Charles Johnson's inventions have helped his arthritic grandmother start her car, saved his young cousins from dangerous falls down stairways, and one day may even prevent train-vehicle collisions at train crossings. While Johnson may not be Superman, he is committed to inventing devices to assist others.

According to Johnson, his best invention is a train-detecting device that he developed after researching fatalities at train crossings across the United States. Charles theorized a system where the front of the train would give off radar signals, while cars would be equipped with a radar receiver. As a car approached a train crossing, it would detect the train's radar and the driver would be alerted in time to stop.

Some of Johnson's earlier inventions were convenience items, like the "Ski Slings" that make it easy to transport and identify one's skis. But his interest in safety-oriented inventions was there from the start. From his own experiences looking out for his small cousins, Johnson created the "Baby Buzzer," a warning device that discourages babies from crawling onto staircases while alerting their caretakers of the potential danger.

Soon thereafter, Johnson created a device designed with his grandmother in mind: "Carthritis," an adapter that makes it easy for persons with arthritis to turn a car key in the ignition. This won him his first Inventor of the Year award, at the local Invention Convention (a contest he entered every year, from kindergarten through eighth grade). Then, switching to an entirely new field, Johnson invented "Bovine Twine": baling twine that can be eaten by cattle along with the hay bales fed to them, rather than ending up on the ground as non-reusable refuse.

After a series of fatal accidents at Texas train crossings, Johnson spent his eighth-grade school year doing a vast amount of research and consulting with civil engineers. The result was his favorite invention to date, the "Train Detecting Device." This is basically a radar detector, inexpensive and easy to install in a train engine or motor vehicle, that warns drivers well in advance that a train is nearing a crossing, and warns engineers in the same way of approaching cars and buses --- whether or not the crossing signals are functioning.

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