Toilet Bush Gets the Brush-off

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31 March 2017 | Updated 01 January 1970

A Gloucestershire man is hoping to raise millions of pounds for charity if he reaches his Kickstarter funding target of £50,000 for the Shiffter, a new invention which aims to make cleaning toilets ‘considerably less disgusting’ than using a toilet brush.

The idea is a simple one – instead of using a toilet brush to clean the loo, you use a jet of water.

Kam Mistry, inventor of the Shiffter, who has been working on the project in the evenings and weekends around his day job, said:  “This product isn’t rocket science, however it has the potential to become commonplace in homes and public toilets across the globe. Let’s face it, does anyone enjoy using a toilet brush? Does anyone like picking up a used one? Instead of using a toilet brush and bleach to clean a toilet you just pick up the Shiffter, which is filled with water and sits next to the toilet and use it to jet wash the bowl clean.

"The feedback from everyone who has seen it has been great as they can immediately see how it will make a currently unpleasant chore much easier and cleaner. It’s also more friendly to the environment as you end up using less bleach, toilet cleaner and water.”

Choco vid

To get around the indelicacy of the subject,  Mistry has created a short animation to show what the product does and then, using chocolate spread, the Shiffter’s effectiveness is shown in a brief video. The Shiffter and a demonstration of it being used can viewed on the Shiffter website and on the Kickstarter page.

Charity

Mistry added: “For obvious reasons, cleaning toilets isn’t something we talk about on a daily basis, and the same goes for illnesses related to digestive and intestinal disorders such as colitis, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and bowel cancer – to name but a few. Millions of people’s daily lives are blighted by such conditions but we don’t talk about them, so I’m hoping that giving 20% of profits from the product to related good causes will change people’s perspective and understanding about gut-related illnesses. It's about providing an opportunity to be more open about these issues which can be extremely demoralising.”

Kam is already in discussions with charities, including Crohn’s and Colitis UK, about their potential involvement.

Vicki Strachan, partner and patent attorney at Wynne-Jones IP, added:  “A good product needs to solve a problem, have a market and be affordable, and the Shiffter ticks those boxes. Additionally, everything it does is easily explained in just a few seconds and this makes it even more easy to market. Whilst it’s a relatively simple idea, its functional design features, name and branding – including the commitment to raising money for good causes – are all factors that increase the Shiffter’s potential for success.”

Picture: Mr Shiffter

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 31 March 2017

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