Greg Brull, the inventor of Driverback, filed an application seeking a patent on his invention April 4, 2016. The Abstract verbiage on the original application still confuses us to this day.
Abstract: ‘The present invention is a novel lanyard system for a piece releaseably connected to a tool by a piece receiver that includes a lanyard assembly with a two ended strap and a retraction system fixed to the tool in a storage region of the tool. In particular, one end of the strap is connected to the piece and the other strap end is connected to one end of the retraction system. The other end of the retraction system is connected to the tool. The strap is of sufficient length for the retraction system to retract a piece to the storage region after disconnection from the piece receiver. It is contemplated that the retraction system includes at least one spring (coil or helical) to cause the lanyard system to remain under tension while the piece is mounted in a piece receiver, thereby preventing or at least reducing the strap from interfering with the task at hand, the piece, the piece receiver or tool itself. The retraction system has sufficient tensional force to cause the retraction of a piece to the storage region once released from the work region of the tool.’
Fast forward to the Trademark filing of the word 'Driverback' with USPTO, their documentation describes Driverback as 'a tool accessory for power-operated hand tools, namely, a device that attaches to the exterior of power-operated impact drivers containing custom driver bits that are seated in individual cartridges and feature a retractable lanyard which enables each bit to return to its own compartment after use.'
How those of us at Driverback describe Driverback today:
'Driverback is a tool accessory for impact drivers. It attaches to the driver and holds your four most used bits, each attached to a retractable lanyard. Think of all the money and time wasted searching for lost, misplaced, dropped or ‘borrowed’ bits.'
No matter how you describe it, Driverback is guaranteed to keep you from losing your bits AND wit's.
And on February 23, 2021, almost five years later, the patent for Driverback was (finally) granted and the explanation of what it is makes a whole lot more sense.
If interested, the patent in its entirety can be viewed at the link below.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US10926400B2/en?oq=10%2c926%2c400
Still curious? Email michelle@driverback.com