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Thorough Design Development

An evolving company

Developing ideas is potentially the stage where disappointment happens. For example, Jonathan's small team wanted to bring the toothbrush bristles towards each other so there would not be a hole for the toothpaste to fall through. In practice this proved impossible, but fortunately it also proved unnecessary - so not a disappointment.

   All sorts of other variations were tried out as drawings

Jonathan was now ready to move to a more sophisticated 3D model and drawings so he employed a fast-track design development company to move things on. This company produced two product prototypes (G) which were injection moulded (G) using a lower cost 'soft' tool (G). This mould was made of wood and plastics and would not last long enough for a large production run, but it was sufficient for the prototypes and cost only £6,000. The development company also produced accurate technical drawings which supported the patent application.

The technical drawing for the patent application. - click here for a larger image

The model was used at the dental school for scientific tests on ten people. This took six months and, fortunately, confirmed the effectiveness of the design.

   The first batch model.

By this time Jonathan was a year into his patent protection time and five aspects were being developed in parallel:

• the visual appearance, including packaging

• legal protection

• academic/scientific testing

• production development

• marketing.

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