I dropped out of Brooklyn Tech after the 9th grade. I went to Rutherford High School next. I had the hobby of photography and became the school photgrapher. I shot a lot of football games with my big Mamiya RB67. This camera was very slow to handle so I started to design accesories that would speed it up. This is a motorized film back.  (Click to Enlarge) <Motorized Film back I designed>
I loved my Mamiya RB67. It took very sharp pictures on a 6 x 7 cm negative, but it was not as nimble as my Nikon. So in my mind I envisioned a hand grip that would make the camera easy to use for faster cycle times between shots. For sports photography one needs to be able to move fast to capture the action.  (Click to Enlarge) <Motorized Camera grip I invented>
I never built this grip for the Mamiya because I did not have access to the tools that could make it happen. In this drawing you could see some electric design. I was 17 years old when I made these sketches. A variation of the grip did get built on my first job as a camera repair technician. This was the birth of the "Idea to Real" method. (Click to Enlarge) <A cutaway drawing of the motorized grip>