Here is the You Tube link to the Grass whip in action. Sorry I couldn't find a better looking model.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mveTfUE0BnI&feature=youtu.be
and another longer better video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6MSUOEWjDk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mveTfUE0BnI&feature=youtu.be
and another longer better video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6MSUOEWjDk
BARRY'S LATEST HOMEMADE TOOL AND INNOVATION summer 2014
In the past I mentioned that I would start adding some of my inventions, innovations and improvements to existing products. The Grass Whip with replaceable blades a la the utility knife is going strong, in my yard anyway. I know grass whips have been around for a while but they are fabulously
inefficient with that dull serrated blade that does more pulling than cutting. I would much rather take this to the weeds and make short work of them than wrestling with the 100 foot cord for my electrical weed whacker. And, don’t get me started on those annoying, pollution belching gas powered two stroke neighbour agitators – but, maybe there is some value in that?
I have further refined the concept but yet to build a revised grass whip. The next iteration will use the blades that are for carpet tools. Those blades are sharp on both sides and are ¾” X 3” approximately. So, that means the cutting bar will be much simplified and will only require fastening the blades to it and it will not be as involved as the previous designs.
Please check out the You Tube links above where I have posted a couple of movies of me laying waste to some tall grass and weeds around the house. To have this made I have to incorporate some Lean Manufacturing principles. That is, the sales will pull the product through manufacture. Rather than, making one thousand units, storing them and then trying to sell them. So, if you would like to buy one of these let me know via the contact form on the first page of this website and that will help me get a green product to market.
Homemade Painters Helper
Next, is useful little item for professional painters and those that just need to do some painting around the house. In the big stores you can find these portable paint containers with disposable liners. They work good, but cost $20 and up including the liners. Shown below, is what I have been doing for a while now. Everyone has one liter containers for various dairy products in their house and old forks. First you take the fork (6-7 inches) and bend it to the shape of a handle that your hand can fit through and at the same time grasp the one liter container. It takes a bit of work to get the shape right and the best thing to do this with is a bench vice. After you have the rough shape of the handle the bend last half inch of the fork side and handle side out to about 45 degrees.
Heat the fork up with a torch or whatever is handy just enough so both ends of the fork can melt through the container. Heat just enough so as to create
receptacles for the fork cum handle’s both ends to be captured by the holes, in the container. After you have melted the holes on the container and the fork/ handle is now cooled, compress the fork enough to seat both ends in the container. Now you have a holder that will hold a one liter dairy container that you
can add paint to or stain or whatever. If you are up to it, you can tape a rare earth magnet to the inside of the paint container to hold your brush upright.
BARRY'S LATEST HOMEMADE TOOL AND INNOVATION spring 2014
These are some photos of my latest homemade tool. I typically make much of my tooling and all of my jigs for increased efficiency in the fabrication furniture and generally improving the fit and finish of products. I also prototype several inventions that pass through my mind and continuously strive to improve my engineering ability and build manufacturing capacity of my shop. You've got to start somewhere! Anyway, In 1996 I won 1st place at Canada’s largest inventor’s competition for a shuffle free CD storage system. However, due to many factors, like the invention costing $2 million to capitalize off shore and the fact that it took the USA Patent Office over 36 months to issue my patent, (it usually takes 13 months) it did not take off. Two positive product evaluations by the world’s preeminent innovation evaluator, being courted by one very large multi-national company and also the largest manufacturer of CD storage products in Canada, plus $100 K from yours truly and a cadre of sharp investors, did not a successful launch make. While my heart was broken (twice) the whole episode taught me some valuable lessons. I have many products in my mind, and I keep them there. Because, if you are not prepared to throw $80K or more at an idea, it’s best to just keep your mouth shut. But, if you can make a product in your garage by cleverly assembling currently manufactured items to arrive at a value added unique and novel product, give ‘er hell. That is exactly what I am doing here. I give you the world’s first grass whip that uses replaceable and disposable utility knife blades. It uses