I enjoy solving problems.

I don’t have an engineering or business degree, but I enjoy bumbling through intractable challenges. An inventor’s mind is both a curse and a blessing. Practical solutions are hard to find when designing a new tool, and cost-effective ones even more so. 

In 2020, COVID-19 presented a challenge unlike any other of our time. On top of that, osteoarthritis was worsening in my wrist. I would suddenly experience a sharp pain in my wrist. Eventually, it required surgery.

My recovery from surgery took more than eight months. First, there was the wound, and then there was rehabilitation. It wasn't easy. But then everyone was dealing with Covid and working from home. Covid and my recovery offered a sort of “vacation” to explore different career paths. As a handyman, I have always enjoyed solving people’s problems. Now, I had my problem to tackle.

Simple tasks like stirring my coffee or starting my truck were painful and required more effort than ever imagined. That’s when my creative energy kicked in, and off and on, I sought solutions to my problems as I helped others recover from the big freeze we had in 2022.

The frustration of struggling to remove a jar lid or the lid on a carton of cream pushed me to take matters into my own hands. I set out to create a better jar opener, drawing inspiration from a mechanic’s oil filter wrench.

The real challenge was not using my body but in my grip. It was feeble. We have three grips for fine motor control: the “key grip,” like holding an ignition key; the plucking motion, like picking a pill off the table; and the three-finger pencil grip. My muscles had atrophied recovering from surgery, and I couldn’t do any of those with any strength.

The Covid ‘vacation” allowed me to explore one jar opener design after another. But finally, after two years, one design showed promise. I realized the strap was an integral element of the project. It took six months to find the right supplier and the right strap.

The goal of my design was to create a tool that would use leverage, not strength. I wanted to use leverage to grip the lid firmly and lever off the lid using body weight alone. I was the test subject. My diminished strength made it easier to find possible solutions. But my wife, both my harshest and best critic, was precisely the person I wanted this tool to serve—and pleasing her became my goal.

The result was a jar opener designed explicitly for those with limited strength or dexterity. It’s versatile and able to handle all container sizes and shapes, and it restores a sense of independence for those who might otherwise struggle with such tasks.