Before Dan Atkinson ever dreamed of becoming an inventor, he was always tinkering with cars, motorcycles and lawn mowers, striving to improve performance. One day, while doing annual maintenance on his lawnmower, he was cleaning clogged grass from his under the deck of his mower. Using a long screwdriver and a putty knife was ineffective. He thought, “There has to be a better way”. He went into his garage and after several days of trial and error, came up with a prototype that made the job of cleaning the mower deck a lot simpler. His modified putty knife, however, did not have the flexibility he was looking for, nor did it have the length of blade required to get deep into the mower deck. He took his invention one step further and ground the tip to have a curved edge. His design was getting better, but still not what he needed
After several weeks of trial and error, Dan finally arrived at the perfect length and curvature of the blade. Taking his model to a local machine shop, he had them grind a stainless steel blade down to his specifications and had the blade inserted in a polymer handle. He then took his invention to the streets. Several surveys were then taken to get the public’s reaction to his invention. He found that people loved the tool and the idea of cleaning a mower deck efficiently and quickly.
The Grassbuster was born. Dan applied for a patent with the U.S. patent office and then began production. Sales in the U.S. and Canada blossomed immediately. “I never realized how much fun it is to watch an idea grow into a business”, says Dan. “I intended to build a quality tool that does what it has been designed to do and I have succeeded in meeting that goal.”
Dan Atkinson is maintaining his initial goal of providing a great product at a reasonable price. He is actively marketing The Grassbuster to several major Outdoor Power Equipment distributors in the USA and in Canada through hardware and mail order catalogs.
Dan Atkinson is a Kentucky success story and continues with the day to day running of the business. “My favorite part of operating the business is talking with customers and hearing how The Grassbuster is a great tool. I still enjoy visiting our shipping department and pitching in with getting orders out for the day. It’s good to know that my idea has come to fruition and is now shipped around the globe.”
