Our Story
How it all started:
We were sitting on pool-side watching our daughters Holly and Olivia swim, when a little girl walked past us wearing a large black pair of goggles. I thought to myself: “Wow, those goggles look ugly”. Then a little boy ran past wearing L.E.D flashing shoes….you can guess the rest….
As soon as we got home we searched the web for “flashing swimming goggles”, swim goggles with lights, illuminated swimming goggles, swimming goggle with built in lights, swim goggles that light up etc. I found nothing. We then searched the Intellectual Property Office database and also found no prior art.
We filed the first patent application. While waiting for the IPO preliminary report. We started looking for a suitable manufacturer which, proved a lot more difficult then we first thought.
Where would you get electronic swimming goggles made? An existing swimming goggle manufacturer or an electronic / LED manufacturer?
We started with swimming goggle manufacturers but although they were very interested in the project they did not have any experience with electronics.
Our journey led us to a large electronics factory and they offered to make us a prototype for a competitive price.
We then sent them all our drawings and specifications and they started work straight away.
Within a few days the factory sent us some 3d drawings made from our sketches and specification:
We then made a few changes and started work on the 1st working prototype in 2005/6
Prototype 01
As you can see above, our 1st prototype was a very poor shape and design.
This prototype used a single rope light design, which passed through the nose bridge. It soon became apparent that this method was not suitable, due to the nose bridge of the goggle flexing, which then broke the light cable.
Prototype 02
The second prototype incorporated 2 separate L.E.D light circuits. However, we soon realized that we needed to block out the LED lights from the user’s eyes.
Prototype 03
This prototype was a major breakthrough when we realised that we could block out the L.E.D light from the user’s eyes, now making this a viable product. At this point it was clear that we had a unique product that was worthy of full patent protection.
So we appointed a top London Patent Attorney to write and submit our 2nd patent application.
Prototype 04
This prototype had very small eye lenses and proved not to be totally waterproof.
Prototype 05
This sample was totally the wrong shape and size…..a very poor sample (I am embarrassed to show it here!).
Prototype 06
From the very beginning our aim was to build a comfortable, fashionable, practical and most importantly 100% safe fun goggle. This next prototype was a huge step in the right direction.
Prototype 07
With this sample the eye shields where changed from a bright blue to a more unobtrusive black shield.
Prototype 08
This sample had external removable battery covers but unfortunately we could not guarantee them to be 100% waterproof.
Prototype 09
This model was 100% waterproof as the electronics were fully encased within the goggle framework but we were still determined to offer a model with replaceable batteries, so we made the next prototype. With hindsight it was silly to persevere with a battery replacement model as the batteries lasted 2,467 activations!
Prototype 10
If you look closely at the above photo you can see the screw-in battery hardware cover inside the eye-way. We tried to make a replaceable battery model but it proved unreliable.
If we had thought about where the original inspiration came from, the “L.E.D flashing shoes” it was obvious that we did not need replaceable batteries. The shoes did not have replaceable batteries as the batteries for both products last approximately the same length of time.
As we use the very best lithium button cell batteries (complying with CE and RoHS) that last over 2,400 activations, battery replacement is not necessary.
For better design, reliability and comfort we decided to change the separate eye gasket and goggle frame to a single integral model.
Prototype 11
This has a 1 piece goggle frame, we are almost there……just inner battery access to be removed…….
Prototype 12 (pink goggle)
After a lot of testing and meetings with leading swimming goggle specialists, we decided to commission our 3rd set of mould tools and include one very significant improvement to the shape and design of the eye gaskets.
As you can see from the photo above, the old style green prototype goggle eye gasket was too narrow and the injection points were not acceptable. After taking on board the suggestions from the leading swimming brands and manufacturers, we then produced prototype 12. As you can see from the photo of the pink gogglows above, the shape, size and design of the eye gaskets are now perfect and give the swimmer a superior fit.
In the last 5 years we have made 100s of samples, continually testing until we eventually reached perfection with our final model:
One of our proudest moments came when we took prototype 7 to our daughters swimming club, to gain some feedback from other children, which turned out to be a huge success. Olivia was wearing the Gogglows prototype and you could see the lights flashing from one end of the pool to the other and within a few minutes she had a large gathering of children around her. The other children kept asking Olivia to switch on the lights. While she swam up and down the swimming pool with the Gogglows flashing it was a proud moment watching from the pool-side.
