Speedseal ceased trading

[Praxinoscope]

This is a real shame, first thing I have done when changing boats or engines is to fit a speed seal, a brilliant idea and device,
we can only hope that the continuing illness improves, or that someone steps in to continue the business.
I really hope that I have enough spares and don’t have to go back to those horrible 6 screw standard impeller covers.

 

[micknor]

A happy surprise in the post yesterday from The Speedseal gentleman with an apology for the inconvenience.
The correct sized PTFE disc and cover arrived in the post yesterday from UK. I fitted the Speedseal Life impeller cover today and ran the engine ,it works a treat.
The photos show that the correctly sized disc fills the cavity completely allowing water to pump. The undersized disc do not reach the edge of the cavity hence water does not pump.
Many Thanks Mr Speedseal and May you get better soon.
Michael Norwood::encouragement:

 

[navrep]

Well I hope somebody picks it up - I was just about to order one....

I too hope the chap gets better.

 

[Praxinoscope]

Is there a case for ‘crowd funding’ to raise a large enough sum to tempt ‘Mr Speedseal ’ to sell the rights to this great product and to continue manufacture it here in the U.K.?

 

[savageseadog]

Is there a case for ‘crowd funding’ to raise a large enough sum to tempt ‘Mr Speedseal ’ to sell the rights to this great product and to continue manufacture it here in the U.K.?

The product probably doesn't have protection, the name probably does.

 

[RichardS]

Although not everything in the garden is rosy .... see post #25 onwards:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?496064-Is-it-wrong-this-is-so-exciting

Richard

 

[JumbleDuck]

I could never understand why having a teflon disk on just one side of the impeller was so great. Wouldn't the other side rub and overheat anyway?

 

[Praxinoscope]

Although not everything in the garden is rosy .... see post #25 onwards:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?496064-Is-it-wrong-this-is-so-exciting

Richard

I have yet to find a perfect product, (Microsoft are you listening?) but I have used speedseal on all my engines over the last 30 years and they all performed perfectly, but I am sure that there might well have been problems over the years, but what product hasn’t?
Basically Speedseal is a good product and it is a real shame if through illness it becomes unavailable.
I’m not sure if it was ever patented, however I hope that some enterprising manufacturer realises it’s potential and offers to purchase the engineering drawings, machine tools, and supplier chain lists so that Speedseal does not disappear completely.

 

[DinghyMan]

The product probably doesn't have protection, the name probably does.

Product is patented, but having a patent puts all the details in the public domain and a patent is only any good if you have the money and will to defend it.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Product is patented, but having a patent puts all the details in the public domain and a patent is only any good if you have the money and will to defend it.

I wonder what aspect is patented? I'd be very surprised if there wasn't prior art for "two slots and two holes".

 

[ashtead]

Hope he continues and all is well with speedseal - my recollection from using on last boat was positive so would have another if still producing as the post from Aus suggests

 

[DinghyMan]

I wonder what aspect is patented? I'd be very surprised if there wasn't prior art for "two slots and two holes".

From what I understand the patent has to be for something completely new that has never been made public

From pictures of speedseals there appears to be the wording "patent & design protected" but no patent number(s) - if there were a patent number you could look up exactly what is patented, probably the two part ptfe / disk part of the speedseal, or maybe no patent has actually been taken out and its just a way of trying to protect the design?

 

[TSB240]

From what I understand the patent has to be for something completely new that has never been made public

From pictures of speedseals there appears to be the wording "patent & design protected" but no patent number(s) - if there were a patent number you could look up exactly what is patented, probably the two part ptfe / disk part of the speedseal, or maybe no patent has actually been taken out and its just a way of trying to protect the design?

Design Protection rather than Patent application can be a far more effective way of preventing others copying your product. I was involved in a case early on in my career where a single component part of our product was copied by a competitor (a result of an employee leaving to join them!) . All we had to prove was that the dimensions were identical to our design and that our design drawing preceded any of theirs!

The interesting thing was that It turned out that their entire product including that part became our property. A considerable award was settled out of court in a record time!

 

[DinghyMan]

That works OK until countries that have no concept of copyright/patent/IP/etc. get involved - such as certain far eastern countries

Plus you have to have the will, money, and time, to chase it through the courts

I know of a manufacturer who moved production to china and then saw their designs being offered at way lower prices, and quality, under a new name and it almost put them out of business - but too many people buy on price not quality so there will always be a market for knock-offs

 

[biscuit]

Update for info: The O rings for my Johnson pump (VP2003B) are 40mm (o.diam) x 1mm
I bought these from E bay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183144950650
and they fit OK with some petroleum jelly after a little gentle stretching.
Perhaps 40mm inside diam would fit even better.

 

[Captn D]

Does anyone have any further news regarding whether there is a likelyhood of this prdoduct being reserected or whether there is anyone with leftover stock to sell? As said many times before; it is a great product that deserves to be continued!

 

[Roberto]

Does anyone have any further news regarding whether there is a likelyhood of this prdoduct being reserected or whether there is anyone with leftover stock to sell? As said many times before; it is a great product that deserves to be continued!

I put the address in some other Speedseal threads: if you do not mind paying French prices, they are still available from their then French distributor
see their catalogue,page 5
Accueil ATMB Marine ,AeroGen, Wallas, D400, Eolienne, DuoGen, Flexofold, Aquadrive, Evesco, Eurom, AquaGen Index
unfortunately not the quickest online seller I don t know if they follow their website a lot. I bought two Speedseal for my Perkins at Paris boat show.

 

[MoodySabre]

I put the address in some other Speedseal threads: if you do not mind paying French prices, they are still available from their then French distributor
see their catalogue,page 5
Accueil ATMB Marine ,AeroGen, Wallas, D400, Eolienne, DuoGen, Flexofold, Aquadrive, Evesco, Eurom, AquaGen Index
unfortunately not the quickest online seller I don t know if they follow their website a lot. I bought two Speedseal for my Perkins at Paris boat show.

Speedseal Life E139 yikes!

 

[rotrax]

Huge cost involved in patenting, often out of all proportion to sales revenue as every country needs a separate patent excluding the EU which is a single entity. Not only do you have to get the patent but there are significant fees in maintaining it.

I hope they either get better and resume production or are able to sell the IP. I've bought 3 times for 3 boats and it's one of the early things I look at for replacement

Patents usually have a 20 year life.

Must be expired by now.................................................

 

[Tim Good]

So.... where did we get with this. ATMB outfit don’t seem to be selling them any longer.

Surely someone picked this up?