Since taking out the Bendigo Inventor Awards in 2011 Mike Taylor’s Fair Air filtration mask has assisted in the aftermath of disasters around the world.
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“There’s a massive fire in Christchurch at the moment in the rubble from the earthquake and 60 of these masks were sent over for fighting that,” he said.
“There’s no way you can do it with breathing apparatus because you just wouldn’t be able to keep the tanks full.”
Mr Taylor has also fielded calls from survivors of an underground railway disaster in Washington DC in which scores of people suffered from smoke inhalation.
“Some of them have bought some to carry with them all the time so the next time the incident happens they’ll be fine,” he said.
Mr Taylor said winning the award had played a major role in getting the mask to market.
“The $10,000 (prize) was certainly very handy, that got me through a few issues back then,” he said.
“The other thing the (awards) do is they actually give you a mentor and that was very handy for me because up till then Australian Defence Apparel was going to be making it for me but they won a couple of other contracts and this wasn’t their core business so they dropped it.
“The mentor was actually very handy in helping me find some manufacturers, that was very useful.”
Aside from the advantages for the winner there are also flow on benefits for the Bendigo community, with Mr Taylor now employing a number of locals.
“There’s a little company in Eaglehawk that does the first part of making the filters and then it goes to other people around town,” he said.
“They’re all part-time and they work from home and various people are doing various phases of it.”
Mr Taylor said demand for his product was so high that soon he might have to upscale his operation, creating even more jobs.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few months I have to not just go from my home operators but actually open a factory,” he said.
Awards chairman Paul Chapman said he hoped the new focus on emergency services in this year’s awards would unearth more inventions like Mr Taylor’s.
“Everything you can think of has to be invented by someone,” he said.
“If people take an open mind and look at all of the agencies and all the people and all the equipment that is used in reacting to a disaster or to any emergency, in every one of those agencies they have to use equipment of some sort… every one of those products has been invented.”
Entries close September 2.
To register visit www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/inventor
