The Patent
Patenting this hanger was going to be another big expense and a long process. I thought, If I can get a patent, maybe I’ll be the first millionaire in my family. That was the dream.
But the hanger you see in my first post? That’s the final design. The L-bracket I originally tried to patent isn’t even close. My first version had multiple steps just to build one. It needed bending, drilling, and assembly. I was chasing machinists, trying to find someone who could make it cheap enough to sell. Truth is, I was never going to sell it—not like that.
Now that I’m retired and done promoting it, I want to tell my story so others don’t make the same mistake.
👉 Inventions are great—if you have money and marketing skills.
While I was going through the patent process, the guy helping me sent me to his machinist friend. I handed him my double-bent steel bracket with an L-hook. He looked at it, ran it through his equipment, and out came something completely different: the RafterPacker.
At first, I was disappointed. It didn’t look like mine. It had eyes built into the design, and it was made in one step. I thought he’d changed everything. But I was wrong. He refined it. He made it stronger, simpler, and cheaper to produce. It was the same dimensions, same bottom bend—but better. Twice as strong. Mass-producible. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
I still have a provisional patent, and I’m waiting on the full one. But now I ask myself: Can I sell these hangers and actually make money?
Here’s what they do: 📦 Boxes 14x24x12 snap in and out of your floor joists. 💪 They hold 50+ pounds with steel spring tension. 🏠 Instead of building shelves all over your house, you use your basement joists for storage.
That was the goal from day one. And now I’ve got it. But how do I explain this to people?
Only a few folks from the marina and the shop know what these hangers can do. I didn’t even know what a browser was when I started. I still don’t know how to use a computer well. But I’m going to give it a try.
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