for goal with his portable shelter invention

The Red Cap FC player came up with the idea for an inflatable sports shelter after hearing fans moaning.

The shelter is 15 feet wide, seven feet high and eight feet deep, with transparent sides, ventilation, space for seating and Velcro strips to which advertising can be attached.

“The whole idea is that the shelter is portable and easy to use. It's a basic and simple idea, but I think it will be effective,” says Kelsey, who comes from the Highfield area of Sheffield.

He is now waiting for patent confirmation in the UK, and hopes to have secured a patent across Europe after seeking the help of the Sheffield-based Inventor-Net initiative and also plans to improve his design further by attaching a rechargeable power pack for inflating and deflating the shelter.

Inventor-Net is the brainchild of Atkinson & Company, the Sheffield-based patent, trademark and design attorneys, and partner Fixed Fee IP, which offers to register intellectual property rights for a fixed fee.

It brings together professionals and experts from a wide range of disciplines to give inventors advice, without any risk of their idea being stolen.

Atkinson’s director Ralph Atkinson said: “We deliver a service which guides inventors like Kelsey in the right direction for launching a new idea. We aim to make sure that more and more of our region's great ideas reach commercial fruition, and we feel that our experienced Inventor-Net team can provide just that.”

Inventor-Net’s next meeting is on Wednesday September 19. For more information contact Eileen Ellis, tel: 0870 850 0043.