At that point we realised the true uniqueness of the product we had created and all the hard work and many years were well worth it.
We are really pleased with the final product and look forward to the day we visit a public swimming pool and see our Gogglows being used…….
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While developing the Gogglows we realised that there was also a market for a dive toy with two added unique features – Lights and Timers…
Our Gemglows and Coinglows were the first ever L.E.D flashing timed purpose built dive toys to be sold in the world, Zoggs were close behind with their Glow Dives….
As with the Gogglows we fully researched the market and decided on two different shapes / designs – Gems and Coins.
We then sent line drawings to the factory.
The factory then produced our 3d drawings, for the L.E.D layout:
This was then followed by prototypes and testing, please see below early prototype samples of the Gems and Coins.
Below are the finished models:
Various colours of Gemglows samples
The Sunday Telegraph on June 21 2009 featured the Flashing Gems Dive Game in their Good Buy Feature.
The Gems have also received glowing (excuse the pun) reviews from online buyers all over Europe.
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Our other inventions and products which are not swimming related
In 1998 we invented “Talking Bathroom Scales” then sold the *fully* granted UK Patent.
In 2000 we offered an idea for a sort of, cross between “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and “The National Lottery” for WAP mobile phones to Sir Richard Branson called “Wap 1 Million”, He had just bitterly lost his lotto bid. Unfortunately WAP mobile phones did not take off as expected, so the project was dropped.
In 1999 we then invented/designed “Talking/Musical Beer Mats” we had 6,000pcs of each design, 1: Birthday 2: Xmas 3: Football 4: Race-Car 5: Burping. We sold the Race-Car (Revving) beer mats directly to Grand Prix Legends.
In 2002 we designed some fun garden toys for our daughters, that you may now see in your local garden centre.
28 Piece Domino set that were made from 12″ x 6″ x 1″ wooden floorboards, with drilled half depth holes painted white.
24 piece wooden jigsaw puzzle hand drawn and painted, size 6 foot long x 4 foot wide.
In 2005, we invented a builders/DIY tape measure with a built in FM Radio that uses the 5 metre steel measuring blade as the FM antenna.
Our Tape Measure Radios were featured in Woolworth’s 1st ever catalogue (Launch Edition) page 429.
We sold over 30,000pcs
In 2006, we designed a mobile phone themed family board game called: “Play As U Go” TM.
Great for promoting network providers, mobile phone retailers, new phone model and brands. We have enjoyed hours of fun playing this board game with our daughters, family and friends.
In 2006 we were commissioned by Woolworth PLC to develop a builders Tape Measure with a built-in MP3 player. The tape measure had a loud speaker so no earphones were required as health & safety laws prohibited the use of earphones on, building sites etc.
Again, great for promotions, as pre-recorded adverts/podcasts or website details can be pre-loaded for the buyer / user!
One of our gardening projects was featured in the 2006 March issue of BBC Gardeners’ World magazine. It was our 8 foot tall Flower Tower made from a piece of 4 inch drain pipe, drilled with 144 holes to plant my Busy Lizzies. The grey drain pipe was painted green with fence paint and a hose with lots of slits/cuts was placed down the centre of the 8ft tall pipe, to work as an irrigation system to water our Busy Lizzes from the inside. We enjoyed a wonderful summer watching our Flower Tower grow.
Also in 2006 we started working on a pen alarm concept. The idea was that if the pen was taken out of the transmitting zone, approx 2 metres from the pen base / holder, an alarm would sound to alert the owner that the pen is being stolen or taken away.
Below are drawings of our i60 Watch Project.
In 2006-2008 we were developing a portable battery powered cement mixer
The mini mixer unique features are that it is battery powered, fully automatic, 100% safe, light weight, portable, space saving and with its changeable mixing paddles plus ability to mix in the up-right position, could mix paint, wall paper paste, floor screed, plaster and resins. When used in an angled position, it could be used for mixing concrete and dry mixes, making the mini mixer a very versatile machine….
In 2011 we developed the world’s 1st Sonic Online Clock:
http://megaswf.com/file/1102907
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