NEW INVENTIONS HELPS IN A JAM
New ideas can come from the most unexpected places.
For Kevin C., Sr., it was a courier van stuck on an icy incline that set off the proverbial light bulb.
Kevin, the owner of a towing company in Newark and a member of the Board of Directors for the Delaware Towing Association, received a call last February to free the courier van, which slid down a hill in the snowy weather and became trapped.
He sent one of his tow trucks to the area to help the van, but the hill was too slippery and the tow truck got stuck as well. When Kevin arrived at the scene to free the two vehicles, he wrapped barbed wire around their tires to improve their traction.Afterwards, Kevin thought about his idea and came up with his invention – the Tire Snow Boot.
He perfected his Tire Snow Boot by testing it in his own driveway in the winter, making modifications along the way.
Kevin surfed the internet to see if any similar product was on the market but didn’t see anything quite like his invention, so he submitted his idea to Invention Technologies, Inc., a Florida-based company that helps inventors publicize and market their ideas.
He is working with Invention Technologies to finish the final version of his invention. The Tire Snow Boot is now open for licensing to manufacturers, particularly in the automotive accessories industry, that might be interested in putting it into production.
Kevin hopes that his Tire Snow Boot will be available in the near future.
“I feel confident that someday retail supercenters will be selling it, along with auto parts and supply stores,” Kevin said. “We hope to have it in production soon. We’re in negotiations with manufacturers.”
Invention Technologies is not currently releasing any photographs of the Tire Snow Boot or specific details about how it works, but the product is supposed to give vehicles extra traction in snow and ice by attaching to tires.
Kevin said he designed his invention to be used only when a vehicle is stuck, unlike snow tires or tire chains that are worn throughout the winter season.
“It’s not something that’s going to be used daily,” Kevin said. “But I have one customer who’s probably going to use it three times a month, the way she drives.”
From his experience in the towing business, Kevin thinks that his Tire Snow Boot could make drivers more self-sufficient in the winter by sometimes eliminating the need to call a tow truck.
“When it snows, we pull out six to seven trucks a day or more from driveways in rural areas,” Kevin said.
But this invention is not only for the winter – it can also be used to free vehicles stuck in mud.
Kevin said that his invention is user-friendly enough for anyone to use.
“It fits right in the trunk, right along with the jumper cable,” Kevin said. “It’s easy enough for a person not mechanically-inclined to use long enough to gain traction.”
He said that the Tire Snow Boot will also come in different sizes to match tires.
Apparently, people don’t necessarily need a degree from MIT to invent a new product; they just need to come up with a new, practical solution for an everyday a problem.