Inventor shows off new kind of broom

Oct 21, 2024

Marty Currier spent “11 hours sweeping up oatmeal” at the Bicentennial Center on Saturday and was planning several more hours of the same Sunday, demonstrating what he calls “the world’s most efficient broom.”

Currier, who is from Ardmore, Okla., spent years as an executive for a food company, and said “plant sanitation was something I ended up being responsible for,” so he was looking for ways to make sweeping floors more efficient.

One day, he saw a floor squeegee that was curved, so it would trap water instead of letting it escape on the sides.

“Ive had several ideas before, but it was always for something very few people needed,” he said, while demoing his DaVinci brooms at the 37th annual Salina Home and Leisure Show, sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Salina and Alpha Media USA. “But a broom, that’s something everyone needs. If you have floors, you need a broom.”

The idea came to him three years ago, and he then built several samples, using parts from several brooms, and left them with a few local businesses such as hair salons to try out.

When he got positive reviews — some didn’t want to give them back at the end of the test — he sought and secured a patent for the idea.

“At first, I thought maybe I could sell the idea to someone, a company already making brooms, but no one was interested,” he said.

When that didn’t pan out, he started looking for a way to manufacture the brooms.

American manufacturers, he said, wanted $40,000 just to make the mold for the broom heads, on top of other manufacturing costs.

“I knew I had a good idea, but I wasn’t sure enough to put in $40,000 up front,” he said.

So he found a company in China that was willing to absorb the cost of making the mold.

“I was worried about the quality, that the mold would be rough, or there would be burrs on the head,” he said. “I inspected every single broom for a while, and they were all perfect. And working with them wasn’t difficult — they had people who speak English really well.”

Now, he spends part of his time traveling to shows like Salina’s showing people how his invention works and selling a household version and a larger push-broom design for bigger areas such as shop floors.

Brooms also can be purchased through his website, davincibroom.com, though they’re far less expensive at home shows.

The home show continues from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Admission is $5, and includes admission to the Ironmen Car Show in Heritage Hall, sponsored by First Convenant Church.

— Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by email at [email protected].

— Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by email at [email protected].