The Story Of My First Design

Following is the story of my very first design; The Jet Wrench.

The year is 1975. It's a warm summer night. 7,000 people are watching from the grandstands. In the pits at Ascot Raceway, Los Angeles, CA, my Father and I decide to 'richen-up' the fuel mixture in my 750cc Triumph Flat Track Racebike. To do this, we need to replace the Main Jets in both Carburetors. The Jets are tiny hexagonal threaded brass orifices with precise holes drilled in the center to meter the amount of fuel that goes into the engine at the wide open throttle position. The Jets share a standard thread pitch, but the Hex can be 1/4" or 6mm across the flats. It's 8:30pm, the Pits are dark, time is of the essence... Which socket do I use? The 1/4" or the 6mm? I don't want to strip or round off the brass hex... I thought to myself; "What if I had a double sided Jet Wrench? One with a 1/4" socket on one side and a 6mm socket on the other? How about a polymer Wrench that would 'give' before stripping the Jet threads?" Aha!

Here's some background information that preceded this: In 1975 I was a hotshot professional flat track motorcycle racer. I was 22 years old and had been racing steady since I was 12. The previous two years, we had traveled the USA extensively, racing our way across the country. In 1975, I decided to not travel so much, but race mostly in California and Arizona. Why not?, I was making a pretty good living racing two or three times a week during the summer. Traveling had sounded exciting, but I was burned out on the driving. Also, showing up a new race track I'd never seen nor turned a lap on and then expecting to finish in the money, let alone win, was much more difficult than I had anticipated. So, starting in 1975, I raced mostly at tracks I was familiar with.

I had been living my dream since I was 17 years old, the year I became a professional motorcycle racer. From the time I was 12 until I was 16, I raced for trophies. Earning a living doing what I truly loved was a lesson that I would carry with me for the rest of my life. When I retired in 1981 at the age of 29, I had raced in over 500 motorcycle races. I had moved out of the house when I was 18, and I enjoyed being on my own. In the winters, when I wasn't racing, I made extra money by working in Machine Shops. Most of these shops helped to sponsor my racing, and many of them were glad to teach me how to operate a Mill, Turret Lathe, Sunnen Hone, Welder, and all the rest of the standard machine shop equipment. Learning and working in Machine Shops would turn out to be a great benefit to me later in my life. I also spent about 18 months working for the Suzuki Motorcycle Factory. At the age of 21, they made me the Customer Relations Supervisor for the entire USA! At Suzuki, I learned about Manufacturing, Inventory Control, and Part Numbering schemes. I was also lucky enough to attend all the Suzuki Factory Training Classes. I never felt comfortable in this environment. One week, I clocked out early on a Friday so I could race in Colorado. When I returned late on Monday morning, I got in trouble. That's the moment I decided I'd be self-employed whenever possible and I quit the Corporate Lifestyle. Years later, I worked as a Contractor for the Honda and Nissan Factories where I learned more about manufacturing.

So, back to the Jet Wrench; at the time of my idea, one of my sponsors was a Machine Shop that sold Motorcycle Service Tools to OEM suppliers. I pitched them on my idea and they said they'd split the costs of the first run with me, double my investment and then they'd own the Jet Wrench. I said "OK, it's a deal!" The biggest cost, of course, was the Mold required to make the injected molded Wrench. I didn't want to risk my own money, so I borrowed the $2,500.00 needed to cover half of the Mold and the Polymer for the first run. In 1975, $2,500.00 was a lot of money to a 22 year old like me. I had no credit, I'd always paid cash for everything, even my cars. I'll never forget mustering up the courage to walk into the Bank Of America in Long Beach, CA and ask for my very first loan. I got lucky, the Loan Officer liked me and my idea, so I got the money, no collateral!. This taught me to never be afraid to ask for something you really want or need.

This story has a happy ending. For the first run, we made 10,000 Jet Wrenches. We gambled on this, but making this many on the first run meant that the piece part cost was low. The final cost of the Jet Wrench, packaged and ready to ship was less than 90 cents. This allowed for a good profit margin. We sold them out and made many more runs. I collected my $5,000.00 check 6 months later. What did I do with the money? I finished paying off the loan and then I...

Well,that's a story for another day.

I dedicate this story to my Father and Mother. My Father, Sid Sowell, was truly a mechanical genius. Of the motorcycles shown, my Father built the engines in all of them and they were fast! He taught me that I could learn anything, and he was right. Thanks Dad.

Cheers,
Devon T. Sowell
http://www.3-ddesignsolutions.com

Comments

[Anna Wood]

Devon,

Thanks for sending me the link on your racing days. What an awesome story!

I can see how this great practical, hands on learning influenced your career. Priceless...

Cheers,

Anna

[Devon T. Sowell]

Hi Ricky & Matt-

I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Ricky, let's hear about yours!

Devon

[Ricky Jordan]

Devon,

Excellent story! LOL! I'm going to have to dig up some stuff on my first design now! It actually has a racing background too....just a different kind of racing.

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for posting it!

Best Regards,

Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.com

[Matt Lombard]

Cool story! It's great to learn a little background about people, so you know what drives them. Thanks for writing that!

[Devon T. Sowell]

Hi Josh-

Thanks for the comments!

Devon

[Josh]

dude! totally left us hangin!! when is the book coming out? seriously Devon, well-written stuff. later!

[Devon T. Sowell]

Hi Steve-

Hey, that's very cool, thanks for sharing. It sounds like you were pretty good. Yep, those were the days, alright. Gas was what? Around .45 cents?

You can't beat that hands-on machine shop experience.

Cheers,
Devon

[Steve Calvert]

Damn, that brings back a lot of good memories, Devon, thanks. I raced motocross for a number of years starting back in '76. I can remember going to a local machine shop here in Austin called TC racing (TC stood for Tommy Conners). Tommy was a local machine guy who did work for many motocross guys and even had a sponsorshp with a flat track guy named Terry Poovey. Well I was an up and coming (at least I thought so) 100cc hot shot. In '77 and '78 I was riding a Suzuki RM 100 and my dad, who was a jet mechanic in the Airforce, had talked with Tommy about doing some special porting on my cylinder and because my dad wanted to run 130+ octane airplane fuel. Tommy said sure come on by and I got my first taste of a machine shop. Tommy even let me clean my own pistons with the sand blaster. Tommy was doing stuff to engines back then that hasn't been done before, he was, what he called "jet porting" the top of the pistons (milling 5 or 6 holes in the top of the piston down to the first ring groove to let more flow throught the piston) and I was one of the guys who got to try it. Well it made me faster.

I went on to the 250cc class in '78 and switched brands to Yamaha. Running in races all over Texas was a highlite of my young life. Being with my dad was a blast. I really miss all that. I never made it to the pro class but I had close to 100 trophies whan it was all said and done. Remember gas prices back in those days?

Thanks for the good memories, I've probably forgot most.

Steve Calvert