two of the long snap off variety, per side. By going through the exercise of making this and other prototypes, I know exactly how to reduce the number of components and manufacturing steps, streamline production and exploit some minor economies of scale. I tend to lavish a lot of time and effort over everything I make; furniture, speakers, tools, hell everything and this prototype is no exception. I made sure there where no sanding swirls in the body of the whip, polished out the brass and added a contrasting walnut accent to the handle. This prototype is made from an off the shelf stairway baluster, rock hard Sugar Maple, Burr Oak, Walnut, some brass stock and of course the snap off utility blades, two of them. Plus, some good effort by myself as well, and I think for a prototype, it is very good looking. You may wonder why I am doing this? That is, playing fast and loose with what may be a valuable product before I can even punch, no... slap, at the featherweight level in the intellectual law boxing ring. Pre-launch marketing? Sure, why not. But, more importantly, to date the idea and show my ownership too. You see, in the USA, the largest market in the world, the patent law is, first to invent there. That’s why I am doing this and rest assured the patent process has begun. A patent must be filed within one year of a public display. Plus, the threat of an invention stealing bogey man, or bogey woman, is one that I have yet to see. Also, with the likes of Quirky and a veritable shopping list of crowd funding sources and the public disclosure they require, the invention capitalization landscape has shifted considerably. You might even say there have been several earthquakes.
BACK TO THE MATTER AT HAND
It has taken 18 years before I found the intestinal fortitude to float another invention. Many, many people are going green in all facets of life, all over the country and the world - this is a good thing. To that end, there is an upswing of sales of high end, manual push mowers and other here to fore petrol powered accoutrements - this, again, is a good thing. So, one day I was about to get out the plug-in Weed Eater (TM) with two hundred feet of electrical cord and in that instant was struck with the idea to equip a grass whip with replaceable utility knife blades. I considered the notion for a while and then after some sole searching and inventorying of my personal and professional characteristics of stamina, attitude, capacity and capability, I made the decision to proceed. Now, with this little baby, there will no longer be a reason to forgo the grass whip you buy, use till dull and then leave in the garage corner forever. Not this unit. Use this till dull, change the blades, and Bob’s your uncle. Plus, you will not anger your neighbours with that noisy, smoke belching weed whacker at 7:30 AM! Production has begun in earnest in my furniture shop which I now have converted half into a small grass whip manufacturing facility. If you would like to own one of these, please give me some time to “ready the line” and build stock. I will be ready to ship limited quantities by early spring. One thing I should mention too, the prototype you see here is the first concept, production models will be a little different looking, but better. Including blades on both sides of the business end but still true to the old world style of lawn care tool as embodied in the prototype below. Call me old fashioned, but my grass whips will exude charm, graceful design, rugged ability and a pleasure to own and use.
In the near future you will be able to order one of these grass whips with secure on-line ordering. For further information you can click on one of the Facebook or Gmail links above to contact me.
These are some photos of my latest homemade tool. I typically make much of my tooling and all of my jigs for increased efficiency in the fabrication furniture and generally improving the fit and finish of products. I also prototype several inventions that pass through my mind and continuously strive to improve my engineering ability and build manufacturing capacity of my shop. You've got to start somewhere! Anyway, In 1996 I won 1st place at Canada’s largest inventor’s competition for a shuffle free CD storage system. However, due to many factors, like the invention costing $2 million to capitalize off shore and the fact that it took the USA Patent Office over 36 months to issue my patent, (it usually takes 13 months) it did not take off. Two positive product evaluations by the world’s preeminent innovation evaluator, being courted by one very large multi-national company and also the largest manufacturer of CD storage products in Canada, plus $100 K from yours truly and a cadre of sharp investors, did not a successful launch make. While my heart was broken (twice) the whole episode taught me some valuable lessons. I have many products in my mind, and I keep them there. Because, if you are not prepared to throw $80K or more at an idea, it’s best to just keep your mouth shut. But, if you can make a product in your garage by cleverly assembling currently manufactured items to arrive at a value added