Never underestimate the power of a light bulb moment - is a motto to live by for Jorge Odon, a car mechanic from Argentina who discovered a "potentially revolutionary" device to help women who have difficulty from childbirth.

"It comes naturally - for instance if I have a problem in my workplace I will go to bed and my head will think it through and I will wake up in the middle of the night with a solution," he told BBC News Magazine.

Aside from being a father of five, Odon is no expert in obstetrics, but he has a mechanical mind and is an inventor at heart. His patents consisted of stabilization bars and car suspensions, but like his car parts, his brain shifted gears when he watched a YouTube video.

"Odon's staff at the garage showed him a YouTube video revealing how to extract a loose cork from inside an empty bottle. It's remarkably simple. You tilt the bottle, stuff a plastic bag down the neck and blow into the opening. The bag balloons inside the bottle, wrapping itself tightly around the cork. Then you just pull it out," BBC explained.

He challenged a friend, Carlos Modena to a bet over dinner (using a cork and bottle, a bread bag and several objects, mimicking the YouTube video) - and won. Odon was shocked that YouTube trick really worked, but he was onto something bigger.

Odon went home to bed, but woke up at 4 a.m. - and that's when he had a light bulb moment - "what if he used the same principle to help women give birth?"

While no one took him seriously at first, including his wife, thinking he was missing a few marbles, he convinced Modena to introduce him to his family's obstetrician.

"We went to a hospital and sat - in our suits - in a room full of expectant mothers," Odon told the BBC. "My friend was still skeptical, so when we went to see the doctor, at first he sat quite far away from me. But once he saw that the doctor was interested in this idea and quite impressed, he moved his chair closer and started saying 'we' have invented this!"

Then the car mechanic on a mission registered a patent and set about building a prototype. Back at the workshop, he and Modena began experimenting using his daughter's toys, jars and Vaseline - his staff thought he officially lost it.

Odon came up with a working model and approached Dr Javier Schvartzman at the Centre for Medical Education and Clinical Research in Buenos Aires. While he thought the trick was "crazy at first," Schvartzman was on board and gave him the green light to continue with the project.

"The first prototype was a glass uterus, into which two large bags were introduced. When Schvartzman explained that thrusting a bag all the way into the uterus might perforate its lining, Odon adapted the model so that the bag was only applied over the head," according to the BBC.

There are a lot of complicated factors that come into play during childbirth, which Odon learned more about along the way.

"Birthing instruments are used in about one in 10 births, usually forceps, or the ventouse - where a suction cap attached to the head helps to pull the baby out. Both have downsides. Forceps may damage vaginal tissues and can fracture the baby's skull, as there is no limit to how much force you can apply. A ventouse delivery is less traumatic for the mother, but may still damage the baby's scalp."

By 2008, Odon's project caught the attention of the World Health Organization - most importantly its chief coordinator for improving maternal and perinatal health, Dr Mario Merialdi. During a visit to Buenos Aires, Merialdi met with Odon for quick 10-minute demonstration that ended up lasting two hours.

Inspired and reassured, Odon continued to work on his invention's evolution. He came up with three patents later over the course of 30 trial deliveries.

Now more doctors, expecting mothers and American companies are becoming intrigued. Trials are now continuing on 100 healthy women in Argentina and the next phase of the study will test Odon's device in "problem births" in Africa, Asia and Europe.

"If the trials go well, Merialdi predicts the device could be in clinical use in two or three years' time," the BBC reports. "The U.S. company that will manufacture the device, Becton Dickinson and Company, says it will sell it cheaply to developing countries. This is very important to Odon."

"Worldwide, about 5.6 million babies are stillborn or die soon after birth every year. Some 260,000 mothers die as well - 99 percent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries. Mothers may bleed to death or die from infection, whereas newborns are in danger of suffocating. Where the mother survives, she may suffer serious complications such as fistula, where tearing links the vagina with the rectum or bladder."

"The important thing is that it's affordable so that it can reach everywhere," Odon said. "More than the economic side of this I have always wanted to save lives, to help people."