April 30, 2010
Victoria, BC
Steve Vaughan's idea for an environmentally friendly power tool that would control weeds without using chemicals came to him in 2001, when he realized a growing number of Canadian municipalities were banning pesticides.
The Victoria gardener and arborist used pesticides and herbicides regularly in his work snuffing out weeds on federal, municipal and private properties around the well-manicured British Columbia capital. Losing those chemical tools meant a return to the manual task of removing plants from cracks in the pavement – an expensive proposition for his cost-conscious clients.
"The labour costs become prohibitive if you have to send people out to scratch weeds out of the ground," says Vaughan. "I started thinking about a power tool, because other tradesmen seemed to be getting better and bigger power tools, and we had nothing."
That's how the Steam-Thrower was born. Vaughan knew that, without chemicals, the only way to conquer weeds is through heat. So he invented a lightweight, portable steam gun that shoots streams of hot, concentrated steam at the weeds sprouting out of sidewalks, patios, playgrounds, runways and other paved surfaces.
The gun is fed by a small water tank, towed along on a cart. The cart holds a propane cylinder that fuels a tiny boiler located in the barrel of the gun. The boiler generates the heat to create steam, a pump delivers the water, and a rechargeable battery runs the pump. Pressing the trigger on the gun sends steam down the barrel and onto the weeds.
After just one application of steam, most weeds go limp, turn dark green or black and begin to decompose.
The steam gun uses only about 10 litres of water per hour, and is an environmentally friendly technology because the propane it burns is a clean and efficient fuel, says Vaughan.
Once he developed his idea, Vaughan knew he had come up with a weed control solution that could replace chemicals, and could be used by municipal and commercial clients. He formed Green Steam Inc. with partners John "Chuck" Jeffrey, a patent and trademark agent, and Rudy Zuyderhoff, an experienced salesman and marketer.
"To me, it's obvious that pesticide restrictions are not going to be reversed, and people are not going to give up on the environment," Vaughan says. "Weeds are perennial. You need a way to control them."
But Vaughan needed help to move beyond the crude prototypes he had constructed in his home workshop. He turned to the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). Through NRC-IRAP, Vaughan received a contribution in 2003 that allowed him to hire Milroy Engineering and work in their facilities to build the steam guns he designed.
"When we got the contribution from NRC-IRAP, that's when we really got serious, because they recognized there was potential here," says Vaughan.
In addition to that first contribution, Green Steam received a second from NRC-IRAP in 2004 that allowed him to focus on a more ergonomic design for the steam gun and cart. The advice Vaughan received from his NRC-IRAP technical advisor was also critical to the company's progress.
