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Hello my name is William Haney and I am a Father and Grandfather, as well as an Inventor and Advocate for Good Health and the Quality of Life. Please allow me to share my experience, strength and hope...

On July 23rd, 1972 my life took on a whole new meaning and I was forever changed. I had broken my neck in a swimming pool accident. I was unable to move my arms and my legs. I tried to hold my breath as long as I could and eventually blacked out. When I awoke I was on my back, poolside, with a man standing over me calling my name. He was running a key up and down the bottom of my foot asking me if I could feel it. I could not. He called for an ambulance. I briefly remember him telling them to be careful with how they moved me. Then I remember arriving at the hospital. Doctors explaining X-rays. Telling me I was lucky to be alive. The C-3 and C-4 in the cervical area were damaged and I needed surgery. If not for my brother Tom Haney, the man that jumped into the water to rescue me, I just-then found out, I would have died.

I would like to take this moment to
say to God and to my Brother Tom,
" I love you" and
"Thank you for saving my life".



After surgery and intense therapy, over time I learned how to walk and use my arms again. I even had to learn how to write all over again and still today I have a problem lifting weight over my shoulders. Yes, this was definitely a life altering experience I will not soon forget.

Note: Through my recovery it dawned on me that something was needed as a motivational tool to help people regain walking skills and I stored that information away for a later date. That invention will be revealed on this site in the near future. It was also my first patented idea/invention.

The birth of a new awareness was flooding my mind and ideas were beginning to overflow.

In May of 1979 I ran into Kevin D. whom I went to high school with. We were good friends and I knew he had furthered his education in marketing and I was just becoming interested in that myself. So we "stayed in touch" often.

At this time I was working at a steel fabrication press shop and I was talking to people about my thoughts and ideas. Through these conversations, one person was particularly interested. His name was Joe S. One thing led to another and we arranged a meeting with Kevin. We all decided to go into Business together; Agreeing to make a prototype of one of my ideas and take it to an invention marketing company.

On September 21, 1979 we submitted what this company then called an Economical Feasibility Report for the product "In Case of Glaucoma Break Glass" which I called "The Glaucoma Emergency Kit". This invention was a display receptacle "alarm box" with a mock marijuana cigarette behind the glass of the front panel. It had a removable lid which housed a storage area for a contact lens case and eye drops. An eye chart was conveniently imprinted on the back panel. This was the product we were going to start our company with.

A million thoughts were swirling through our minds. All we needed now was an artist to help illustrate the other projects we were going to conquer. And low and behold, In November of 1979, there was an artist living in an apartment complex nearby that produced their own newsletter. Inside this newsletter was an ad section. I saw this ad, "See your ideas come to life, the woman with the golden touch, Call Elsie H.". And that I did.

Elsie and I began talking and found in each other the same passion for creativity. She later told me she also saw the passion for life I carried within me. I replied that she did indeed have the golden touch and we both agreed to work together for the meantime.

In December the marketing company finally called me back to set-up a meeting, "The report is done and we are now ready to talk business".

Here come the problems:
1.) The company wants money to make the product.
2.) I want to make the product to raise the funds needed for the next product that Elsie and I were working on.
3.) Joe S. and Kevin D. decide they do not want to help produce the product because of the investment. They thought they were going to collect a check and not have to pay out any more money and "That Just Isn't Going to Happen".

We parted and went our separate ways.

With the report in hand, I was now off trying to find a place that would produce my product. Meanwhile, Elsie and I continued to work together. Many ideas came and went and as always and we encountered many obstacles. All the time thinking we were keeping the"alarm box" on the back burner knowing one day we would find a way to bring it to life. We finally decided to apply for a patent on one of our products in 1989 and, wouldn't you know, it took two years until we were granted a patent. So we had obtained a patent in 1991 only to run into more of life's challenges.

For years we went on riding the wacky and wild roller coaster of life, then one day, on February 12,1997, I decided to stop smoking and changed my"alarm box" product to a "Stop Smoking Bank". I put the money I was saving from not smoking in my products enclosed housing. Who would have thought it was a bank? Why not, I thought, the lid was removable and each time I wanted to smoke I put money inside it, exchanging the coins to bills as I went along. For a year I did this and on February 12, 1998 I removed the lid to inspect the money I was saving. There were twelve 100 dollar bills inside! What a concept!

I immediately changed my product idea and called it Mirage II.

In 2001 I decided to see a lawyer to set me up as a corporation in the state of Pennsylvania with the name I was running under since I met Elsie, Universal Arts. The lawyer searched and revealed that the name was wide open for use, no one was using it! Divine Intervention had crossed my mind and I was ready to run with it! I proceed making and selling a few banks and a few tee shirts, but life's challenges continued.

In March of 2002 I sought out a patent lawyer to discuss a patent for my "Glaucoma Emergency Kit". It was something I had wanted to do since 1989 when Elsie and I decided on another product for submission. I presented him with my 1979 Economic Feasibility Report with a smile from ear to ear, I was so excited!

That lasted for about two seconds while he told me that I could not have a patent. He showed me a diagram of the unit along with the accompanying questionnaire and said to me, "Did they show this diagram when this company was taking the survey?" My jaw dropped as he said, "According to patent law, once your product is in print you (or anyone else for that matter) have about one year to apply for a patent ".

So, the best I was able to do was to register the name of the stop smoking bank as MIRAGE II‚ and rename the original product "In Case of Medical Necessity. Hopefully selling these products will one day bring in enough money to do my first patented product to help people regain walking.

As for me, I firmly believe that UNIVERSAL ARTS, INC. is a window of opportunity that helps bring me closer to improving the quality of life for others, one life at a time. I hope that sharing this brief history illustrates my passion for life and sheds light on the fact I have never forgotten that every day is a gift. I guess that's why we call it "the present".

I thank you for visiting this Web site and taking the time to get to know us. Please look around, and if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact us.