Peter,
a question.
You've invented a few things. I don't invent but I do pinch other peoples ideas and make them work. Most recently this has been an electric reel. I've been using an electic drill with a dog leg clutch and it works brilliantly on a fixed van mounted reel.
My question is do you see this as a benefit?
(and I'm asking because i have had a lot of negative feed back over something I find a huge advance. Don't worry about being nice)
It is hard to say unless I saw it working. My thoughts on it though would be that it couldn't be reeled in too fast due to uneven distribution, and also getting caught up on stuff. This problem could be overcome though with guides etc. If it could not be overcome and you could only reel it in slowly then you are as well doing it by hand.
It is hard to get people to pay for anything like this if it could be done effectively and easily without the use of anything else. You would have to have power for the drill, or at least charge the battery.
I had a great invention years ago for securing the ladders on the van roof. All you did was walk up to the van and lay the ladders on, and a quick slide of a bolt and the ladders were secured. It held two sets of ladders on the one side of the ladder racks, and you could even lock them on at night in seconds. After using them personally in my business I wouldn't have used ladders without them. Although I sold a few sets I struggled with them, people just wouldnt part with the money when a bit of rope or a bungee done much the same thing. I once was selling some work and the guy buying the work from me had one of them J hook things, we were working together and every time we moved from one area to the next I had to wait around for him for ages untill he fumbled around securing his ladder with the J hook. He seen how easy it was for me, and even he never bought one.
Do you have a video of it working? People might change their minds if they seen it working.
Peter