An invention in a glass of it's own

His boundless enthusiasm and madcap ideas have gained him a reputation as an eccentric.

But Robert Merlyn Farwell, aged 63, believes one day he will come up with an invention which will change the world.

For years Mr Farwell, of Parkfield Road, Stourbridge, has toiled away in his self-built workshop, which he calls "Camalot Castle."

It is like a miniature castle and often attracts the attention of passers-by. Inside Mr Farwell has been working on projects including a water-powered engine and a new kind of ECG machine.

Until now, none of them has been taken up by companies. He said: "I just love inventing. I thrive on coming up with solutions to problems."

His varied career has included appearances as an extra in TV shows such as Coronation Street and Boon.

Mr Farwell also set up a business called Wizard Merlyn's Costume Hire in Church Street, Stourbridge, in the 1980s.

His talents also extend to magic, and he spent summer seasons in Clacton in the 1970s as a children's entertainer.

He said: "I've certainly had a varied career.

"I know I'm a bit eccentric but there's a lot more to me than just inventing."

His mother, Gladys, gave him his middle name after visiting a fortune teller while she was pregnant.

The fortune teller told her that if she called him Merlyn she would "see his name in lights."

Mr Farwell's latest innovation is a piece of equipment which he says will "revolutionise" the glass-making industry.

The 'garden shed glass maker' uses a fraction of the energy of conventional furnaces and could save manufacturers thousands of pounds, he claims.

It is also made using a new thermal material which Mr Farwell has developed.

This latest invention has been used during the International Festival of Glass at the Ruskin Glass Centre in Wollaston Road.

Glass makers at the event "loved" the machine, he said. If demand is there, he will move into a factory and start mass producing them.

The equipment is made using a material which Mr Farwell calls "Merlyn's Low Therm.".

Though he will not reveal how he developed the material, he claims it stops heat being lost from the equipment.

He said: "It doesn't absorb heat - it just bounces it off.

"I'm not telling anyone how I made it, though, it's my creation."

The machine costs 65p an hour to run, which is more than 80 per cent cheaper than furnaces used in the industry.

Mr Farwell, a father-of-five, was commissioned by Richard Golding of Okra Glass to help with a refit to the glasshouse at the Ruskin Centre.

He has created a new glory hole - a furnace used as part of the glass-making operation - for the centre.

Then Mr Farwell developed the design into a contraption which creates glass shapes in three stages.

A furnace melts small pieces of glass, which are then put on the end of a rod and turned in the glory hole at about 1,000 degrees fahrenheit, to create the desired shape.

The shape is then put in a leer, or oven, to slowly form and cool down. The equipment costs £8,000, whereas the three pieces of machinery separately would cost at least £50,000.

He said: "This could revolutionise the glass industry.

"This is the area for glass and something like this will reduce costs and be much more energy-efficient."

Mr Farwell's first job on leaving school at 15 was at Tudor Crystal in Stourbridge and he has gone full circle by returning to the industry.

After that he worked installed ventilation systems in machinery at factories across the Midlands, including Land Rover and British Aerospace.

Though he is frustrated that his inventions have not caught the imaginations of bosses at commercial firms, he has vowed to continue working on ideas.

He says the 'Easy ECG' machine, which measure a person's heart rate through their fingers, gives a more accurate reading than equipment used in the NHS.

A person can put their two forefingers in the sensor and, seconds later, the heart reading appears on a computer screen.

He said: "They would never take it on in the NHS because it would undermine everything they have done so far."

The workshop in his drive took him a year to build with his son, Stefan in 1995.

It has the words 'Camalot Castle' spelt out in cats eyes which light up when people drive past at night.

After years of work, Mr Farwell now believes the glass making machine is an idea which can be marketed and become a commercial success.

He added: "Inventors thrive on problems, with this one I really think I could make a difference."