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H a rd wa re & H o u s e wa re s Re vi e w W e d n e s d a y, M a y 7 , 2 0 1 4 6 2014 Best of Best of Show BLOXYGEN: BRINGING A SOLUTION TO MARKET An interview with Steven Zawalick, Inventor and Owner, Bloxygen. HHR: How did you come up with the idea for Bloxygen? SZ: Inert gas is used all over the world in the food and wine industry. For example, every Keurig K-Cup, pre-packaged salad or bag of potato chips is packaged in inert gas. Inert gas is used in wine manufac- turing, distribution and preservation all over the globe. HHR: Where is this made? SZ: We make this product here in the U.S.A. and we use all components from the U.S.A. HHR: Does it have a good reputation? SZ: We get great support from experts in the industry, including Jeff Jewitt, Bob Flexner, Michael Dresdner, David Marks and Don Casey. We have a tremendous amount of respect for these guys, so of course, we feel honored. Bloxygen has also been reviewed and approved by the laboratories for Sherwin-Williams, AzkoNobel, Waterlox, Rust Bullet, Premapro and ML Campbell. HHR: Is it patented? SZ: Yes. We patented the method of using inert gases to preserve finishes. Our patent is US #6629402. HHR: How does it save money? SZ: Good finishes cost a lot of money, and the prices are only going up because of materials and regulations. The best varnish in the world, Colean from Premapro, can cost $284 per gallon when on sale. Using Bloxygen to save just 10 ounces of this material (less than a soda can) will pay for two cans of bloxygen. HHR: Are you involved in social media? SZ: Yep, we're on the wagon – the social media bandwagon, that is. We created a Facebook page in 2011, and started actively man- aging that last year. Facebook can really be a fun and interesting adver- tising venue. It allows you to express creativity, grat- itude, interest and get your message out to so many. In 2013, we completely rewrote our website and we update the newsletter every month. We also have several YouTube videos and highlight them on our media channels. HHR: Tell us about your involvement with NASA. SZ: The Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program was a wonderful pro- gram that allows U.S. businesses to receive a small amount of technical assis- tance in solving and answering critical issues. NASA helped Bloxygen! The NASA Scientist, a worldwide expert in this field, loved our idea and wanted to help. We were curious about a way to pro- vide more gas for our customers in our standard cans. Using activated charcoal and the physics of adsorption, we proved that the concept worked, but we'd have to fill the entire aerosol can with charcoal, and it'd be cost prohibitive. I know it seems odd that you could get more gas into the can by filling it with charcoal, but it's true! The research conclusion was that this technique would work well for stor- ing more gas per unit volume (at a given maximum pressure) when cost was not a concern – like a space mission. Cool, eh? Visit Bloxygen at booth 2052. For more information, go to www.bloxygen.com, email IronWood.Designs@pobox.com or call 888-810-8311. At the show, buy three cases and get four cases, a starter kit, plus free shipping. BITS LIMITED INTRODUCES MINISQUID By Russell Barton, President, BITS Limited This year, BITS is proud to continue showing new and innovative solutions for safely providing power to electronic devices with our miniSquid Travel Surge Protector. As a continuing exhibitor at the National Hardware Show, we always try to listen to the feedback we get from our visitors. This year, we are pleased to say we have a product that we have been asked about for a while. Many visitors to our booth over the years have noted how hard it is to find a quality surge protector that is convenient to travel with, and how few convenient outlets are usually available in hotel rooms. We thought about this and came up with a way to resolve this problem. The miniSquid is the little brother of our PowerSquid line of products. Its small case size and flexible outlets make this product the perfect traveling com- panion. The small size makes for easy storage in your laptop bag or carry on. With the miniSquid, you never have to worry about not having enough outlets in a hotel room, because with one miniSquid you get four protected outlets for one wall outlet! Not only does the miniSquid allow for multiple large-sized plugs because of the outlet style, but this unit offers excellent surge protection for the devices connected to it. The miniSquid allows people on the go to have spare protected outlets anywhere they need them. If you're interested in finding out more about this and some of the other products we offer, or will soon offer, then we encour- age you to stop by our booth or visit our website and have a look for yourself! Visit BITS Limited at booth 1918. For more information, go to www .bitsltd.net, call 631-896-9855 or email russell.barton@me.com. Lee M. Oser CEO and Editor-in-Chief Kim Forrester Paul Harris Jeff Rosano Associate Publisher Lorrie Baumann Editorial Director Zach Calvello Jeanie Catron JoEllen Lowry Associate Editors Yasmine Brown Vicky Glover Graphic Designers Mandy Feld Ruth Haltiwanger Customer Service Managers Larry Blaskey Levi Borland Lynn Hilton David Lopez Justin Schmigel Account Executives Enrico Cecchi European Sales Hardware & Housewares Review is published by Oser Communications Group ©2014. All rights reserved. Executive and editorial offices at: 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715 520-721-1300/Fax: 520-721-6300 www.oser.com European offices located at Lungarno Benvenuto Cellini, 11, 50125 Florence, Italy. AN INDEPENDENT PUBLICATION NOT AFFILIATED WITH NHS