Diver Flare

The Project Diver Flare is a patented watertight canister containing a ready-to-use flare in order to assist a diver in an emergency situation.

Client: Rex Hargrave

www.diverflare.com Diver Flare has a patent applied for in the United Kingdom.

The challenge Rex Hargrave had his lightbulb moment for Diver Flare when, with his daughter, they became separated from a dive boat in the Red SeaIt was this scary moment which led Rex to come up with the idea for the Diver Flare. After conducting some research, Rex realised that there was no real emergency flare solution that could be universally used across all water sports activities and so decided to do something about it.

The Innovate Solution After finding Innovate, Rex introduced his idea and it was recommended to conduct a worldwide patent search in order to establish the uniqueness of his idea. This resulted in nothing similar to his idea being found and from here Rex and the Innovate team set about working on CAD designs to show what the final product would look like and how it would function.Once the prototype had been made and tested, the mold was made with 50 units produced to undergo more tests. A couple of problems developed with the seal and catch and these were tweaked three times before he finally got the unit right. Another 50 were made for further testing which produced outstanding results, this prompted Rex to place his first order of 1000 units. Of the challenges in terms of development, Rex says  “The main challenges were to create a totally watertight unit that could be taken to 100meters keeping a handheld red signal flare totally dry, to be used on the surface in the case of an emergency”.

The Process With Innovate Design’s guidance and advice Rex was able to:

• Evaluate the potential of his idea
• Understand potential suitable market sectors for the concept
• Undertake a thorough Intellectual Property Search
• Engage the product design team to visualise his product
• Produce photorealistic CAD visualisations
• Source suitable partners
• The Results

Since the Diver Flare hit the market in 2011; the product has been sold through Rex’s website www.diverflare.com and is a member of the Dive Equipment and Marketing Association (www.dema.org)

Speaking of The Diver Flare, Rex says: “My biggest success is that it is selling, the greater success will be if it can save a life”.