How I Invented the Miracle Watering Cans
The range of Miracle Watering Cans were invented by Paul Sayers Bone.
Paul is an Isle of Wight Based inventor with a range of inventions, products and patents.
Paul will now explain how he invented the Push Button Watering Cans.
‘Having never gardened before, I moved to new house that had in the garden a greenhouse, so I decided to try to grow some tomatoes, I put a growbag on the floor and planted in it these small tomato plants. The previous owner had left behind a bottle of tomato feed, so I carefully read the instructions and mixed the liquid feed in my standard watering can, on further reading I saw that they said ‘Apply the water to the root system, avoiding the foliage’ so I bent down very carefully and tried to water the plants without getting any onto the foliage, as instructed, my next door neighbor, a very keen gardener with a wonderful garden advised me that he generally uses a squeazy bottle, which seemed crazy to me.
So, I went into my shed and devised a simple valve and button system that could not only stop the water from flowing from the spout until I pressed the button, but also allowed me to control the speed of the flow, from a small trickle to full flow. I then sent off a patent application and carried on using my push button can around the garden.
I sent a letter to the biggest feed manufacturers in the UK, and within 2 weeks two of their directors traveled to the Isle of Wight to see me. I gave them a prototype to take away and test, and within a further 2 weeks they said they would like to link 16 of their products to my can, and put me in touch with a watering can manufacturer, however, pretty quickly they realised that the Push Button Can would not only save water, but more importantly save feed and weed killer, which was not in their interest, and the offer to link their products was withdrawn.
Didn’t stop me though! I bought 50 watering cans from a local supplier, adapted them, sold them, bought 100, did the same, sold them, and so on. Now I have the cans manufactured myself and sell them as the Miracle Watering cans, the 7 litre NuCan and the 1.3 litre Pinpoint watering can, and have now sold many thousand to some very satisfied customers, including disabled and blind gardeners, I also supply schools and hospitals where the control and non spill is very much appreciated. The cans have won many gardening awards, and from that I have now developed the Flo-Control Fuel cans’.
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