CASE STUDY — invented, patented & manufactured in-house
We invented a jar opener. 10,000,000 sold.
One idea, taken from a napkin sketch to a granted patent to the shelves of nearly every major US retailer — and a masterclass in how the right commercial can revive a product years after launch.
The idea
Most “jar openers” just grip a lid — you still supply the force. We set out to remove the force entirely: press once, and the opener grips and twists on its own. The breakthrough was a compact differential/epicyclic mechanism that multiplies torque from a single small motor — strong enough for the most stubborn lid, simple enough to mass-produce.
From sketch to shelf
Every product we build runs the same path. Here it is for the jar opener — the actual development artifacts, not stock photos:
…and onto the shelf: the finished, retail-ready product.
The numbers
- ~10 million units sold worldwide
- ~8 million in the USA — across two distributors, carried in essentially every major retailer
- ~2 million internationally
The comeback
It sold strongly for about three years, then demand went cold. Most companies would have retired it. Instead, a new TV commercial with a fresh angle brought it roaring back — and it sold all over again, like a brand-new product. The lesson we carry into every launch: the product is the engine, but the angle is the ignition.
Owned, end to end
OddityOps (Daka International) owns the utility patent (US 7,398,714 B1) and the design patent (US D594,303 S), and owns the tooling. Concept, engineering, IP and manufacturing — all under one roof, since 1993.
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