Farm implement goes 'underground' with patent

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Left to right: J.T. Dotson, Llano County resident; Dan Moran, of Brady; and Attorney David Hall, of Blanco County; stand in front of the newly-patented Grub-N-Rake. Hall presents patent to Moran while Dotson, the first recipient of the patented Grub-N-Rake, looks on. -Staff photo by Poehl

Dec. 30, 2004 - One day while Dan Moran, of Dan's Machine and Welding in Brady, was chatting with his friend, a bright idea was etched into his head.

This idea was more than just a thought . . . it turned into something concrete, as Moran came up with a patented device used in land management.

This patented machine was a unique idea of a combination rake and grubber implement, called the "Grub-N-Rake."

"I was talking with a friend of mine and he said something about fixing a rake that would rake prickly pear," Moran said. "As soon as those words came out of his mouth, the lights went on in my head and I thought, 'I'm gonna have to patent that.'"

After a little bit of engineering, Moran came up with a remarkable machine that rakes and grubs, all in one.

"You can do a whole lot with it and it's not hard to operate. The grubber is mounted on the front of the rake. You fold the grubber down in front of the rake. Then, you can grub what you want to grub," Moran explained.

"The grubber sits flush against the front of the rake and you can rake immediately. The cylinder is on the back. You can move the hydraulic cylinder from inside of the machine. It's unique because it does two things in one."

Getting something patented is usually the hard part of inventing ideas. Attorney David Hall, with Jackson Walker law firm in Blanco County, helped Moran get a patent for the Grub-N-Rake.

"Over time I've learned how to deal with the patent office. You write out your idea and the patent office requires drawings," Hall said. "Few people get patents because of the patent office rules; they are long and complicated."

Hall helped Moran receive the machine's patent in just over 12 months. Most patents take over two years to receive approval.

"I was lucky because I have an engineering background. Maybe it helps that I understand operations," Hall said. "When I first submitted it, it was rejected completely. The examiner sent me 18 patents saying why he didn't think we could patent this machine. I argued with each patent."

Hall described the Grub-N-Rake as, "The front end has a rake and the shiny folded-up part is the grubber, which is controlled by the hydraulic cylinder. It's all controlled by a button inside of the machine. The grubber goes into the ground under cactus and digs that ground up. You can grub up vegetative roots or debris and rocks and rake them into a pile. The rake lets you get all of the cactus in a full pile to burn them."

"This implement is patented for any type of equipment you can put it on," added Moran. "You can attach it to skid steer loaders, bulldozers, front end loaders and really any type of loader."

Moran said it is a safe piece of equipment to use and it is easy to use since two machines are combined in one.

"I just knew it would be patentable. In the 30 years I've been in this business, I've never seen anything like it," Moran said. "Once people see it I think they'll say, 'Man, I've got to have that.' It saves them time."

Moran is busy building fixtures to start the mass production of the Grub-N-Rake. He is also working on making a trademark for the machine.