Inventors circle: Invention puts golfer on the right course
Joe and his portable ball washer
Dec. 9, 2008 – Avid golfer Joe Danyluk was on a course about 10 years ago, when he came across a dry golf ball washer. After watching a fellow golfer try to clean his ball with saliva and a cloth, Joe found himself thinking “there’s got to be a better way.”
It was the pursuit of “a better way” – and a Google search – that brought Joe to NAIT’s Prototype Development Program.
“In all honesty, I assumed that my pursuits would lead me to eastern Canada or companies in the USA. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that NAIT had, in fact, the exact program for developing prototypes and that I could work with design specialists to attain the end product,” says the retired teacher and practicing part-time psychologist.
Joe came to NAIT with drawings and a previously created version of the portable ball washer, and novaNAIT Prototype Development Coordinator, David Burry arranged for new mechanical designs, which were then used to manufacture a new ball washer on the rapid prototyping machine in the NAIT Shell Manufacturing Centre.
Shaped like a travel coffee mug complete with a handle, the portable ball washer is a self-contained, fluid-bearing device that allows a golfer to clean the ball with a few pumps.
“I would recommend the NAIT program to anyone who has an idea in mind that requires a prototype to be developed. Having such a program in Edmonton was truly a bonus for me,” Joe says.
David offers that “working with Joe is an example of how NAIT, with its practical education and hands-on training, has the ability to bridge the gap from idea to product.”
His completed prototype in hand, Joe is now looking for a company to manufacture and market his portable ball washer.
He believes his portable ball washer is an ideal product, not for the golf industry, but the advertising specialty industry. “Companies are always looking for unique products to put their logo on to provide to clients,” he says.
Joe’s portable ball washer is one of several inventions that are being incubated at NAIT through the Prototype Development Program and the Duncan McNeill Centre for Innovation.
Since starting the Prototype Development Program in 2006, the Institute has helped more than 75 inventors.