The Magazine of the Greater Jim Thorpe Area
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Using the Wheel to Make a Better Rake

O.J. Hanas, a 76-year-old retired satellite communications engineer from Lehighton invented the Rake Pal® after realizing how difficult it was to move a pile of wet leaves using a conventional rake. He found that flipping the rake over and adding a set of wheels solved the problem. He has applied for a patent and started a company to produce the Rake Pal adapter.

By flipping over a rake and installing a set of wheels, the rake could be pushed more quickly and with less effort. Inventor O.J. Hanas of Lehighton says that the Rake Pal® clears wet leaves in one-third the time of ordinary leaf rakes.
 
The Rake Pal® is a set of wheels bracketed to the reverse side of a sturdy leaf rake. The wheels eliminate lifting and dragging while the leaves are carried away on the tines of the rake.

 

Lehighton senior hopes crowds will beat a path to his wheeled rake

Most engineers will admit they are lazy—that's pretty much how they make their living, by thinking up ways to do things that take less time and energy.

So when O.J. Hanas, a 76-year-old retired satellite communications engineer from Lehighton was asked by his son-in-law to help rake a yard of deep wet leaves, the task got old quickly. After hours of hard work, he saw that he had barely made a dent in the landscape of leaves.

"The invention was necessary," Hanas explained. "We have grandchildren in Seattle, and every time we visit especially around Thanksgiving, our son-in-law asks us to rake the leaves in their wooded lot—and the leaves are usually deep and wet."

"There has to be a better way," he thought. Hanas tried using a leaf blower but it was unable to handle the wet leaves.

He returned to his raking and experimented with different techniques. He even turned the rake upside down and pushed it. To his surprise, the rake cut into the pile and stacked the leaves on top of the tines. Good, he thought, but still too much effort.

"What if the rake rolled on wheels?" he reasoned. Putting his rake aside, Hanas made the rounds of the local hardware stores and found the parts that he needed to attach a set of wheels to the reverse side of his rake.

He tested on the pile of wet leaves and he was able to complete the job in about one third the time and effort. The idea, for what would become the Rake Pal®, was born.

That was a year and a half ago. In the meanwhile, Hanas has been experimenting with a variety of prototype designs, developing sources of supply, patenting the invention, and contacting potential resellers. He feels that everything is ready to go. His first reseller will be an Internet distributor of specialty tools, AwesomeTools.com. They have purchased a quantity for stock and Hanas anticipates they will begin marketing the Rake Pal adapter in July.

Hanas believes people are realizing that adding a wheel makes a heavy task, much easier. "It wasn't long ago that luggage wasn't available with wheels," he explained. "Now, that's about the only kind available. Soon, it will be that way with rakes."

The Rake Pal will initially sell as an adapter that can be readily attached to any sturdy leaf rake. And although its designed has been tested by landscapers to be durable and effective, it only weighs a few ounces.

Hanas even got his son-in-law to create his own YouTube video to demonstrate how the Rake Pal is used. In the video, Hanas rakes a batch of deep and wet leaves the old fashioned way, then flips over the rake, which has been modified with the Rake Pal adapter, and simply pushes the leaves into big piles nearly effortlessly.

Hanas is excited to be starting a new business in his golden years. In fact, he is naming his company EZ WORKPALS INC.—with the idea of creating a series of effort-saving tools. "It's good medicine for not getting old," he said.

To view the Rake Pal video, see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAWXDezkUQk.