A spring-loaded ballcock arm is the invention bringing a New Zealand farming family to the world market by solving problems for farmers around ensuring a water supply for livestock.
Water problems on his own farm led Ric Awburn, inventor of the Springarm, to invent something better.
He was sick of brass ballcock arms snapping under pressure from drinking cattle.
The brass arms’ limited scope for movement led to breakages as soon as the pressure came on.
He fiddled around with springs and rods and tested the results in water troughs on his farm. Engineering friends helped him locate stronger springs, and Ric decided to switch to using stainless steel components.
The spring tension needed to be strong enough to close the valve when the trough was full with water, but allow enough movement to not break the arm and spring, or the water valve.
The connection to the valve was also difficult to finalise. The solution was to screw the connector directly into the spring.
Ric finally arrived at his Springarm prototype, after nearly 18 months.
Ric’s wife Marianne played a key role in getting the Springarm ready for sale including design improvements, product development, marketing and raising funds. In early 2021, Ric and Marianne decided to enter their product in the annual innovation competition at New Zealand’s National Fieldays agricultural show.
This proved to be a major breakthrough, with the Springarm winning the Fieldays Innovation Award, and the $10,000 cash prize.
“Springarm is a remarkably simple and elegant solution to a well-defined and common problem,” said the innovation competition judges.
With the Springarm ready to take to market, Marianne and Ric set about manufacturing, helped by their three young sons.
But it soon became obvious that they would need a manufacturing partner, which turned out to be Metalform, a company already making products for farmers.
Metalform will now help Ric and Marianne take Springarm to New Zealand farmers and the world.
Already, the product has been taken on by Farmlands, the co-operative retailer with 82 stores, a top-20 New Zealand company, with turnover in excess of €1.2 billion annually.
It sells the 300mm Springarm Flexible Trough Arm for the equivalent of about €18.
According to Farmlands, gone are the days of broken brass ballcock arms and the constant need to change broken arms due to livestock being rough with them.
The retailer says Springarm is the only flexible water trough arm that fits many of the valves already found on New Zealand’s farms, which will withstand the treatment by livestock throughout the hot summer months, helping farmers save water, money, and time.
No doubt, if the product is successful in the leading dairy export country, the next step would be a worldwide launch.
