ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Inventor's Surf Splash improves a day at the beach

By: Anne Braly
(Contact)

Included in this article

Jim Franklin

Twelve years ago, Jim Franklin of Wildwood, Ga., was faced with a messy, hard-to-fight problem: beach sand.

When he’d go to the beach, removing sand from his gear and his body was a task.

“I’d have to set all the stuff down and contort myself around a garden hose to get all the sand off,” he said. “I said to myself that they needed something automatic, but since it was a good idea, someone was probably already making it somewhere.”

Staff Photo by D. Patrick Harding -- Jim Franklin, local attorney and inventor, assembles the original prototype of the Surf Splash. Next to it are the variations he developed before finally hitting on the final design.

Research proved that there was no automatic showering device on the market, so Mr. Franklin decided to pursue it.

A dozen years and numerous prototypes later, this entrepreneur is splashing his way to success with Surf Splash, a state-of-the-art device that sprays water from several jets when pressure is applied to a foot pad.

Mr. Franklin said his device gently sprays the sand away. It’s a product that will save properties from the ravages of sand damage, thereby potentially saving property owners thousands of dollars, Mr. Franklin said.

He’s now sold several dozen to hotels and resorts from Myrtle Beach to Southern California and Hawaii. His accomplishments didn’t come without a number of trials.

Once the right combination of designs and materials was decided upon, Mr. Franklin, a former trial lawyer, said he thought it would be easy to find a manufacturer. But it became a frustrating experience, he said.

“Even the best manufacturers said it was a great idea, but it wasn’t proven,” he said. “They didn’t want to mess with small orders. They’re after big ones that they can mass produce.”

So a friend in the stove manufacturing business suggested three companies for Mr. Franklin to approach with Surf Splash.

“The first was too small, the second didn’t have the right equipment, but the third was just right,” he said.

Surf Splash is being manufactured in La Vergne, Tenn., by Quality Industries, and Mr. Franklin now finds himself permanently out of the courtroom and into the world of trade shows hawking his invention.

Advertisement:

www.morningpointe.com

Click to enlarge photo

Stories such as Mr. Franklin’s are the dream for many creative people who prefer tinkering with ideas rather to punching a clock.

But Rob LoTufo, president of Fruition ID (for invention development), said would-be inventors must make sure there’s a market for their product before they go to the trouble and expense of making it.

“Patents cost anywhere from $9,000 to $15,000, and making the product can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000,” Mr. LoTufo said.

Mr. Franklin said extra expenses come from hiring patent attorneys, who helped with the patent process for Surf Splash and are now working to patent the product in Mexico, Brazil, Australia and Europe.

But the expense, Mr. Franklin said, is worth it.

“As a kid, I messed around with cars. I was a tinkering mechanic. I even had a mechanics shop for two years before law school. I’ve always been creative. It’s more fun than practicing law.”

Advertisement:

www.emba.utk.edu

Click to enlarge photo