After a long road trip I decided to empty the remaining fuel left over in the Jerry cans, into my Triton to use up the Diesel instead of storing in the garage and going stale.
I was in my late 40s and about to have my right shoulder replaced.
Back in my youth I could refuel a vehicle with Jerry cans just on pure brute force and determination alone. I did it hundreds of times while working out bush in the army. But now my bones creaked and my body hurt.
As anyone experienced in refuelling vehicles with Jerry cans will testify, you really need 3 hands to do the task properly with less effort and spillage.
One hand to hold a common flexible funnel in place and 2 hands to hold the Jerry can and steady the pour into the funnel, without over flowing the funnel bowl or splashing diesel out of the bowl.
It wasn’t long before I felt intense pain in my shoulder from lifting the jerry can and holding it still, to slowly pour fuel out into a funnel that was too small for the job. I then went in search for another funnel in my garage, with no success I turned to a large Gatorade bottle I had on my tool bench, with the plan to cut the bottom off.
It was at that moment as I unscrewed the cap that I thought “ if only this would screw straight into the fuel tank thread” after I finished refuelling my vehicle I made a crude drawing of my idea. The next day I made an even cruder funnel out of a drilled out fuel cap, some electrical conduit and another funnel.
The next day I showed my funnel idea to my friend who owned a windscreen replacement business, after I had demonstrated it to him he said “I think you are on to something there” I was lucky I was able to test my funnel out on all the different makes and models that came into his workshop. This helped me make adjustments and tweak the shape and fit.
But still I had a lingering doubt in the back of my mind “ if this was a good idea why hasn’t it been done already? Maybe no one needed a hands free funnel” surely I couldn’t be the first person to think of this idea, maybe someone had already tried and failed. For months I questioned why this had not been thought of and implemented before.
After all funnels had been around since the dawn of time. Pretty well every way to improve a funnel has been thought of already.
Then one day on a fishing trip to Fraser Island as I drank my morning coffee, I watched a man across from me in the caravan park prepare to fill up his vehicle with Jerry cans. He used about 4 elastic straps to wrap around a flexible funnel and stretch out to hook onto different anchor points on his canopy to hold the funnel in place. I went over and curiously asked about his technique. His answer was “ so I can use two hands to hold the Jerry can and steady the pour” he was very proud of his unique technique and so told me all about how easy it was to decant diesel without having to hold a funnel. I thanked him and returned to my camp chair, finished my coffee and decided I would give the Scrunnel a go, i will financially back myself, design build and market the hands free funnel. I had never taken a financial risk like this before, but I thought it’s time. Better to have tried and failed, that, I could live with.
Thinking of a “ Million dollar idea” is the easy part. Finding the right people to help you get your product designed, manufactured and into retail stores is much much harder.
Firstly you must make sure your idea does not already exit. So it’s hit the internet and search, search and search. I found some very strange and unusual funnels but nothing like mine. I then contacted a computer CAD modelling designer and a Patent lawyer. It took several attempts to cad model a funnel we could 3d print for testing. The patent lawyer worked hard to submit an application for an innovation patent, which was successful and granted quickly due to nothing else existing like it already.
I continued to make small improvements to the funnel, as I searched for a plastic manufacturer, then Covid hit. In the early days of Covid we were banned from inter city travel and so I had to contact manufacturers by phone, emails and text. It was extremely hard those 6 months or so to communicate changes and information via emails and phone calls. No matter how many pictures I sent and notes I wrote, the project seemed to go backwards. The search for manufacturers was hard and some told me to forget the idea as “ no one will buy it”
I got jerked around a lot, during this time. Felt like quitting more than once.
Then one afternoon with a morning of unsuccessful meetings with manufacturers I was feeling dejected , frustrated and questioning myself whether to continue. I was about to get on my motorbike when I got an email from another manufacturer I had contacted. Their email was very professional and caught my attention. As they were on my way home I decided to call them and see if I could meet them on my way home. They said yes. Arriving at their factory I was immediately impressed by their work ethics and enthusiasm for my funnel. While the designer talked to me about how to design the tool I noticed the owner of the business quietly studying the funnel and later saying “ this is a good idea” after the meeting, my whole day turned around as I knew I had found the right people for the job. They had done and continue to do a fantastic job, CAD designing, tool designing, tool production and funnel production. Producing high quality funnels in Brisbane Queensland