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Daniel lights up the street
05.10.10
by Eamonn MacDermott, Inishowen Independent
AN URRIS native has told how he invented a
solar-powered address number lighting product which
assists people in finding house numbers at night.
The invention was made by Daniel Friel, now living
in Brisbane in Australia, and speaking during a
visit home he said the idea came ‘out of pure
frustration’.
He explained: “I was in the architectural and design
field and worked a lot in housing.
“More often than not I called on householders at
night and trying to find house numbers was
impossible.
“I was going out with a woman who, at the time, was
working for an accountancy firm and one night we
were talking about doing something for ourselves.
“I mentioned if we could do something to light up
street numbers and suddenly we knew we were on to
something.”
Daniel said that the idea took off from there and
they went ahead with design and patent and all the
other stuff associated with the solar powered
device. |
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Daniel Friel with an example of one
of his solar-powered products. |
He spoke of his years
in Donegal: “We were living in Donegal and my then
wife was from Glasgow, the children were growing up
and we talked about moving.
“I didn’t want to live in Glasgow and she didn’t
want to live in Dublin so we ended up going to
Australia 21 years ago this week.”
Daniel said the interest in the device at first was
slow but then grew.
He said: “It was slow at first but then took off. We
have been on the ‘House and Gardens Show’ in
Australia three times and the police service and
ambulance service are behind us.
“The value of the device would be clear if you have
ever driven into a housing estate in Ireland after
dark you will most likely have encountered problems
finding the house that you are trying to locate.
“Indeed when an address number is not visible from
the roadside it can cost the emergency services
vital minutes in responding to a crisis call out.
“So we are hoping the idea will catch on here in
Ireland.”
As part of his marketing strategy Daniel is due to
attend a conference in Brighton, England shortly
which will also be attended by representatives of
the emergency services.
He hopes that their interest in the device will see
it taking off over here.
When installed outside a home or business the
address system is visible from 30 metres away during
the day-time and at night.
Mr. Friel has also developed a larger version of the
unit which is ideal for signage be it house names,
business names or security signs such as ‘private
property’ or even ‘no junk mail’. |
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