Local inventors take their farm gadget all the way to the bank

A pair of local inventors have successfully pushed their invention to the finish line.

Ethan Eck of Kingman and partner Ralph Lagergren, an experienced local product and company developer, built the Chem-Blade ES, an automated system for draining and rinsing jugs of farm chemicals, such as herbicides and fungicides.

The two have licensed it to Hagie Manufacturing, an Iowa-based maker of self-propelled sprayers.

Hagie will make and market the Chem-Blade ES, while the pair will collect a fee from every Chem-Blade ES sold.

The Chem-Blade ES looks like a waist-high steel box connected by hoses to the sprayer. The farmer places a jug of chemicals inside the box and closes it. The machine cuts the jug open, pumps the chemical to the sprayer and rinses the jug. It takes about 15 seconds – and that’s the key to why a farmer might spend $7,200 for such a machine.

Lagergren said that today’s farmer is a small businessman whose time is valuable. During a day of spraying fields, the Chem-Blade ES can save a farmer a half-hour to an hour.

It’s also safer and less environmentally hazardous because the chemical jugs are dumped inside the sealed box and automatically rinsed.

That’s an argument that Newt Lingenfelter, product manager for Hagie Manufacturing, likes. While the Chem-Blade may seem expensive, he said, it’s nothing compared to the cost of a self-propelled sprayer.

The more time in the cab of the sprayer applying the chemicals and less time opening jugs, the better.

“It gets our man back out into the field faster, improving the efficiency of the equipment,” he said. “This is the only fully contained jug handling system available on the market today, at least that will be entertained by our customers.”

Hagie is doing a limited run of the Chem-Blade ES, but expects to sell 800 to 1,000 per year, Lingenfelter said.

Eck and Lagergren are done with the Chem-Blade ES, except for collecting royalties. Lagergren said the pair have applied for four patents on the Chem-Blade.

Lagergren said he and Eck will start another project in the coming months.

“The beautiful part of it is that people think things like this don’t happen anymore,” Lagergren said. “Ethan had friends who looked at him and wonder why he’s spending all of this time tinkering in the shed.”

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Local inventors take their farm gadget all the way to the bank."