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Once an invention hits the marketplace others add to its usefulness by thinking of new applications. Following is the story of how the Gator-Grip® went from consumer product to indispensable industrial tool.
Town Puts
Gators in the Waterworks
by
Mike Marks
Watertown, CT, USA - Mike Tanuis doesn’t want another day like August 11, 2003. On that hot sticky day, at the beginning of rush hour, a break in a 6-inch water main had created a massive pothole in the middle of Main Street. As Supervisor of the Watertown Fire District Mike’s job was to see that the water was turned off so the break could be fixed and the roadway repaired.
Three gate valves had to be closed to stop water flow to the broken main. When the crew tried to close the third valve they found that the corners of the square valve nut had corroded away. It was like a water faucet without a handle. Only this faucet was located 6 feet under ground. With no corners to grab, the square shaped gate key turned uselessly at the end of the eight foot long T-bar. Water continued to flow. The pothole continued to grow. And commuters stuck in jammed traffic were losing their cool.
After a few hours, with the help of sledgehammers, rags and expletives the crew got the third valve closed. The road was repaired, the valves re-opened and traffic and water flowed again. Mike Tanuis remembers, “We were lucky. If the rags and sledgehammers hadn’t done the job we would have spent thousands of dollars digging up the street just to turn that valve. And that doesn’t include the hassles and costs of businesses and homes without water, more traffic jams, and the cost of the water itself. There had to be a better way.”
Mike remembered a product he’d seen on TV called the Gator-Grip® universal socket. The TV commercial claimed that Gator-Grip® would grip virtually anything. But the TV Gator-Grip® was only ¾” in diameter. Mike needed something that could grab a 2” square valve nut. Mike tracked down the manufacturer of the Gator-Grip® and suggested they make a big version for water companies.
Thanks to Mike’s suggestion, Endeavor Tool Company has begun production of the 3” diameter Sumo Gator. Watertown has purchased two Sumo Gator Grips™ for its service trucks. “The Sumo Gator works great,” says Mike, “it turns even badly corroded valve nuts in just seconds.” He wisecracks, “Now when people ask if there are ‘gators down there I tell them, ‘I sure hope so!’”
The Sumo Gator Grip™ uses 54 hardened alloy steel rods packed in a large, deep socket. Each rod is backed by a spring that pushes it to the top of the socket. When placed over a valve nut the center pins retract and the outer rods surround the nut. As the fastener is turned the torque is transmitted through the outer rods to the walls of the socket. The walls of the socket have grooves that cause the rods to clamp down on the valve nut when the socket is turned. Endeavor Company President Steve Quick explains, “If the fastener is any shape other than perfectly round the Gator will grip it. Rounded, rusted fasteners are no problem at all.”
For more information on this story:
Watertown Fire District
Tel: 1-860-274-6332 Fax:
1-860-945-3441
Mike Tanuis - Operations
Manager - email:
watfire02@snet.net
Ernie Coppock - Superintendent
– email:
watfire01@snet.net
Endeavor
Tool Company
Manufacturer of the Sumo
Gator-Grip™
www.endeavorproducts.com
Tel: 1-508-835-9992 Fax: 1-508-835-5454
Steve Quick – President –
email:
stevequick@endeavorproducts.com
Mike Marks – Director of Public
Affairs – email:
mikemarks@capecod.net
Mike Marks is President of Invention City and has been active in the field of product development since 1987. In conjunction with WorkTools, Inc. he has brought numerous products to market directly and through licensing agreements with others.
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