unique and novel product, give ‘er hell. That is exactly what I am doing here. I give you the world’s first grass whip that uses replaceable and disposable utility knife blades. It uses two of the long snap off variety, per side. By going through the exercise of making this and other prototypes, I know exactly how to reduce the number of components and manufacturing steps, streamline production and exploit some minor economies of scale. I tend to lavish a lot of time and effort over everything I make; furniture, speakers, tools, hell everything and this prototype is no exception. I made sure there where no sanding swirls in the body of the whip, polished out the brass and added a contrasting walnut accent to the handle. This prototype is made from an off the shelf stairway baluster, rock hard Sugar Maple, Burr Oak, Walnut, some brass stock and of course the snap off utility blades, two of them. Plus, some good effort by myself as well, and I think for a prototype, it is very good looking. You may wonder why I am doing this? That is, playing fast and loose with what may be a valuable product before I can even punch, no... slap, at the featherweight level in the intellectual law boxing ring. Pre-launch marketing? Sure, why not. But, more importantly, to date the idea and show my ownership too. You see, in the USA, the largest market in the world, the patent law is, first to invent there. That’s why I am doing this and rest assured the patent process has begun. A patent must be filed within one year of a public display. Plus, the threat of an invention stealing bogey man, or bogey woman, is one that I have yet to see. Also, with the likes of Quirky and a veritable shopping list of crowd funding sources and the public disclosure they require, the invention capitalization landscape has shifted considerably. You might even say there have been several earthquakes.
BACK TO THE MATTER AT HAND
It has taken 18 years before I found the intestinal fortitude to float another invention. Many, many people are going green in all facets of life, all over the country and the world - this is a good thing. To that end, there is an upswing of sales of high end, manual push mowers and other here to fore petrol powered accoutrements - this, again, is a good thing. So, one day I was about to get out the plug-in Weed Eater (TM) with two hundred feet of electrical cord and in that instant was struck with the idea to equip a grass whip with replaceable utility knife blades. I considered the notion for a while and then after some sole searching and inventorying of my personal and professional characteristics of stamina, attitude, capacity and capability, I made the decision to proceed. Now, with this little baby, there will no longer be a reason to forgo the grass whip you buy, use till dull and then leave in the garage corner forever. Not this unit. Use this till dull, change the blades, and Bob’s your uncle. Plus, you will not anger your neighbours with that noisy, smoke belching weed whacker at 7:30 AM! Production has begun in earnest in my furniture shop which I now have converted half into a small grass whip manufacturing facility. If you would like to own one of these, please give me some time to “ready the line” and build stock. I will be ready to ship limited quantities by early spring. One thing I should mention too, the prototype you see here is the first concept, production models will be a little different looking, but better. Including blades on both sides of the business end but still true to the old world style of lawn care tool as embodied in the prototype below. Call me old fashioned, but my grass whips will exude charm, graceful design, rugged ability and a pleasure to own and use.
In the near future you will be able to order one of these grass whips with secure on-line ordering. For further information you can click on one of the Facebook or Gmail links above to contact me.
MORE INNOVATIONS AND INVENTIONS TO COME
WATCH THIS SPACE OVER 20 NEW INVENTIONS WITH BE UNVEILED HERE.
In the near future, this page will feature other useful and clever innovations from the shop of Barry Crowe. Ask anyone that has been bounced around and beaten up in the invention capitalization industry and they will tell you that the "Not Invented Here Syndrome" is alive and well. If you are going to prevail in this atmosphere of very conservative venture capitalists, one must do their best to develop innovations that you can garage manufacture. I have many other ideas as useful as the grass whip and fortunately they lend themselves to manufacture with off the shelf components and clever production processes. So please, keep watching this site and more particularly this page. This is where those innovations will be unveiled and sold.
Below is a link to my United States Patent. Did you know I own the worlds most expensive CD Storage cabinet? I can't seem to find any recent pictures of it. But I will dig it out and take a few shots and load them up here too if you care to look at it.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=5,980,002.PN.&s2=crowe.INNM.&OS=PN/5,980,002+AND+IN/crowe&RS=PN/5,980,002+AND+IN/crowe