Super Sopper roller
1974
water removal system for sports fields
In 1974, while playing a round of golf in the wet, Gordon Withnall realised that the world needed a way to remove water from sports fields. By the time he reached the next tee, he had thought up the Super Sopper. He made the prototype the next day and soon after was manufacturing them.
The Super Sopper has a large roller that absorbs water and another small one that squeezes it dry. The water is squirted away from the 'sopper' or can be collected for later use. Super Soppers are now used to dry tennis courts, golf greens, racecourses and sports grounds around the world.
Withnall achieved a marketing coup when his machine was approved for purchase by schools in Japan, which bought hundreds of them. And the machines acquired prestige when one was acquired for the hallowed turf of Lord?s cricket ground in London; now every major cricket ground in the world has at least one Super Sopper on standby.
Who Did It?
Key Organisations
Kuranda Industries Pty Ltd : R&D, design, manufacture
Key People
Gordon Withnall : inventor
Len Withnall : son and assistant, later ran the business
Further Reading
'What we do best and how we could do better'
Glenda Thompson
The Bulletin, 23 October 1990, pp 94-102.
?Get rid of the puddles?, they said ? and he did
Australian Innovation Magazine,
Dec 200 ? Feb 2001, pp 11-12.
Links
Super Sopper: The
Original
ABC Radio Australia Innovations March 2001
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