Bill Black doesn’t shy away at challenges. He earned a black belt in karate, learned how to scuba dive and got his private pilot’s license.
Now, the 50-year-old Black can add another accomplishment to that list: inventor.
Black’s first invention, Samnic, is the world’s first motorized golf cleat cleaner, allowing golfers to clean their shoes in seconds after each round rather than minutes.
“I think we’ve sold about 1,500 so far,” Black said from his Water Valley home in Windsor.
Samnic - named after his 11-year-old daughter Samantha and his 7-year-old son Nicholas - is a hand-held, battery-operated cleaner.
It has a patented nylon-and-plastic head designed to clean in and around cleats. It also has an attachable brush to clean other parts of the shoe or other athletic shoes such as soccer or baseball cleats.
“After every round, especially in Atlanta, your cleats are getting constantly dirty,” Black said. “I was complaining once too many times when my brother said ‘Why don’t you invent something?’ ”
Challenged, Black did just that. Starting in March 2005, Black got a patent, hired an engineer to design the tool and a manufacturing company to make it.
Photo by Bill Black.
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