The Peak-Radio, Smithers, BC - December 2010
CBC Daybreak-Radio, 2009
PG Citizen-Newspaper, Prince George, BC - November 2009
CFTK-TV, Terrace, BC - 2009
CKPG-TV, Prince George, BC - 2009
Joe Gardener, Mount Airy, NC - 2008
Smithers, BC - December 2010
NEW ICE SCRAPER ON SHELVES NOW
A Houston man who invented a new type shovel last year has a new invention on store shelves for this winter season.Wes Westgarde created the swivel and tilting shovel to make shoveling snow easier and now has added an ice scraper to the collection.
He says its designed to absorb shock.Westgarde says over seven thousand shovels were sold last year and not a single one was returned.He's hoping for the same success with the ice scraper.
CBC Daybreak 2009
Prince George, BC - November 26, 2009
INVENTOR UNVEILS NEW SNOW SHOVELS
Wesley Westergarde shows his shovel inventions.
Two new types of snow shovels have been by designed to reduce the bending and strain of shovelling. Canadian Citizens that have spend their lives living in Northern British Columbia have designed and developed 2 new Wesley Westgarde of Houston, with some assistance by his brother, Jerry in Prince George, have developed "I'm an inventor to start with," said Wesley, who's spent the past three years and about $100,000 to develop the new models.
"Basically, I was inspired because we live in the North where we shovel a lot of snow, so we began looking at ways to improve snow shovelling. "We talked about making an angle shovel you could run along a wall or down a walkway, and then I remembered how my patio umbrella has a hinge on it that allows it to work in three different positions," said Wesley, who was soon experimenting with that hinge to make it work on the snow shovel to allow more positions.
A number of prototypes later, the brothers came up with two models: "the angle or swivel shovel with a blade that angles for pushing snow to the right, left or straight ahead, and the tilting shovel that tilts up or down from a normal position to push or shovel snow," said Wesley. The swivel shovel "works wonders on sidewalks, driveways, decks and skating surfaces by simply pulling a small lever in its large D-handle to activate and change the angle."
"When using the tilting shovel, after you've pushed the snow to a desired area, you simply click the blade down to the proper angle for shovelling. You can turn the blade over in a tilted position to rake or pull snow from under obstacles. By tilting the blade up, you can easily reach higher areas while standing at ground level," Wesley said.
Among their first stumbling blocks was the hinge, which had to be made a lot stronger than that on the umbrella and designed for easy activation, so they hired an engineering firm to design it. Then they had to make a steel shovel mold that could be injected with plastic material, and then came apart to remove the shovel part.
"After making maybe about five molds we came up with our first prototype and we used a Houston sawmill as our testing site. The clean-up up crew was given shovels for cleaning out the sawdust, blocks and what have you. They found the shovels were strong enough and found them easy to use."
The Westgarde boys have formed a company called Action Tools Inc. and expect to be introducing other products soon. "We're hoping to have a line of lawn and garden tools ready to go by spring," said Wesley.
--Written by Bernice Trick,
PG Citizen staff
Terrace, BC - 2009
CFTK TV News
Prince George, BC - 2009
CKPG TV News
Mount Airy, NC - 2008
SPEAR-IT
This is one of those great ideas that is so simple we all find ourselves saying; “Why didn’t I think of that?” The Spear-it is a clever device that helps those common long-handled garden tools such as bow rakes and hoes stand up to any job...literally!
Appropriately named, the Spear-it tools include a fold down ‘spear’ that rests firmly against the handle until you’re ready to set it down. Then you simply fold the spear away from the handle and down towards the ground. The tip extends past the tool itself, allowing the spear to penetrate the ground while keeping the tool firmly upright.
The easy-to-use spear eliminates the hassle of tools falling to the ground and makes retrieving them again a snap; with no more back aching bending over. Moreover, with the Spear-it tools always standing up, the risks and danger associated with stepping on them later or running over it with a lawn mower are virtually eliminated.
Maybe we would have missed them if our team of testers hadn’t known about the Spear-it tools. But once we were aware of this tool, which makes using and retrieving it much easier, we quickly became spoiled and think you will too. Currently the line includes a bow rake, hoe and claw. All are made of commercial grade steel and include a sturdy metal handle. Not only are these tools a joy to use, they look great too.
Currently they’re available from www.bushprotools.com directly by mail order. The spirit behind the Spear-it is taking a few great tools and making them better and easier to use. That’s just what gets our attention and makes us fans; and makes the Spear-it tool line a joe gardener ® certified Best of the Must-haves for 2008. We were pleased to find these quality tools and have thoroughly enjoyed using them. Now it’s your turn. For more information visit http://www.actiontools.ca
