PATENTS
Local invention eases concrete work
The Bohse brothers develop a tool that appears to have a worldwide market.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
BROOKVILLE — You might say inspiration came to brothers Chuck and Marc Bohse in the form of sore backs.
Ask Chuck Bohse to demonstrate the fine art of screeding, or leveling, concrete, and he may show you the way he once did it: Bending over, slowly stepping backward, pressing a screed or leveling bar firmly against the concrete to strike off whatever excess amount, achieving the correct elevation.
Tough work, clearly.
"It was killing us in our 20s," said Chuck Bohse, owner of Brookville's CJB Concrete and now 61.
The Bohse brothers did something about it, devising screeds joined to long aluminum handles that let users work with the tool without bending nearly as far. Aesthetic Finishers of Piqua provide the handle's powder-coat finish, and Alro Steel Corp. in Dayton provides the steel.
A simple concept? Eight years of development, more than two years of patent research — and an investment of nearly $30,000 — led to the invention, now offered by EZ Screed Tools LLC.
"It must have been pretty good," Chuck Bohse said. "They gave us a patent."
The home-based firm — essentially, the Bohse family — is now filling orders, retail and wholesale, from the United Kingdom, China, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. Kelly Bohse, Chuck Bohse's wife, said attending a February trade show in Las Vegas, World of Concrete 2009, opened doors to at least 40 orders.
Now the family is considering a June trade show in Mexico.
Charles Chapman, who has worked 22 years in the concrete business, is an EZ customer. An employee of CCI Concrete in Ithaca, Ohio, he says the tool has worked well for him.
"It's excellent for small driveways, sidewalks, small slabs," Chapman said. "It's probably one of the best tools I've ever used."
"You can take a three-person job and turn it into a one-man job," he added.
Today, the Bohse family is concentrating on marketing the new company and making the tool in a New Madison barn.
They believe there's a future for screeding without bending.
"Dayton is kind of an inventor's town, if you will," said Kelly Bohse.
