Any resemblance between “The Claw” and a certain UFO-shaped helium balloon that gripped the world last October and held Fort Collins in an embarrassing stranglehold is purely coincidental.

Wellington (Colorado) Middle School sixth-grader Zach Shea’s prize-winning invention is built around a similar-looking device, but his was a propeller-driven, helium balloon designed to transport objects. He entered his invention in the sixth annual Inventor’s Fair sponsored in January by Wasson-ECE Instrumentation in Fort Collins.

Zach confessed that he had to put his project together quickly.

“I found out about the fair late and only had a week to work on it. I was really running behind,” he said. “The school had the balloon itself, and I got to thinking about what to do and Mr. Bowes telling us how inventions help people.”

WMS technical education teacher Jim Bowes posted “Change the World” signs around school announcing the fair and advertising that there would be 20 $100 prizes awarded. The fair tied perfectly into his Introduction to Technology and Engineering Concepts course, but Zach was the school’s sole entrant.

“With his creativity and enthusiasm, Zach stood out from day one,” said Bowes. “As with most young learners when given the freedom to be inventive, students weren’t lacking for ideas during our inventions unit. The challenge for many kids was deciding which of their great ideas to focus on.”

That is just what company president John Wasson wants to hear.

“The fair was a creation we developed to spark creativity in junior high school students; to demonstrate how they can change the world and make it better through invention,” stated Wasson, who has been in the business of creating gas chromatographs — powerful, complex analytical tools — for 20 years. “Before the show, we tell the kids about our work and how we get paid to invent. We’re aiming for that correlation between having fun and getting paid.”

Wasson’s extensive client list reads like a veritable who’s who in the corporate world: ExxonMobil, Shell, Conoco, Dow and DuPont, among dozens of others. Yet he had no trouble recalling Zach’s invention.

“His was an excellent example of individual creativity and foresight,” Wasson said.

In turn, Bowes called Wasson Instrumentation, “a company with an owner who puts his money where his mouth is by fostering innovation among young people in our community.”

Zach thinks the whole thing is exciting.

“My friends were like proud and envious,” he said.

The nuts and bolts of Zach’s creation — which he admitted never quite mastered grabbing things — was an extension made of LEGO blocks attached with hot glue to a remote-controlled, battery-operated balloon.

“There are really two versions: this scale model and a giant one that would transport cargo,” explained Zach, whose invention measured about 2 feet across, while the yet-to-be constructed one would be as big as a blimp.

Zach originally christened his project “The Flight Maid” since he envisioned it as a “robot helper sort of thing.”

Inventing comes naturally to Zach, who started as he put it, “very long ago.”

“I’ve been inventing things really since I started using paper,” he recalled. “I like making it into things (paper airplanes, origami).”

Imagination is what fuels his creativity.

“It’s everything!” he exclaimed. “You can imagine anything you want to, and no one can correct you.”

Since preschool, his imagination has inspired him to become very hands-on.

“I like to try to take apart things to figure out what’s inside,” he said, citing a microwave popcorn bag as an early project, and more recently, a computer. “I always ask first.”

Zach’s parents aren’t at all fazed by their youngest son’s curiosity.

“Zach has always thought outside the box,” said his mother, Tracy Shea. “From about 5 on, he plans what he is going to do by drawing it out first.”

The 12-year-old believes in having a “base” from which to begin, and he just really likes to sketch and paint. He also likes science — but claimed not to do well in it — and math, as well as art. A career combining the first two disciplines — which both use equations to solve problems, he observed — with art would “rock.”

“I’m thinking about archeology and photography,” he said. “I love to travel. I like bones and dinosaurs. Oh, and the rainforest, too.”

Creativity apparently flourishes on this family tree.

Tracy is a paraprofessional and substitute teacher who dabbles in writing. She said Zach’s dad, Roger, is an “unknown inventor” who is constantly coming up with ways to make chores go faster and easier. The couple’s other two children often perform together as a musical group they call “Two Shea.”

Jonathan, 17, and a junior at Poudre High School, and his 13-year-old sister Jessica, a WMS student, will be the opening act at 7 p.m. on April 16 in Johnstown at 3J’s Coffeehouse.

The rest of the Sheas are so convinced of the duo’s talent, the entire family is relocating to Tennessee for its music scene after school gets out in May.

Until then, Zach keeps imagining “the trees, tons of trees” he expects to see in his new home. He said he will miss his native Colorado but will continue cooking up new ideas, including those that have to do with cooking. Simple soups and cinnamon-side down French toast are two of his specialties.

Here or there, it appears Zach can seize a number of opportunities…but what about that $100 prize money?

It was spent on a tool that may indeed help Zach reach new levels of creativity — a silver iPod Touch.