Tom Kraeutler: This is the Money Pit top products podcast coming to you from the 2014 National Hardware Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s at shows like this that we meet some of the most inventive people in America. I’m joined by one right now. His name is David Kurrasch. David is the inventor of many fine products, including one called the Monkey Hook that you might be familiar with. 
Very successful fastener for hanging things from walls. About, I guess, a year or so ago, he came out with a product called the Little Big Shot. We’re going to talk about that today. [A year 00:00:41] that the development of one of the most successful hose nozzles ever invented. David, welcome to the program.
David Kurrasch: Good to be with you, Tom.
Tom Kraeutler: We were with you when you launched this product. It’s been a year on the market and the store shelves. It’s doing incredibly well from what I hear. Let’s talk about the history of this product. What is it? Describe it to the audience and especially, talk about how it’s made.
David Kurrasch: The Little Big Shot is different. It’s unique because it’s a very small adjustable hose nozzle that doesn’t take up a lot of space, doesn’t use a lot of material to make it. It’s made out of solid brass, unlike most nozzles on the market today. Importantly, it’s made in the US. It’s a very water efficient nozzle that goes from a very powerful sweep to a fine spray and even shuts off so the adjustability brings it all the way to shut off.
Basically, the way it’s assembled is we use disabled US veterans. This is becoming …. not only are we made in the US, but the fact that we can employ over 30 disabled US veterans, some of them in wheelchairs that are otherwise not really employable, we feel great about that. It’s a great relationship, win-win. This is becoming more and more meaningful. The made in US say pavilion is, I think, on it’s third year here. There’s just more and more interest, both in the customer side and on the consumer side. to support locally US made products. It’s been a real positive thing.
Our growth is substantial. We’re in a broad number of retailers of different formats in the US. It’s done extremely well in every format.
Tom Kraeutler: I think the reason it’s done extremely well is very simply it works and it works really, really well. Most of us own several hose nozzles if we’re active with our gardens and our lawns and our cleaning tasks outside, and those nozzles don’t seem to last very long.
David Kurrasch: They don’t.
Tom Kraeutler: They break down, they get mineral deposits inside of them, they get beat up by the wear and tear. You’ve come up with something that’s solid brass. Doesn’t get any better than that in terms of quality. And you’ve designed it to do something that most of these other nozzles can’t and that is to produce a very sharp long that comes off it. What’s the distance of the stream?
David Kurrasch: We have a video that was done, actually by an independent news station, that shows this nozzle going about 45 feet down a driveway. It wasn’t measured precisely, but I can tell you this … this nozzle, what’s unique about it is it doesn’t allow water friction to overcome the pressure that’s coming out. It reduces it down to a fifth of an inch exit stream and does it it a span of a sixteen of an inch. You don’t have an water friction, which is what slows the water down. Whatever the source pressure is at the home, this is going to allow the maximum amount of that pressure to be maintained in the stream.
Tom Kraeutler: It’s also leak free. You’ve even redesigned the hose washer, which is of course the weak link in all of these nozzles. I think we tend to really wrench those nozzles onto our hoses to try and eliminate the leaks. You have a washer here that’s very soft and pliable. Just with hand pressure, it basically makes a permanent seal.
David Kurrasch: Yeah. You mentioned the typical washers in these hose nozzles. They’re mostly made out of natural rubber …
Tom Kraeutler: … which of course, dries up, dries out, and breaks down.
David Kurrasch: Right. Over time, exactly. What we’ve done here is created what we call the perma-washer. We’ve injection molded it with a elastomer plastic blend. We put in UV protection in that blend to make sure it doesn’t fade, and of course being plastic, it’s not going to corrode or come loose. It doesn’t come out. It gives that sustainability to the consumer to know that they can rely on this nozzle over years.
Tom Kraeutler: That’s why it’s so pliable.
David Kurrasch: Yes. It’s a blend of … let me tell you, we worked really hard to get the blend just right. People look at it, they go up and maybe this is some sort of a real soft plastic. It’s not a silicone.
It’s a blend that we had to get just right to perform in adjusting the water stream the way we needed it.
Tom Kraeutler: That’s just a small piece of the thought and the design that goes into a simple product like this, so easy to use, so effective. So many hours of research and development to make it perform as it does. David Kurrasch, the president, the owner of KCO Innovations telling us about the Little Big Shot. Where can consumers find the product?
David Kurrasch: They can find this in Home Depot, in Walgreen’s, and Tractor Supply. Bed Bath and Beyond as well sells a lot of these for us.
Tom Kraeutler: Retail price?
David Kurrasch: 9.99 is our prevailing price in the market place.
Tom Kraeutler: Terrific. It’ll be the last one you ever buy. David Kurrasch, thank you so much for being a part of the Money Pit’s top product podcast.
David Kurrasch: Thank you so much, Tom. Good to be with you.
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