Inventor Wants To Rake It In

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Q&A With Christmas Caroloke Creator

June 5, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 6 Comments

STLToday.com:

Ryan Jansen’s dreams are tied to a rake. Not just any rake, though. This is a special rake, a rake that was born in Jansen’s young mind years ago in a yard full of leaves.

The idea percolated quietly and out of actuality’s reach until a project was assigned in Jansen’s industrial design class at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The rake idea then bubbled up; an “ah-ha” moment, as it were. Now, this rake could change everything.

And just why, exactly, does the world need a new rake? Think of it like this: How many times has the yard worker spent hours raking leaves, only to have no easy way to pick them up? The yard worker bends over, balances the rake handle on one shoulder, and with a free hand pinches a scoop of leaves against the bottom of the rake. (And that’s only if the kids don’t jump into the leaf pile first.)

The Rake N Take can fix that. Jansen’s invention scoops up large piles of leaves with the slide of a handle. The rake bends like a hand clamping down on a handlebar. Release the handle, release the leaves.

“Nobody likes picking up leaves,” Jansen said.

Jansen tried at least 20 prototypes. He bought $400 worth of fake leaves from a hobby shop to test them.

“And I was broke, man. Am broke. I don’t know why I said ‘was.’”

Photo by Gizmodo.

In Inventions | 6 Comments
Tags: Bootstrap, Startup