Geoff Baker (IAWA)
This amazing rake has been invented with two rake heads. One acts as the raking head so that you can rake up leaves, rubbish and garden materials and then instead of getting your hands dirty, straining your back and wasting time by picking up small bundles at a time, like magic the other raking blade folds down into position to collect the pile.
(Photo: John Jacob)
Geoff Baker's Story
As the old saying goes: "Necessity is the mother of invention." In this case the need for two implements to do a particular job seemed to be unnecessary.
The wife of a very good friend of mine said she had seen a scissor-like gadget somewhere which was operated with both hands and picked up the leaves etc. after they had been raked up into piles. This made me think that since I already had an implement in the form of a rake in my hand I should be able to do both jobs. After a lot of thoughts and many different configurations and lots of geometry I came up with this rake attachment. Then many visits to the patent people and lots of money it was ready for manufacture and sales. Selling them through garden and hardware stores has not been easy for a small time operator with a single product.
Finding it difficult to distribute his invention through Mitre 10, he resorted to selling his rakes at a local market. After having received an assessment from the Inventors Association of Western Australia Inc. Geoff has been advised to concentrate on building what is called a "Distribution Network." This is a group of business contacts who can assist an inventor to distribute their product through to outlets that contact customers. Aligning with distributors that already have products on the shelves of Mitre 10, Bunnings and other outlets can help a lone inventor. A few at the IAWA are helping Geoff to build a distribution network. Geoff lives in retirement at Shoalwater on the coast south of Perth.
Available From
- Direct from the Inventor
conniestanbrook@hotmail.com
9592 7181
0407 617 409 - Openii - Innovative Solutions Development - http://www.openii.com.au/
- The Canning-Vale Markets
