A Dad’s Invention
So here I am again – standing outside the kitchen door blowing on my daughter’s hot food.My daughter Beth had just turned 9 months and as protective parents we had overheated her food again thinking it will kill any bacteria that might be present. Of course I was regretting it now, stood out in the cold blowing until I was red in the face while an impatient daughter cried inside. Surely there must be some kind of food cooling device on the market I thought; they have all sorts of baby gadgets – the majority of which we already seemed to own.I searched the internet for a cooling device; we even asked in Mothercare, but we had no luck. I can’t believe we are the only people who would find a food cooler useful – are we? Well I thought if I can’t buy one maybe I’ll try making one of my own.A very simple rigged up fan device soon became an indispensable item at meal times. Although the Meccano and Sellotape invention was not exactly pleasing on the eye it certainly did the job of cooling baby food very quickly. The best thing was that you could switch it on and leave it to do the cooling while you dished up the parents meals or got baby in the high chair. It just made the juggling at mealtime easier.Friends with children commented on what a good idea it was and could I make them one. They also joked that I should start selling them. It was at this point I started to consider the idea of releasing them as my own product.During my research I read how bacteria via saliva can be transferred from parent to baby from blowing on food. Talking to a neighbour who was a care worker I found that it was common practice in nursing homes to not blow on food in order to prevent any unnecessary cross contamination. A Japanese article even claimed that tooth decay could be transferred in the same way!So not only would a cooling device be a quick way of chilling food it would also be a hygienic method. This new perspective gave me renewed incentive to continue with the idea.I considered refrigeration and some other concepts but settled on the idea of a simple cost effective fanning device. I started sketching up a few basic ideas of what the fan could look like. I decided it not only needed to be safe and durable but also aesthetically pleasing so it would not look out of place in a modern kitchen. After talking to an old friend about moulding the plastic parts we began to source and cost the other component parts. Eventually the venture started gathering pace and in just under a year after I made that first prototype the manufacturing of a production cooling fan began.The website quickly followed and we have now started a company. As I’m sure you can imagine there were many ups and downs on the journey but our belief in that we had a great idea was what kept us going. Owning and running a business is still very new to us and it’s often a very long day as we haven’t yet given up our day jobs. However we are very proud of what we have achieved so far and must thank family and friends for all the help and support they have given us.We believe the cooling fan is a invaluable tool for any parent of babies from weaning stage right through early years and beyond. Thankfully other people feel the same way too and initial sales and feedback have proven very positive. Many responses we never expected are people saying how much fun the cooling fans are and how many of their children enjoy using it themselves!
