By Ken Tarlow
My philosophy on prototypes is to be creative in locating the parts and pieces you need from already existing products and then to blend these pieces together to make your design. I also make use of plastic fabricators and other stock parts. The following examples show this philosophy in action:
STORY ONE--THE MOTORIZED TIE RACK
I wanted the ties to rotate slowly, about four revolutions per minutes, so I looked for a toy which was battery driven and had a slow-turning action in it. I finally located a battery-operated pottery wheel. The revolutions per minute were perfect and it was built to be strong, since it had to take the pressure of molding slowly spinning clay. I used a Dremmel hand-held motor tool with a thin "cut off" disk mounted on it to cut the plastic around the motor and gear system which is what I was after.
Then I needed a drive wheel and a belt to work with, which would be used to create the revolving action for moving the ties around in an oval pattern. It was back to the toy store and this time, I located a toy army tank. I noticed that it had a drive-wheel and rubber tread belt which would work for me. I disassembled the tank, got the wheel and belt and attached the drive wheel to the gear reduction system from the potter's wheel. I had some flat plastic parts cut by my local plastics fabricator.
I glued the plastic parts together with acrylic cement. I bought a battery holder from Radio Shack (a great source for parts) and installed it in the acrylic frame I had built. I then made little arms for the ties to hang on out of thin vinyl strips--available at any hobby store. I drilled 1/8-inch holes in each bent strip and then pop riveted the strips onto the rubber belt (taken from the toy tank). I now had a rotating belt with 36 plastic arms sticking out. I made a plastic cover out of 1/8-inch sheet acrylics and 1/8" by 3" diameter tube acrylic. I had the tube cut in half to create rounded ends.
STORY TWO--THE BARBIE CLAW
The Barbie Claw is a device used in barbecuing and it combines the best features of a spatula, a barbecue fork, and tongs--all into one easy-to-use product. There's a trigger type handle at one end and then there's a long tubular portion and at the other end is a fork on the bottom and a movable claw piece on top. By pulling the trigger at the handle area, the claw piece comes down onto the fork and basically grabs and holds anything you're tying to barbecue, whether it's chicken, steak, dogs or hamburgers.
I wanted to make the prototype quickly and efficiently. I noticed that the grips on fishing rods are very nice looking and very comfortable in your hand. So I bought an inexpensive fishing rod with a molded grip and took the rod part out and used some thin aluminum tubing from a ski pole because it was lightweight and just the right shape.
I put the tube into the end of the grip that came from the fishing rod. I hollowed out the grip a little bit with my Dremmel tool and I put a trigger at the bottom of the grip. I inserted a smaller rod that ran through the length of the tube. I used a stock fork from another barbecue utensil for the bottom fork portion of the Barbie Claw. The only thing I had to custom-make was the actual little claw piece which I machined out of aluminum. Then I bought a stock spring and formed a simple linkage from the claw to the trigger.
And Presto! The Barbie Claw!
STORY THREE--THE MOON MUG
I had a client who was tired of his beer getting warm too quickly. He wanted to keep it cold for a longer period of time. So we began looking for a way to make a double-insulated mug where we could fill the space between the inner wall and the outer wall with some insulating liquid. We could have used plastic tubing, but I decided that the easiest way to make the initial prototype was to go to a person that fabricates scientific glass equipment.
I looked in the Yellow Pages under "Glass--Scientific Equipment" and called them up and found a fabricator. He made the mug out of cylindrical glass pieces that he then welded and shaped together. Eventually that product was made out of clear acrylic. But the initial glass prototype sparked enough interest to warrant spending money on tooling for the plastic version.
SUMMARY
I recommend that if possible, you make your own prototypes. I recommend this for several reasons. One is that part of developing a new consumer product is the discovery process of finding out exactly what will work and what won't work. No one out there has the same burning desire that you do to make your idea work. It's something you need to do yourself. It's hard to design on paper alone. You usually sketch something out on paper first, and then make a real model, even if it's just paperboard or some easily-workable materials. You've got to try it. See how it works. If it doesn't work right, you've got to fix it and try something else.
This process is the heart of the new product development procedure. I also recommend that you try to do as much as possible yourself, mainly because you'll learn a lot and save a lot of money. Also, the vision of it will be yours--not someone else's vision. Yours and yours alone.
If you've got to go to outside sources to get help to make your prototype and do your design work, do some research. Talk to a few different people and then see who you feel comfortable with, who really understands the concept that you're trying to develop and who will charge a reasonable price for the work.
One way to have a more economical silver platter approach, if finances are a problem, is to do a rough engineering model yourself by just cutting up pieces and gluing things together to prove that the product works the way you want it to work. Then you can hire a graphics illustrator or an industrial designer to sketch a color rendering of your product. The combination of the color rendering to show how the product will look and the engineering model to show how it actually works is often enough for a manufacturer or licensee to understand and accept the product.
Last but not least, when you're making your prototypes, work in a safe manner. Use eye protection. Use respiratory protection when you're spraying things. When you're handling hot things, use gloves. And when you're using power tools or hand tools, use them very carefully. If you're tired, take a break or stop altogether and begin the next day. Take care of yourself first because you're more important than any prototype that you're trying to build.
And remember--Have Fun!
Ken Tarlow is president of Tarlow Design, a full-service product development company that helps independent inventors design, prototype, patent and license consumer product ideas. He has developed more than 300 consumer products worth over one billion dollars in retail sales. Tarlow's office is in San Rafael, CA. He may be reached at (415) 457-6428.
The above article was excerpted from Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a cassette tape/workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and$5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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