shovel – Backerjack

Backerjack first met the Easy Throw Shovel just about a year ago. This nifty little invention promised to ease the strains of snow shoveling. By using the weight of the snow, the mechanism is able to fling the snow so the shoveler doesn’t have to. Unfortunately, funding was cancelled for this product before it could reach its goal.

Now, the Easy Throw Shovel is back. Unlike other products that come racing back to the crowdfunding scene after a time of hibernation, the Easy Throw has done little if anything to improve upon their original product. The shovel looks the same and doesn’t boast any new features. However, the price has come down substantially. In the last campaign, the shovel costed backers $72 CAD (~$58 USD), but now backers only need to shell out $48 CAD (~$39 USD), nothing wrong with a little discount. Easy Throw is looking to raise $64,000 CAD (~$51,500 USD) ($8,000 CAD less than their original goal) on Kickstarter.

The Premise. Shoveling snow can be deadly. Literally. People die every year while shoveling snow because of how sneakily strenuous it can be.

The Product. The Easy Throw Shovel is a snow shovel that uses leverage from the weight of the snow to activate the throwing arm. The shaft of the shovel is made out of wood and the lifting arm is made of aluminum with two small wheels on the bottom that touch the ground. The two are connected by a durable strap. When the snow is ready to be thrown, one must simply push down on the handle to activate the lifting arm. The lifting arm also acts as a stand, allowing the shovel to remain upright on its own.

The Pitch. The Easy Throw Shovel’s Kickstarter campaign tells of how an aching back and leverage are responsible for the product’s conception. A helpful diagram shows the different parts of the Easy Throw Shovel and what they’re made of. The video features the shovel in action, along with proving that the shovel can bear a huge load by showing how it can throw weights around with ease. With Kickstarter, Easy Throw Shovel’s creator hopes to raise $72,000. The campaign is currently on hiatus but creator Christopher Lloyd Bush hopes to relaunch soon.

The Perks. The lowest price for an Easy Throw Shovel is $65 CAD, known as the “get the ball rolling special”. Donation tiers go all the way up to $500, but each tier only offers one Easy Throw Shovel. Estimated delivery is currently June 2014 for the shovels themselves, which, unfortunately, puts the shovels smack out of season for backers.

The Potential. Alternatives to the snow problem exist, but can get rather pricey. Snow blowers cost over $100 and tend to break easily. The Easy Throw Shovel is a truly neat invention, proving, once again, that electronics can’t always solve the problems that simple machines can. The Easy Throw Shovel uses leverage and pivot points to do twice the work that a normal shovel does. This product definitely has a place in the market amongst tired suburbanites at risk for heart attack upon shoveling with a regular old shovel. Even better, the Easy Throw Shovel was invented in Canada, probably one of world’s most authoritative countries on snow.