The BoreSnake

Bruce Hedge was a shooter of rifles who thought he had a better idea for how to clean rifles and handguns.  The usual method of cleaning guns is to use a cleaning rod that has screw together sections, with a screw in tip that holds a brass brush.  An alternative tip can also be used which has a slot, into which an oil or solvent soaked rag can be placed.  First you run the rod and rag in and out of the barrel, then switch to the brush, then finish off with a few pushes with the oiled patch.  Shown is a US Army cleaning kit, and commercial models are available which are quite similar in technology. In Bruce's experience, these kits can have problems, are bulky and awkward, can hurt the gun, and not clean very well.

Bruce's idea was to made a gun cleaner that didn't have the rod, since that was the part that caused some brushes to jam, and could scratch the crown of the barrel or the ejection port components.  Bruce figured out how to get a standard brass brush inside a section of woven cord, so that the brush could be run back and forth like dental floss.  Additionally, the cord could be made with thickened sections, and soaked with solvent and oil.  The cord really scrubbed the inside of the barrel, and the brush could go down the barrel and out the breech, and not have to be backed out the barrel.  It was also compact enough that it easily fit in a coat pocket, and a rifle could be cleaned in the field as easily as at home. 

Bruce and his family rented a shop, and made gun cleaners like crazy, one at a time, by hand.  There were big fat ones for shotguns, and tiny ones for 22s.  They displayed them in gun shows, shopped them to sporting goods stores, and sales started to ramp up.   Bruce eventually sold the patent rights to another company, and let somebody else make them.  Today, I'll bet you can see them in any store where guns and gun supplies are sold.  I had the priviledge of writing that patent, and it was very satisfying to see an independent inventor develop a successful invention.      

Comments

[Vacuum Cleaner]

Without question an excellent invention. It seems to me that those inventors who truly come up with radical ideas like this one, do so because they simply don’t like the way something works (though there are of course notable exceptions – Edison, for instance, seems to have been a professional inventor). I know one person who became frustrated because built in tool chests that can be installed onto truck beds couldn’t be purchased for SUVs. As a result, he came up with a new design for one that would. And though I’ve never acted on any of my own late night lightbulb over the head ideas, I do have to say that every time I got one it was because something during the day had frustrated me because it didn’t work well enough to accomplish what I needed.

[Web]

What great technology! Plus technology keeps getting more economical now, and that’s what people really notice. Wind energy, solar power, hybrids and zap EV’s, our choices are good. There are now electric cars being sold everyday, you just plug it into a regular power outlet. When people test drive them they say it’s far more fun to drive an EV.