No butts, about it, Goat man helps handicapped

   Folks call him the goat man. If you’ve ever driven down Cole Road in Lilburn, you know who I mean. No one can miss the 18 goats grazing on Carlyen Cumbie’s five-acre spread.

   But his goats are hardly what keep him busy all day.

   Cumbie, who was an Alabama farmboy, left home in 1949, at age 16 to make it on his own in Atlanta. In 1951 he started working as a plumber and recently retired to pursue his first love in life, inventing.

   For years Cumbie made miniatures of farm wagons and tools. His little American buggy, with authentic details like a spring mechanism and metal steps took first place at the 2005 Gwinnett County Fair and he received a patent for a lock he designed for a retainer pin in a miniature tractor.

   “Details like that make the difference between these things being worth a few dollars or a few hundred dollars,” Cumbie said.

   Most recently, he’s been focusing on inventing devices to make life easier for people with disabilities.

   “When I see people that’s struggling to do something, I want to do what I can to help out,” he said. “A Vietnam vet told me how it’s impossible to wheel a chair and hold an umbrella at the same time, so I invented an umbrella holder for his wheelchair.”

   The umbrella holder led to cup holders, phone holders, bowling ball holders and tool rack holders for handymen who don’t want their wheel chairs getting in the way of their livelihood. He designed a fishing pole holder for a Jerry Lewis poster child, a spoon holder for a little boy born without fingers and a tray for disposable game boards in hospitals to keep from passing germs around.

   One grateful recipient, Joette Segars, a secretary at Arcado Elementary School said, “Mr. Cumbie has a passion for making everyday life easier for people with disabilities. When he saw that I had no way to carry my ice tea glass on my motorized scooter, he made a cup holder for my handlebar and brought it to my house.”

   Cumbie received patents for two wheelchair devices. He has also received The Center for Disease Control’s Contributor to Disabilities Awareness Award and is recognized by Leaders in American Innovation. 

   The latest innovations on his drawing board are a scissor-wheelchair that could be elevated and plans to replumb the trap under a kitchen sink so a wheelchair could roll up under it.

   Cumbie’s inventions are not fancy, but they do the job. All his ideas are both time and cost efficient.

   Oh, yes, about those goats. I asked him if that was some sort of side business.

   “Oh, no,” he said, “The only reason they’re there is to keep the yard clean. They do a real good job.” 

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