Hand Tools: Janitorial Franchise Owner Turns Inventor with Back-Saving Doorstopper

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After many years in the commercial cleaning business, Coverall Cleaning Concepts Franchise Owner Robert Duff had recurrent aches and pains from bending over every time he had to use a doorstopper to prop a door open. To solve the problem, the owner/operator of Coverall Cleaning Concepts’ Franchise out of the Twin Cities Support Center designed and patented a new breed of doorstopper with a broom-style handle that allows for no-stoop use, proving once again that necessity is the mother of invention.

The “Duff’s Doorstopper” consists of a traditional wedge-shaped rubber base with a separate 30-inch screw-in handle available in a collapsible version that fits in a pocket as well as a non-collapsible version that can hook onto a cleaning cart. When the handle is attached, the doorstopper can be placed in and removed from any door with one hand while standing up straight, reducing bending-related strain on the back, legs and knees.

“I invented this product for myself, partly because I have only one good hand, but I discovered that my cleaning colleagues had similar complaints about conventional doorstoppers. They hurt their backs from the repeated bending, and they have problems maneuvering their cleaning equipment while sliding the doorstopper under the door,” Duff says. “I knew there had to be a better solution.”

Born with a mild case of cerebral palsy that has primarily affected his left hand, Duff began cleaning commercial offices and buildings for a living at the age of 16 as part of a job-training program for individuals with physical disabilities. He went on to earn an accounting degree from Minneapolis Community College but decided that he was not cut out for a desk job, so he started investigating other careers.

Duff’s father-in-law also owned a Coverall Cleaning Concepts franchise, and Duff decided to follow in his footsteps. In 1993, Duff and his wife Rosetta purchased their own franchise and began building a clientele. Today they have accounts ranging from corporate offices and multi-tenant office buildings to banks and senior citizen coops.

Over the years, Duff not only had physical difficulties in using doorstoppers but also got billed several times for accidental door damage caused by vacuum cleaners, garbage receptacles and janitors’ carts he propped against the doors while putting the doorstoppers in place. Gradually he devised an alternative design.

By 2001, he had a prototype that he began using in his own cleaning work and showing to friends and associates at Coverall Cleaning Concepts. Over the next few years, encouraged by the positive response, he applied for a patent, found a manufacturer in China, and built a Web site to launch the business.

“I didn’t set out to invent anything or start a new business. I was just trying to make things easier for myself,” Duff says. “If I can do the same thing for other people, that’s a bonus.”