Karen Lontka (65)  from Florham Park in New Jersey, USA, has come up with numerous inventions that make sure people are warned early if a fire breaks out. One of her most important patents is for a special switching arrangement for fire alarm systems that enables the system to work reliably even if it is running on battery power.

Lontka has been a specialist for fire alarm systems for more than 30 years. Fire alarm systems differ from one continent to another. In Europe, the priority is to alert firefighters. "By contrast, when a fire alarm sounds in the USA the primary aim is to evacuate people from the vicinity of the fire. That's why fire alarms warn people by means of loud signals such as honkinghorns, bells, strobe lights or sirens," Lontka says. These visual-acoustic alarm systems have to work faultlessly even in case of a power failure. "Fires often start during blackouts, because people use cigarette lighters and candles as sources of light," she adds. In the USA, batteries that are similar to auto batteries are used as an emergency power supply for fire alarm systems. That's because they can be mass-produced and are therefore inexpensive. "However, their disadvantage is that the voltage continuously decreases," Lontka explains, forcing additional equipment, wiring and installation costs. To solve this problem, she invented an electrical circuit that has a converter between the primary power source (the regular power supply) and the secondary power source (the battery). The converter ensures that the voltage is always high enough, while suppling required supervision and short circuit protection.

The problem is similar to the distribution of electrical power. Lontka has also developed other possible applications in this area. The mains voltage in the USA is 120 volts, so the electrical cables are generally much thicker than in Europe, where the mains voltage is 230 volts. "In order to connect many hundreds of fire alarm devices in a building, it's therefore important to organize the circuits in such a way that the cables can be thinner, more devices can be connected at once, or the distances between the power source and the device can be longer," she says. Her invention provides these options and therefore makes it possible to make considerable savings when installing fire alarm systems.  Lontka has also developed other possible applications in this area.

In this case, competition for the patent was very fierce. "I had already developed the system idea a few years before applying for the patent," says Lontka, who has studied physics. She has been working for almost 30 years on the development of fire alarm systems — always at the same company in Florham Park, New Jersey, which was taken over by Siemens in 2010 and incorporated into its Infrastructures & Cities sector. The experts at Siemens immediately realized how valuable Lontka's invention was, even though it had previously been lying around in one of her desk drawers because her previous supervisors were not interested in it. Lontka's circuit arrangement was included in the Siemens product range, and Siemens applied for the related patent. In the meantime, a competitor had come up with a similar invention, but Siemens was ahead by a nose. Lontka can now look back on 35 inventions, which include 25 individual patents in 20 patent families.

Lontka's career path is a veritable American success story. "I come from a very poor family, and I was proud to become a teacher of mathematics and physics," she recalls. New Jersey’s first store selling PCs opened while she was living there in the 1970s. The young teacher was quick to exploit the situation and started to repair computers in order to help finance her studies in a master's program. One day the managing director of a big company specializing in fire alarm systems came into the store to look for a programming specialist. Lontka took the order home with her over the weekend and presented him with her program on the following Monday. Two days later she received a job offer, which she initially did not accept. She continued studying and working as a consultant. For her master's thesis she wrote a program that could be used on PCs to analyze electronic circuits. "I didn't realize at the time that I was probably the only person outside California who could do this," Lontka says today with a smile. As a result, instead of capitalizing on her specialist skills she continued to work as a consultant for various companies — including the one for which she had written her first computer program. "After I had been doing freelance projects for this company for years, I was appointed head of its development department," she says. Many of the company's products that were incorporated into the Siemens portfolio were created under Lontka's supervision.

A passionate inventor, Lontka is not yet considering retirement. "My work is much too exciting for me to abandon it just yet," she says. Meanwhile, her private life is equally exciting. Together with her partner, she likes to sail on a nearby lake, fly ultralight single engine light aircraft, and go curling and skiing. She's also a very active volunteer worker. Among other things, she's head of her local chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
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