Bucket Buddy and Hog Handle

This month we are featuring a window cleaner who like many before him has turned inventor out of necessity of solving problems. There are many inventors who have come from our industry and Derek Blackburn is the newest. His two newest inventions include the Bucket Buddy and the Hog Handle.

First the Bucket Buddy. The problem is two-fold. First in the summer months many window cleaner’s hands become very dry and even cracked due to the constant dipping of hands into a bucket of water. Second, in the winter the wetting of the mop freezes the hands. The Bucket Buddy helps with both of these issues. It easily attaches to the bucket so that when needed you simply dip your mop and then run the Bucket Buddy over the mop keeping hands fairly dry. Pretty simple but a solution to two problems, nonetheless.

Second, The Hog Handle. Hog Hair brushes have been used in the window cleaning industry for years, even pre t-bar and mop days. However, a couple of issues exist when using this deep agitating tool. Until now though a person had to rely on the wood framework of the brush to hold onto. This could place the knuckles in close proximity to a window ledge or other obstacles. In addition, the brush design contributes to the hands being wet. The Hog Handle allows the window cleaner to grab the brush from the handle keeping hands drier and giving the cleaner more leverage on the glass without worry of hands becoming bumped on the ledges.

Derek uses 3D Printing to manufacture his products and will be interesting as this technology continues to develop what new and exciting products Derek will present to the industry.