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INNOVATION RESOURCES

Add Traction Weight to Your Vehicle

Breakthrough:
An invention that stops your wheels from sliding all over the place in winter weather conditions. ShurTrax is an innovative product that adds traction control to your vehicle, and pulled in $500,000 worth of sales last year.

Inventor:
Marty J. Carty, United States

Financial reward:
$500,000+

The Story:
Add Traction Weight to Your Vehicle

It is Thanksgiving Weekend 2002, and we’re in Marty J. Carty’s Dodge Ram 1500. There’s snow on the ground and driving conditions are treacherous. Carty is worried that his truck will slide all over the place as it doesn’t have enough weight in the rear to give suitable traction control. In previous years he had solved the problem by placing concrete blocks or sandbags in the back of his truck, but stopped that practice when he heard stories of how they can become dangerous missiles if the driver brakes sharply. He grudgingly accepted that rolling and sliding would be an annual winter problem. And sure enough, as he pulled away from a parking lot his truck started to slip and slide. Eventually, he made it to the road in one piece, but it was the last straw. He needed to find a product that would add sufficient weight to his truck.

Eureka Moment

However, when Carty searched stores and the Internet he couldn’t find a product that would solve his dilemma. And that’s when the light bulb appeared and his head began to spin with ideas. He had discovered a problem, namely that trucks were too light in the rear so their tires slipped in bad weather. The only solutions available were makeshift ones with drivers throwing heavy objects in the back of their vehicles to give traction. Carty knew there had to be a better way, and his thoughts quickly turned to the idea of a double vinyl lined bladder that could be filled with water. But first, it had to pass his “yeah, but …” test to see if the invention had any real merit. So he played Devil’s Advocate and began to question it. One of the first questions he had to answer was, “what happens when the water freezes?” Most people believe that water expands to twice its volume, but in reality the expansion is marginal.

Carty called his invention ShurTrax, and it’s a puncture resistant water bag made of heavy duty woven nylon mesh and reinforced vinyl. You simply fill it with water when additional weight is required. The weight of the water is enough to keep the product in place, but grommets have been molded into the design so that it can be strapped in. It is a major leap forward from the sandbags that drivers use which are heavy to lift, split frequently, and require lots of storage space.

Rocky Road

The road from idea conception to product was a long and difficult one. According to Carty’s book, Do You Have a Million Dollar Idea?, it involved “time, money, energy, blood, sweat, tears, and jeers.” That he prevailed and succeeded he puts down in no small measure to trusting his guts and learning the ropes.

Bringing an invention to market is obviously a daunting undertaking, and so Carty made contact with two invention companies to help him out. But one charged exorbitant fees for little return and the other carried out a vague patent search that was returned without an attorney signature. So Carty took a deep breath and chose to go it alone. He hired a patent attorney and kept him for the entire process.
Initially, Carty followed a template to file the provisional patent after immersing himself thoroughly in books about the process. They told him all he needed to know about the different types of patents and how to file them.

The inventor then had to work out the dimensions of his product. He wanted three sizes that would fit all types of vehicles and he played with cardboard configurations in the back of other people’s trucks. He employed a company to build the prototype and three months after his initial idea it was in his hands.

Getting to Market

Lack of funds was becoming a serious issue, but Carty managed to secure financing from banks and relatives. The new money soon dried up and he sought and found a business partner before creating a company to operate under. He called it SealPak Innovations with ShurTrax as the lead product. Manufacturing was taken care of by a South Carolina company, but it eventually switched to China when the domestic firm changed hands. Carty opened up an online store to sell ShurTrax and with manufacturing and distribution in place the time came to let the world know about his invention. At first he sought free advertising by sending out a press release, before piling some money into a commercial on the Spike TV show called Trucks. Approaches to major retailers initially drew a blank because they were put off by the packaging. This was changed, and by the winter of 2004 ShurTrax was available in no fewer than 100 stores, and generated $100,000 in sales in its first year. Carty reached out to anyone and everyone to secure sales, from co-workers to local stores and big companies. He would even load up his truck and visit local hardware stores to demonstrate the product.

Eventually Carty landed some very big accounts including Canadian Tire, Amazon.com, and G.I. Joe’s and the patent was issued in January 2007. To date the company has sold several million dollars worth of the ShurTrax devices, but last year he decided to move on from the product that made his fortune. He set up a licensing agreement with another company and now receives royalties on every item sold.

ShurTrax was just the beginning. It is a winter product and Carty wanted something that could be made for all seasons. So he invented a rigid and collapsible type of bleacher-seating arrangement that can be used to watch events from. He’s called his latest innovation “UpFront Seats” and has created a new company around it.

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