Two Davison-designed products that were created for clients and brought to market by Hugs Pet Products are Pet Product News International (PPNI) Retailers’ Top Pick Award winners! The Silicone Dog Treat Pan was the top vote-getter in the Gift Products category and the Better Tether was the third-highest vote-getter in the Home: Indoor & Outdoor Products category.

“It’s really great that they won the awards, especially since they’re picked by retailers,” said Davison’s Vice-President of Licensing. “They were up against competition from all the big names in the pet industry and they took first and third place — that’s a pretty good day at the office.”

Photos and write-ups of both products, along with their placements in the contest, are featured in this month’s PPNI issue. The president of Hugs Pet Products said he was blown away when he heard about the awards.

“This is awesome and huge for our company. It shows that all of the hard work we have done to bring new, different and innovative products to the pet market is paying off. We will continue to strive to do this with future products we are currently developing. It is truly an honor to be selected out of great companies and products on the market. We are very excited!” he said.

Formerly known as the Low-Pro, Davison designed the Better Tether in collaboration with our client, Ed, to offer a more humane and convenient way to tether a dog outdoors. The innovative tethering device provides a constant source of food and water that cannot be spilled and never has to be moved for the lawnmower!

The Silicone Dog Treat Pan, a spin-off of the Silicone Dessert Bar Pan that Davison designed in collaboration with our client, Joseph, allows pet owners to make dog-bone-shaped treats for their canine companions. It even comes with several paw-lickin’ good recipes!

Undoubtedly, getting these products developed and to market was a team effort. From the client to the corporate design teams, many people had a hand in their success.

“I am happy to hear that these products are winning such acclaim,” said Davison’s Corporate Creative Coach. “I’m proud of the team for sure. I bet the clients will be pumped to hear the news! It’s a nice piece of outside confirmation that these products are as awesome as we all think they are.”

Congratulations to everyone who worked on these awesome, award-winning products!

A typical project does not get a royalty agreement, sell in stores or generate a profit.

Choosing the best “Rube Goldberg Machine” built by local high school students at the Chain Reaction Contraption Contest at Carnegie Science Center was not easy, but Davison’s VP of Design, Pete, and designer, Clay, were up to the task. They chose the “Gator Vendomator” created by a team from Gateway High School to win the “What Will You Create?” award sponsored by Davison. The contraption made change for a dollar bill in 22 steps using a series of levers.

“It was a really neat machine, with a lot of complicated mechanisms,” said Pete. “If they could automatically reset it, people would be putting dollars into it all day long.”

For winning the award, the winning team and their honors physics classmates were given a tour of Davison’s unique design facility, Inventionland. Gifted coordinator, Jim, thought it was “a once in a lifetime experience” for his students, who “like to think outside the box,” to see how engineering and creativity go hand in hand.

“This is a perfect example of engineering and creativity coming together; I’ve always encouraged that.”

The teacher was hoping his students would be inspired by the visit to pursue their interests in the field of engineering and science; he also thought seeing that they don’t necessarily have to work in a dull office would encourage them.

“Students associate engineering with sitting in an office doing boring work; seeing a place that looks like this can alter their perception,” said Jim. “And having a place like this in Pittsburgh – it’s a treasure, and it’s appropriate because of Pittsburgh’s history of inventing.”

Several students in the class are interested in engineering and “a number of them are just extremely creative. They tend to attack a problem from a different level,” said Lynn, gifted coordinator.

“When we opened up the tour many of them jumped at the chance to come. Having these opportunities out there in the work force, not just the standard engineering job, is inspiring for them — especially in Western Pennsylvania,” she continued. “To have it so close to home and to have the opportunity to see it is an inspiration for the kids to pursue something like this.”

Pete is looking forward to seeing more inventive creations and “chain reaction contraptions” at the next Carnegie Science Center competition — It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.

“It’s really neat to see the inventions of young people. There was a lot of competition this year,” Pete said. “Every year it gets better and better.”

The Oil Filter Gripper, first licensed in 1993 by Flo Tools International, was one of the first major successful products we designed for our clients. Myles and Lisa hired Davison to research, redesign and develop the innovative tool, which went on to win a bronze IDEA (Industrial Design Excellence Award) in the Consumer Products / Professional Tools category in 1996. 

Myles with Oil Filter Gripper and IDEA award

The Oil Filter Gripper has had a great run and, after 17 years, it is still on the market and going strong. The product, which was designed by Davison’s VP of Inventegration, enables do-it-yourselfers to easily and neatly remove a hot and dirty oil filter.

As can be seen on its product page, the Oil Filter Gripper is now sold by Auto Alley through Amazon.com, and it is still licensed by Flotool / Hopkins Mfg. Corp., which also continues to show it at trade shows, such as the AAPEX (Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo). 

Myles has changed a little over the years, but he is still a big fan of Davison and our unique 9-step process that turned his dream into a reality. The Oil Filter Gripper, like the Davison Method, certainly has stood the test of time!

Inventors, George Davison, VP of Design, 1993

The popular Dog Wash and Hydro Bone that we created for Hugs Pet Products continue to gain a lot of fans — including top experts in the field. Both are winners of a 2010 DOG FANCY Editors’ Choice Award! They are among 16 winners (#2 and #5) featured in “Gear of the Year,” top picks of the best new dog products, as chosen by editors of Dog Fancy, “the world’s most widely read dog magazine.”

The editors stated in the just-released issue that they chose “the most wag-worthy goods that make owners’ lives easier and dogs’ lives better.” “Each product earned our seal of approval by offering innovative solutions to everyday problems or giving new life to an old idea,” they explained.

“It’s a great award to win, especially with hundreds of entries, and not only to win one award, but two,” said Davison’s VP of Licensing. “It’s a good accomplishment not only for Hugs but for Davison as well.”

The Editors’ Choice logo has been added to the product pages for the Hydro Bone and Dog Wash, a client product, so check out these award-winning Davison innovations! Click in to the image above to read the full article. You can also check it out on Dog Fancy’s website!

Congratulations to all who worked on these awesome products!