Wife’s back-breaking work with a shovel was an inspiration to lifting-device inventor

Grab-O-Saurus®: a CIPA case study

When retired engineer Graham Renny decided that his invention had international market potential, he succeeded in getting it pushed through the patent system in less than a year. It’s now selling well and, armed with his patents, he can see off any copycat products that may appear.

Inspiration came to Graham Renny when he noticed how hard his wife was having to work to shovel up horse manure in the paddock. “I could see what an effort it was for her, doing all that manual work on her own,” he explains. “Clearing up after horses can be back-breaking work, so I set my mind to thinking about what I could do to make the job easier. After a few hours with some bits of wood and metal in the workshop, I came up with a working prototype of a device that can pick up and lift anything like manure, leaves or general garden rubbish, without the user having to bend down. It will make life easier for millions of people who enjoy gardening or keeping animals, but who want to avoid getting backache.”

According to Graham’s wife Susan, his invention – now called the Grab-O-Saurus® – will be as liberating for outdoor work as vacuum cleaners and washing machines have been for housework. And because they have had the foresight to patent the product, the Herefordshire husband-and-wife business team are confident that the market won’t be flooded with inferior imitations.

As most inventors will confirm, the initial idea was the easy bit. The real challenges lie in coming up with a detailed design that can be economically manufactured, finding the funds to take it through the prototype stage, marketing the product and, if it is successful, fending off the copycats.

Graham and Susan Renny are fortunate in having two sons (Bruce and Alex) who work for a high-tech electronics company and who saw the invention’s market potential and understood the importance of registering and protecting intellectual property. The first piece of advice the brothers offered was to use the services of a patent attorney – in the person of Paul Derry at Venner Shipley, who had previously acted for the electronics company they both work for.

“Although I’ve got an engineering background,” says Graham Renny, “I had never patented anything before, and the world of marketing and product development was completely new to me. Paul Derry was very helpful in explaining how online patent databases are an excellent source of information when you’re trying to find out if anybody else has already developed a similar idea. He also guided us very professionally through the complexities of the different systems in the UK, Europe and the USA.”

Graham and Susan presented Paul Derry with market research that showed huge international market potential for the Grab-O-Saurus®. Paul prepared a full patent specification and submitted it to the UK Intellectual Property Office with a special request for the application to be given accelerated status.

“Venner Shipley submitted our full UK patent specification in April 2006”, recounts Graham Renny. “I was pleasantly surprised when the patent was granted just 11 months later, on 21 March 2007. In most cases, these things take four or five years.”

According to Paul Derry, Graham Renny’s status as a non-corporate applicant/inventor was an important factor in getting the patent application through the system so quickly. “Small companies and individuals can be more vulnerable than big companies when it comes to possible illicit copying of their inventions,” Paul Derry explains. “The UK IPO will take this into account and accelerate applications that meet certain criteria. What was particularly satisfying in the case of the Grab-O-Saurus® was that the IPO examiners came up with some examples of superficially similar prior inventions, but we were able to demonstrate that the Grab-O-Saurus® was sufficiently different and innovative to warrant a patent in its own right. Without that protection, it would be very difficult indeed to fend off any copycat imitations.”

Graham Renny’s US patent application went through the system at a similarly high speed, and was granted in March 2007, “the fastest US patent I’ve ever handled”, says Paul Derry. “There is no urgent need for granted patent protection in continental Europe, so the European patent application is progressing conventionally, allowing examination and grant costs to be deferred.” Paul’s colleague Ed Harrison, a registered trade mark attorney, managed to get Grab-O-Saurus® registered as a European Community Trade Mark in just over 12 months, and the equivalent US trade mark is expected to be registered in the near future.
Graham and Susan also approached their regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, who put them in touch with Innovations Network, an organisation set up to support and encourage innovation. Gill Roberts, their Advantage WM adviser at Coventry University, encouraged them to apply for grants and support available to inventors and small businesses. As a result, they have had about £5,000 worth of computer-aided design services from Wolverhampton University, a grant of £15,000 from Innovations Network and a further £14,000 from the Prograta fund.

“It has cost around £50,000 to improve the design, get patent protection and build prototypes”, Susan Renny explains. “As we are both retired, we would have found it difficult to raise that sort of money without grants and help in kind. I think it was a combination of the market research showing the product’s big potential market, and the fact that we had patent protection, that persuaded the University and the RDA to support us.”

Advantage West Midlands also helped Graham and Susan to find a UK-based plastics company to develop the prototype and manufacture it: MPC Plastics, of Redditch. “We got a much higher standard of service from MPC than we could have expected from a low-cost company in China or the Far East,” says Graham Renny. “MPC quoted us a fixed price, which they stuck to – even though some details of the design had to be changed and they ended up having to remake the prototype. I think MPC’s directors shared our enthusiasm for the product and were prepared to invest some of their own time and energy in getting it right.”

The Grab-O-Saurus® works on the same principle as eagles’ claws, with opposing paddles on long handles. One handle has a row of stub-ended teeth which target the waste matter for collection as the sister paddle clamps it into position. It can then easily be lifted and released wherever the user wishes, in one easy movement – without having to bend. The device is made from lightweight, durable polypropylene, which is easy to wipe clean.

Graham and Susan have appointed Smarter Products as distributors for online sales and are negotiating with potential distributors for the horticultural and gardening markets. “We’re now looking forward to growing international sales, including finding a distribution base for the American market,” says Susan Renny. “Graham’s invention has certainly changed our lives.”

Written by Peter Prowse for the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

For more information, contact:

Peter Prowse, CIPA: 01372 271234

Institute manager: Nicholas Pope, tel: 020 7405 9450

Susan or Graham Renny Tel: 01568 797296, sales@grab-o-saurus.com

Paul Derry, Venner Shipley Tel: 020 7600 4242, pderry@vennershipley.co.uk