Trail Blazer Products used their experiences with Midwestern grain farmers to develop a shovel for snow or grain with the handle turned sideways for extra leverage when lifting.
(OPENPRESS) Sometimes innovation simply involves looking at things from a different angle—maybe even a 90-degree angle. Trail Blazer Products developed the Reverse-D Handle Shovel when President Shawn Levangie heard that Midwestern farmers (Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri) were getting sore wrists from shoveling all day.
The design of the Reverse-D involved the simple but significant change of turning the traditional shovel handle sideways, so that it's perpendicular to the shovel face instead of parallel. The configuration provides a natural and comfortable grip and extra leverage when lifting, while leaving the wrist and elbow aligned and reducing fatigue.
"Now the wrist doesn't bend, so it takes the strain off your wrist, and allows your forearm to do most of the lifting, and relieves your back a little bit as well," he says.
And then Levangie had another thought. He noticed that when his company's woods, garden and lawn care equipment came down from store displays, snow shovels went up, and he wanted a part of that action.
The next step was a natural one for a Canadian boy: if you can shovel grain more easily—why not snow? And so Trail Blazer's Snow Blazer line was born.
Trail Blazer Products is a Nova Scotia manufacturer that started 16 years ago when Levangie built a bucksaw in his apartment. Today, over 100 Trail Blazer products are sold by 20,000 retailers in 43 countries.
Trial Blazer's Snow Blazer line is receiving attention in winter weather countries from as far away as Norway—and of course, the grain farmers are still shoveling happily away. Levangie reports, "We have already shipped more shovels then the entire season last year."
Trail Blazer's Reverse D-Handle shovels are distributed through True Value Hardware and Home Hardware dealers, and directly from the Trail Blazer's website.
Trail Blazer has received support for productivity innovations and marketing from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
