Hey guys, new idea here

[PicknBag]

Hi everyone, I'm from northern NJ and my Dad and I have invented a machine that may finally do away with the yearly chore of leaf removal for the average homeowner. We'd love some feedback on our product, and we thought this would be great place to have an honest discussion. I posted our demo video at the bottom of this page so you can see it in action and give us some constructive criticism. Put simply, this machine is the only product ever developed that both picks up and bags leaves - in one simultaneous step. Now, we know there are tons of products out there; however, they all only solve 1 part of the problem - they either help to gather the leaves better, or they help to bag the leaves better. None solve the problem end-to-end. Ours utilizes the ease of use of a lawn sweeper, with the improvement of a bagging capability. As you watch our video, please know that we acknowledge that our prototype is a HOMEMADE one - this is, it is crude, bulky, and impefect. We ask that you simply look past this and let us know what you think of the concept we are presenting, a machine that allows you to simply walk over your lawn and both sweep up AND bag your leaves in one step (bagging IS half the battle!). After reviewing the video, please let me know your thoughts, I'd be so appreciative to hear what you all have to say and look forward to a good dialogue. And yes, we do have full US utiility patent coverage - #8,056,177, issued November 2011. Just either click the link or copy and paste it in your browser to see the Pick 'N Bag Leaf Cart in action. Thanks guys shereef_hammad@yahoo.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1StV-6lW64

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Lawn care business tips

for the homeowner this could be useful. The thing that I like is it uses the curbside bags. The suggestions I have is you need to mulch the leafs. This would allow more in each bag. If you add another sweeper it will pick up thicker piles and get whats left behind from the first sweep. The commercial suggestion is it needs to be self propelled and bigger. I'm thinking 6 bags and 48" sweep. You can probably develop that down the line when money comes in.

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[PicknBag]

Asolutely agree, we already have a number of improvements in mind, and a mulcher is on the top of the list. We also will have a "compacting feature", which will compress the leaves that are in the bag for maximum bag capacity.

As for left-behind leaves, the sweeper in the video is a 20 year old craftsman (we did this on a shoestring budget), so of course it won't perform perfectly. Ideally, we want bristles of different lengths, so as to get EVERY leaf, and nice big, manueverable wheels for ease of use. Tons of bells and whistles will be added once it's on the market.

And yea, we definitely think landscapers would like this once there's a commercial version available. We know that having the leaves automatically bagged is of utmost convenience. Instead of having to blow them to the curb. What's more, is some towns now force you to bag them, and there's not a single town that doesn't allow you to bag them. So it's a win win, why not bag them if you can this easily?

Thanks for the comment, i'll be hitting the sack now so if there are any other comments i'll catch them in the AM. Thanks guys, take care.

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

another quick point is instead of self propelled. Just make it towable.

[Steve]

I think it is very creative!

Could you tell us a little about how you got through the patent process so if other member out there would like to try and patent something, they could learn from you?

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/pat...-20111115.html

[PicknBag]

I want to know what you think. Tell me what you currently use, and what you think of our machine in comparison. I'm seriously looking for a dialogue, and would appreciate it. Again, please forgive the crude nature of the prototype, just let me know what you think about the actual concept of taking leaves directly from the ground and automatically bagging them.

Thanks man

[PicknBag]

Hey Steve,

Here are a few pointers, hope they help.

First thing is to do a search, to make sure your idea isn't already patent protected by someone else. Patent search can usually run anywhere from $400-$800. Check out uspto.gov and follow the links to try and do a basic search yourself, but it won't show you everything. That's when you have to hire an attorney to do an exhaustive search, but even then you might not find everything

Our attorney cost us about $2,500 to get the patent, but we did a good amount of work ourselves, and we had to fight for ours. Had the lawyer done everything, it would've gotten up to about $4,000-5,000 or so I'd say. Still, in the end we got it, so we were pumped about that. The examiners at the uspto office are incredibly overworked, so sometimes they'll deny you the patent, but they may not have even completely read through your application. My dad took a few weekends of combing through the conflicting patents that the examiner had cited and actually find some major flaws in her reasoning. He put it all together and had the lawyer present it, and about 3 days later, we had our patent. Always know that you can do some of the work yourself, if you're willing.

Hope some of this info helps you, any other questions don't hesitate.

How do most of you out there take care of your leaves every Fall? If this was made professionally, would you find it appealing?

[dpld]

i think once you refine the machine it might appeal to a homeowner but at that point what will it cost?

i would imagine once you get it steamlined and also chopping the leaves for more quantity of leaves in the bags as well as i would assume you will also have to have a gas motor on it it will cost a pretty penny.

i have a huge vacum set up on my 16 yard dump truck and we blow the leaves to the truck or make a pile and drive the truck to it and there is no way that a refined set up that you are making would be able to keep up.

currently the way i and most landscapers do it is the fastest most economical way to proccess the leaves.
sure my customers have to pay for the disposal but by doing it in a fraction of the time with disposal cost with my current set up i don't think the savings of putting them in bags and leaving it on the curb will justify the extra time and labor.

time is money in this business and when you have to get X amount of properties a day done the fastest way is the most cost effective way because the labor rate is the highest cost.

for 90% of the fall season we use our riders with the bagger set ups and as they load up we just drive over to the rig and dump it on the ground next to it and when we are done we fire up the vac and a couple minutes later the leaves are gone and so are we and off to the next one.
during this time of the year useing the riders it really only adds a few minutes overall to each stop and does not take much more time then just a standard cut.

i think it is a great idea but i think your market will be the homeowner do it yourself crowd vs the professional landscaper.
i live in northern nj as well and i am sure you already know that most landscapers use big big mowers, big trailers and big trucks and just about everything big for that matter.

unfortunately the only way to make money in this business is by doing high volume as efficiently as possible.

in this state it is go big or go home broke.

great idea though, good luck with it and i hope it makes you and your father a million.

[Godslapper]

Originally Posted by PicknBag

I want to know what you think. Tell me what you currently use, and what you think of our machine in comparison. I'm seriously looking for a dialogue, and would appreciate it. Again, please forgive the crude nature of the prototype, just let me know what you think about the actual concept of taking leaves directly from the ground and automatically bagging them.

Thanks man

Any lawnmower with a bag can do a better job than that will be able to do. Even a low end push mower from HD.

[CHEESE2009]

That is a brilliant prototype!

It's perfect for home owners, as it's rather cost effective!

If you can make it compact for storage, I think you could really make lots and lots of money.

I'd really love to see how this evolves over time. Keep up the good work!