| Back pain inspires patented invention |
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| Written by PETER KUEBECK Sentinel Staff Writer | ||
| Wednesday, 31 August 2011 09:29 | ||
That certainly applies to village resident Jim Bernthisel, who used his back pain as inspiration for a now-patended mechanical creation. The invention is a tool tray that slides under the bed slider of pickup trucks, measuring 36 inches wide by 70 inches long, and four inches deep. The idea came to Bernthisel, the owner of Bernthisel Collision and Self Storage in Waterville, in September of last year. "I have back problems, so I built this (a rolling bed slider) and I saw there was an area underneath for wasted space," he explained. The contraption took several months to build in bits and pieces. "It's very simple, there's very few pieces to it. There's a pair of rollers in the front, a pair of rollers in the rear, it pretty much hinges on that." The drawer can also be locked and is out of view when a truck's tailgate is closed, heightening the security of the device. The tray, which supports 450 pounds, can be used for tools as well as the gear of people like hunters and fishermen, he said. A lawyer Bernthisel knew through his wife's daycare business suggested he speak to a patent attorney to see if the invention could be patented. "They told me it was patentable, so we applied for a patent and got a patent on June 22." Bernthisel now holds a one-year patent on the device, and has until June 22 of 2012 to apply for a utility patent, which would last 18 years. He aims to manufacture the invention, with the help of his stepson and longtime employee, Mike Fritz, who will be put in charge of the process. Right now, Applied Technology, an engineering firm in Maumee, is looking at the parts involved in the tool tray and determining how they could be gotten more cost-effectively and using sturdier pieces. Bernthisel is also receiving help in fields such as marketing from the Toledo Chamber of Commerce. "This is the only patent I've done and applied for. I just have a feeling there's a market for this out there." To get a manufacturing operation off the ground, he explained, they would need to be able to produce a certain number of units per day depending on demand, and get prices to where it is affordable to do so. At their current business, he said they could probably make three to four a week. They would need someone with the capability to make that quantity in an hour. "I have several people who want me to build them," Bernthisel noted. "I really hope for this to be a success." |
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