NEW PRODUCTS Inventor sticks to his concept of portable packs for duct tape

Christopher Blommel hopes to have Pocket Duct in stores by fall.
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Christopher Blommel has a vision for a better world -- one in which everyone would carry a small cellophane packet containing a product that can come in handy in an emergency.
Duct tape.
Blommel, a manufacturer's rep by day, is in the process of launching a new business, Genuine Concepts, that will make and sell Pocket Duct.
In the 2-by-2-inch Pocket Duct packet, which will sell for $1 or less, will be 18 inches of duct tape on a removable backing. Color choices include the standard silver, plus black, brown or camouflage, to match whatever you need to fix.
Compared with the $2 or so you'd pay for a whole roll of duct tape, Pocket Duct is expensive. But who can fit a roll in a pocket?
"After being an on-the-road salesman for 18 years, there were many, many instances where, if I would have had a piece of duct tape, it would have helped me out of a jam," Blommel said. "Lint removal, a radiator leak on Highway 80 heading out to Moline [Ill.], presentations where I needed to put something on a wall."
His day job
Blommel, 41, owns and operates G.R. Blommel and Associates Inc. in Menomonee Falls, Wis., a sales office started by his father in 1985.
Blommel and his staff work as a contract sales force for manufacturers who make products that they sell to other companies to put into their products.
Springs, metal stampings, electric coils and other items that never cross the minds of the average consumer have been the subjects of Blommel's sales pitches for most of his adult life.
Although those products remain the focus of his 9-to-5 life, his duct-tape brainstorm has taken him into the world of consumer products in his spare time.
Despite his long years of experience in business, Blommel found there was much to learn.
A little prodding
He started about two years ago, after his wife, Polly, tired of hearing him talk about his duct-tape idea.
She finally said, "Why don't you stop talking about it and do something?"
If that weren't enough to get him moving, a friend threatened to move on the idea himself if Blommel didn't get started.
His first step was to seek advice from a friend, John Mueller, who started a business with a new product, Rinse Ace, a spray hose for the shower. Mueller encouraged Blommel to see patent attorney Matt Corr and try to patent his duct-tape idea.
Corr helped Blommel apply last year for a patent, which is now pending.
The process can take two to three years, Corr said.
During that time, the U.S. Patent Office will search for like products and decide whether Pocket Duct is different enough to merit a patent.
Meanwhile, Blommel has turned out 3,000 packs of Pocket Duct.
To get that done, Blommel needed to find a manufacturer. As it turned out, he needed four of them -- one for each step of the process -- and none of the companies he works with in his main business was equipped to do any of it.
Some inventors might have found this daunting, but Blommel stayed cool.
"I'm not totally obsessed with making this happen," he said. "When I'm at an impasse, I don't obsess about it."
Instead, he waits for an answer to present itself, as he did when he needed to find a company that could fold the tape, after the backing was applied and before packaging.
On a business appointment in Milwaukee, Wis., Blommel took a wrong turn and found himself in front of Chryspac, a packaging and assembly service. He walked in, found the president of the company, and signed a deal to have the packaging company fold the tape.
Making the sale
Now Blommel is working on his next hurdle: distribution into retail channels.
He's working with a national representative who sells to convenience stores and retail chains, and is getting feedback. The response so far has been good.
Blommel still needs to figure out a point-of-purchase display setup for Pocket Duct, but he's hoping to get the product into stores by fall.
If he does, he'll join a minority of independent inventors who succeed.
Only 3 percent of the independent inventors who obtain patents ever manage to take their product to market, according to Richard Apley, director of the Office of Independent Inventor Programs for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
About 20 percent of the patents granted in the United States go to individuals.