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INNOVATION RESOURCES

Bheestie Bag

Breakthrough:
A moisture-removing bag that dries out personal electronics. The innovative product extracts moisture from cell phones, PDAs, cameras, watches or any gadget that has accidentally been exposed to water.

Inventor:
Karen Wildman, Lisa Holmes, United States

Financial reward:
$100,000+

The Story:

If you have ever dropped your cell phone down the toilet, or had your Blackberry soaked in the rain, then sisters Karen Wildman and Lisa Holmes reckon they have just the thing to save your gadgets and gizmos from a watery grave– the Bheestie Bag.

Bheestie Girls

It was a constant battle against malfunctioning electronics due to moisture that drove sisters Karen Wildman and Lisa Holmes to the drawing board to come up with the Bheestie Bag. It’s a small pouch that contains liquid-absorbing beads that draw moisture out of electronic products. Simply pop a drenched device inside and the beads go to work.

Like millions of people the pair had to contend with wet cell phones, cameras and other gadgets that were rendered useless by humidity, sweat, spills, and the downpours that Mother Nature can throw at you. The Internet is full of ideas to resuscitate wet electronics such as burying them in uncooked white rice, but they are not always effective, and very often wrong.

The tipping point came when one of their sons dropped his Game Boy in a pond and was upset it could not be turned back on. Wildman has had hearing loss since she was a baby and knew all about drying out soaking electronics. When she realized she could use her drying techniques on other pieces of equipment she knew she was onto something big.

Novice Inventors

The product looks simple enough but it belies the work and effort to get the product to market. “We had no prior knowledge of doing anything like this whatsoever,” said Holmes. “We started from scratch. My background is in business accounting and Karen is a nurse, so we have never dealt with manufacturing or design or building a prototype. The whole process has been challenging and a huge learning curve.”

The Internet became their best friend as they looked for information on how to turn their idea into a marketable product. And they relied on one book in particular, ‘The Mom Inventors Handbook’ by Tamara Monosoff which has lots of information about each stage of the invention process.

The search for the most suitable desiccants involved trying out different volumes of materials such as rice, silica gel and even kitty litter. And each of these had their own drawbacks. The sisters eventually arrived at their beads, and once they hit on the right formula started an extensive testing process.

“We did a lot of testing," adds Holmes. "We bought lots of see-through calculators, and we dumped them in water and then left one in rice, one in a Bheestie Bag, and one in the open air. We used humidity indicator cards that let us know humidity levels, and we could see corrosion in the calculators because of the clear backs. That was our primary testing."

Further testing was carried out by friends and family members as the bags dried out a countless number of phones, pagers and iPods that were experiencing a seemingly endless number of aquatic accidents.

Gap in the Market

The inventive pair found a neat gap in the market. There are a plethora of do-it-yourself drying solutions with rice being the preferred method, but they didn't find any product that directly addresses the problem of wet electronics. And according to tests performed by the sisters none of the ad hoc ideas pulled out moisture faster than their beads.

From the outset Wildman and Holmes were adamant they wanted to be in control of the whole process. “We wanted the experience of building up this company and we are very emotionally attached to the product.” They found a manufacturer who could meet all their needs, and they trademarked and copyrighted their idea.

Bitten by the Inventing Bug

The sisters started out small and funded themselves, creating their own company Bheestie and Co. to sell their electronics-drying innovation. It’s available online through their own website and a number of retailers have picked it up including REI, a major outdoor supplier. And having invented one successful product, Holmes says there's more to come: “We’re constantly talking about how we would love to get this to a place where it will enable us to pursue the next idea. And we have ideas all over the place. There are moments when we look at each other and say, 'What have we done? Our lives are a little more complicated,' but we have absolutely loved doing this.”

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