A clear vision for the future

What’s about 7 feet tall, bright red and coin-operated? It’s the Big Red Machine, a Spokane family-owned company’s answer to keeping car windshield wiper fluid reservoirs filled without leaving leftover fluid in plastic jugs.

Whirlwind Concepts Inc. has tested 10 of the contraptions, which spout 40 seconds-worth of washer fluid for $1, at area Zip Trip convenience stores for more than two years. It now aims to offer the product outside Spokane.

“The whole thing is, we were trying to get rid of these jugs,” said Dave Wheeler, who owns Whirlwind Concepts with his parents, Loyde and Cyndi.

The company had a Web site, but Wheeler removed it because he was receiving interest from the East Coast, Canada and the United Kingdom that he could not fulfill, he said.

“We had to actually take it off for the time being, because it’s hard to tell people we’re not ready yet,” he said.

Dave Wheeler wants to add features, such as a detail display and a compressor, and he is trying to figure out how to expand sales once the new version is complete, he said.

“It’s a good idea,” said Ian Johnstone, president of Zip Trip Food Stores. “It’s simple and I know they are continuing to improve on it.”

Johnstone said he was hesitant to offer the Big Red Machines at his Zip Trips at first because he already sells windshield washer fluid.

“Basically, we’re going to lose sales by having his new product in there,” he said.

The Big Red Machine can be the cheaper option. The Zip Trip at 909 N. Division St., for example, offered gallon jugs of blue fluid for $2.99 Tuesday, whereas machine users get about ¾ gallon for $1.

Measuring two feet in diameter, each machine takes quarters and $1 bills.

“It looks like an old-time gas pump,” Dave Wheeler said, adding that the design may change for mass production. “They see it and they recognize what it is now. But at the same time, the cost of steel, we may have to go a different route.”

A pump inside the machines pushes fluid from a 55-gallon drum through a series of hoses and out a nozzle, he said.

After making a variety of prototypes, the company contracted with the family’s machine shop, Wheeler Industries Inc., to make 20 of the units, 10 of which remain unused.

A patent related to the device deals with the way the fluid is pumped, Dave Wheeler said.

Loyde and Cyndi Wheeler came up with the idea about five years ago while stuck behind a truck that sprayed debris on their windshield.

Looking to try out the family’s idea, Dave Wheeler approached Zip Trip and received permission to put them at four locations. Since then, he has maintained and refilled the devices, driving a red truck plastered with Big Red Machine advertisements.

Zip Trip has hosted the machines as a service to a local business, and Dave Wheeler has kept revenue information to himself, Johnstone said.

Dave Wheeler said the machines have not been profitable, but revenues have increased each year.

“We’re on the uphill climb,” he said.

To market the machines, Whirlwind Concepts might set up and maintain them and give stations a cut of the profits, or it might sell the devices outright, Dave Wheeler said.”It’s a good little thing,” Johnstone said. “It’s simple, it’s economical for people who don’t want to go in there and get the whole gallon.”

Staff writer Parker Howell may be reached at (509) 459-5491 or by e-mail at parkerh@spokesman.com.