The SKiM360 Story - An Incredible Journey

The SKiM360 Story - An Incredible Journey
The dream to develop a skimmer that removed the operator's need to support the weight of the pole and skimmer started 36 years ago. Myname is Mike Brezner and I started building prototypes and strapping pool
noodles or pontoons on various shaped pool rakes a long time ago. Depending on how busy I was at my day job my thoughts and designs evolved. I purchased every sized skimmer/rake I could at the local pool store. I took them apart and reshaped the frames to accommodate various contraptions I created.

WHY???????

I was pushing 40 back then and my wife was 5'4" and 100 pounds soaking wet. My kids were all under 12 years old and we had a larger pool. We lived in Granada Hills, CA and had trees near the pool. Between trees, shrubbery, bugs, pollen and the all too famous Santa Ana winds, it would be an understatement to say that cleaning the surface before anyone could swim was often needed.

Well...... Guess who the only person in our family was that could get the pool ready for the day's swim or the little league team, kids bowling team, ice skating team, or multiple birthday parties and very frequent
celebrations?

Yep, it was ME!

Literally, other than JUST plucking a few leaves or bugs or critters out of the water was really all my beautiful wife and willing family members could do. They did not have the strength to do more.

I worked long hours and traveled for my job which always made me a BAD GUY! I couldn't win and often planned my life around trying to be available. Why did it always seem the pool was at its worst the day of the events? Or sometimes within hours after the pool pro left it sparkling clean because the gardener showed up right after he left and when he blew around the pool it always ended up in the water!

My wife used whichever prototype I had hanging around but none of them were perfect. The shapes were wrong, changing direction was impossible and they were not ready for prime time. But she and the kids tried. Even as they got older, they still couldn't handle netting the pool. Not many homeowners have the strength to do it, even if they have the desire. It is just not easy!

Unfortunately, my wife passed away too young from a longtime illness. But life finds a way to move on. In the following years I took other stabs at making something that really worked.

After the kids were grown and out of the house I retired from my full-time job and I was thinking about relocating to Western New York State.

I decided to relocate, but one afternoon shortly before heading East I was watching my pool service pro clean my pool. I carefully observed his hand movements and took special notice of his constant changes in direction and rotation of the rake/skimmer in the water AND AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS!

IT WAS SIMPLE -The float had to be in the center of the frame/net in order for the skimmer to go in any direction at any time and stay centered at the waterline.

Before leaving California I built some new prototypes that were round to allow the debris collection width to be the same whether pushing away, pulling back toward the operator or moving laterally. Being able to rotate the pole to keep the net facing direction of travel worked perfectly.

Another 6 years passed after relocating to Jamestown, NY and I decided to perfect the product, locate the 5 manufacturers needed to provide all components required to produce the skimmers and hire a patent attorney to see if it could be protected.

It took 6 months to get the patent written, illustrations drawn and ready to submit the application to the US Patent Office. It appeared to be a very simple product, but our Utility Patent ended up 19 pages, with 17 CLAIMS and numerous illustrations of every component.  We submitted the patent with an additional
$1,000 that assures either a final rejection or a granted patent within one year. That beat 3-4 years, especially at my age of 79 in 2024. Funny, that my attorney said that at age 65 and older you were able to declare your aga for additional consideration on shortening the year waiting period even more. BOY did that work.... 36 days after we submitted the application my attorney heard from the patent examiner. As long as we agreed to merge 3 of our original 20 claims with 3 other claims then they would grant the patent with 17 claims. Of course, we agreed immediately. That must be close to record time to have a patent granted.

We were pleasantly surprised and laughed that they likely
saw my age and thought that “We had better HURRY up with this one”.

Cleaning a pool and especially keeping it clean between weekly PRO service visits all involve manual labor, which can be strenuous, time-consuming, labor- intensive, and inefficient. Automated pool cleaning systems are great but have limitations. Robotic surface cleaners, due to random travel patterns, weak batteries or lack of sun for solar power take hours to get debris collected, if at all. This ultimately results in the need to manually skim the surface quickly just prior to the pool’s use.

ALWAYS BE POOL PARTY READY -Product Development Objectives

Skimming devices like flat shallow net skimmers and deeper bagged leaf rakes are used to skim debris floating on the surface of swimming pools, ponds, and other water bodies. Manual surface skimming requires extreme effort to keep the skimmer collection net centered at the waterline while moving in different directions. The weight of the pole and skimmer when extended outward quickly becomes difficult for other than very strong operators and professional pool cleaning personnel. Skimming in-ground pools is difficult enough, but above ground pools have a unique issue due to their sidewalls being as high as 54 inches and present a unique challenge in trying to hold the pool pole extended over the edge from on the ground outside the pool perimeter or reaching the entire surface from the entry ladder or partial decking. Skimming is a cumbersome and time-consuming task for all types of pools or ponds and is often neglected by the owner between weekly professional or homeowner cleanings. Not keeping the pool clean can lead to poor water chemistry as well as unhealthy
water and non-swimmable conditions.

Prior to the “SKiM360 Floater” there were no manual pool skimmers that could be maneuvered in any direction at any moment without dealing with the weight of the pole and skimmer. Whether pushing the skimmer face up away from the operator towards the far side of the pool, moving laterally towards the left or right at any moment at any angle or flipping it 180 degrees when bringing the skimmer back towards the operator, the frame and net simply needed to rotate to accommodate the movement.

WITHOUT FLOATATION, THE OPERATOR CONSTANTLY STRUGGLES TO KEEP THE SKIMMER OR LEAF RAKE CENTERED AT THE WATERLINE. ACTUALLY, A VAST MAJORITY OF POOL OWNERS ARE NOT ABLE TO FULLY PERFORM THE TASK. IT IS NOT THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO!

POOL PROFESSIONALS OFTEN CLEAN 12-20 POOLS A DAY AND MANY SUFFER FROM REPETITIVE MOTION STRAINS AND PAINS OF THE HANDS, ARMS, SHOULDERS AND/OR BACK THAT MAY RESULT IN CHRONIC INJURY.

Conventional pool cleaning apparatuses fail to provide any kind of float assisted 360° rotational movement of the pool cleaning apparatuses to facilitate effective pool cleaning.

When developing the SKiM360 Floater, one of the key technical challenges was to maintain stability and control of a float assembly and attached frame for effective debris collection. Another challenge was to design the apparatus and the attached float in a way that allows for smooth and controlled 360°rotational movement. The product needed to be capable of efficiently collecting all surface debris and debris floating below the surface, while reducing the effort involved for pool cleaning and enhancing the overall pool maintenance experience.

SKiM360 Floater's 16" and 18" round shape ended up as the perfect solution. It allows the same 16"-18" width and 8"-9" debris collection depth under the water, regardless of its
direction of travel.

With the addition of the just announced “SKiM360 Floater/Rake” combination the homeowner and pool professional can now accomplish both surface and bottom cleaning with the same tool. Just turn the thumb screw ¼ turn and remove the float for weekly bottom cleaning.