A Christchurch inventor has gone into production with a revolutionary cap and is looking for international distributors to take the product to the world.
Simon Dyer, a software development manager by day and inventor by night, has spent the past three years developing the 2C, a solar-powered baseball cap that includes two high-powered LED lights controlled by a microprocessor.
The product is aimed at campers, tradesmen, emergency workers or anyone else who needs a rechargeable source of light.
The caps, which sell for $50 each, use sunlight to recharge during the day and will provide light all night if used on low power.
On high power they have a two-hour life.
"It's designed to look as much as possible like a normal cap. You don't want to walk around with what we call a `dickhead light' on your head."
The caps were developed in Christchurch and are manufactured by local contract manufacturers.
Dyer presented his idea on television's Dragon's Den but turned down $250,000 in funding in return for half his company from entrepreneur Julie Christie.
He knocked Christie back because he did not want to give away half his company for so little after doing so much work.
He has spent $250,000 developing the cap, getting patents and trademarks in place, and is now looking at how to fund himself for the next stage.
His wife, Vanessa, said the family had been eating, sleeping and dreaming about 2C caps for three years.
"I started off in the garage and I've taken over three rooms in the house," Simon Dyer said.
"We need new premises," Vanessa Dyer said.
She has been selling the first caps off the production line at street markets and over the internet but the couple are now looking for distributors to take the 2C around the world.
Simon Dyer came up with the idea of developing a personal light 20 years ago while out photographing a sunset in the tropics.
"The sun went down and it was suddenly pitch black. I was crawling through the undergrowth thinking I wish I had a light."
House of Meetings by Martin Amis
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