Top-Down Engineering Begins!
Growing up we had a black lab named Oscar who had daily pursuits of rabbits and squirrels in our back yard. When he had one identified through the glass sliding door, we would slowly open it, trying not to make any noise. He would step out as carefully as possible and continue to stalk toward the unsuspecting animal as he walked across the patio. Usually at the moment the animal identified Oscar the predator, it would bolt and Oscar would sprint his hardest. Squirrels would find trees and rabbits would shoot under the chain-link fence, rendering the chase complete. However, my dad tells of a time where, after years of trying, Oscar got a rabbit cornered. Imagine what he was thinking: “I did it! How great is this?!” Then, apparently as the rabbit began to squeak and squawk, Oscar realized he didn’t know what to do next. He kept it cornered for about half a minute, stepped away, and let it go. Maybe it was all about the chase for him. In any case, the story stuck in my mind as a situation where after many attempts a break through may occur.
Last fall I had an Oscar-and-the-Rabbit moment. You see, our neighborhood has many mature trees, which is great for summer shade, but rough in the fall when all the leaves must be disposed. Our city requires the leaves to be filled into the ubiquitous brown paper yard bag which involve a lot of work to fill. Off and on for the past few years I have dabbled with several attempts to make a system for directly filling yard bags. On a December Sunday, I rolled out my contraption to the leaf-filled back yard, fired it up, and watched in amazement as it actually worked! “I did it! How great is this?!” My excitement of the moment was almost immediately ignited by the realization that I may have something really useful that could be a product development opportunity. Determined not to let the rabbit go, I have been working since to refine the prototype, patent what is patentable, and start this company as platform through which to develop this direct bagging product and generate some extra dough through engineering design services to help fund the effort.
Suffice to say, I expect to learn a lot as I work through the process of developing this product. I plan to share what I discover on this blog for the potential benefit of others who may be considering similar pursuits. Certainly, I will provide updates on the product itself as well. I am looking forward to sharing details of the design once critical elements are patent protected. And, from a general engineering design perspective, I plan to start blog conversations around topics of 3D CAD, prototyping, systems architecting, and design in general.
So, this is the beginning. Ultimately, I am hopeful my direct bagging product will find some success that fuels my ability to continue to design and create – not only for myself but for others as well. If you need help getting your designs or ideas turned from concepts into working reality, I can help. Please get in touch and we talk about your ideas and make them happen.
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