(CONTINUED)  Portable Thermal Shower (PTS) -- The "Trunk Shower"

Current Position and Future Outlook of the Portable Thermal Shower:

Sports and Recreational Market:

The water sports and recreation market is a high-growth, discretionary income market. Surfing, body boarding, and ocean sports, kayaking, canoeing, wind surfing, water skiing, scuba diving, and fishing are all sizable markets. Unique products like the Portable Thermal Shower have consumer appeal, especially if they add convenience and added value to the water experience. Many consumers would love an easy way to clean up prior to climbing into the car for the ride home. Baby boomers are sports-orientated, many of whom would like to be able to participate in their favorite sport prior to work, during lunch hour, or on the way home from work.

With the Portable Thermal Shower, an individual can take a hot shower, shave (if applicable) and leave for work, home or their next activity, dressed and ready to continue their day. Invigorated from their outdoor activity and by the fact that they maximized their time and participation without having to leave early to take care of such needs. Except for a public cold shower, a gallon jug filled with water, a garden hose, or just plain toweling off, the closest comparable product is a solar shower that takes hours to heat, must be hung and uses gravity to create a trickle flow. No other product exists offering the same ease of use, convenience of placement, pressurized flow and hot water.

Most water sports require some type of expensive sports equipment. If the sport includes salt water then it also becomes necessary to rinse the equipment before it is put away or stored. Wet suits, surfboards, scuba gear, wave runners, body boards and fins all have to be rinsed to maintain durability. Imagine the convenience of being able to rinse your equipment as you load up the car, not to mention the fact that you are optimizing the equipment's length of use. There is value in protecting the investment of your leisure time equipment.

Camping applications are obvious. The Portable Thermal Shower is so portable that it can be used both for personal clean-up as well as washing the dishes.

The sports utility vehicle market is huge. Many new SUV’s are being equipped with "Outing" packages. First Aid kits, tailgate equipment and specialty racks are common in SUV’s. Why not have a removable Portable Thermal Shower, for a hot shower on the go!

Consumers today consumer are looking for ways to make activities simpler and less time consuming, "optimizing the experience." Eliminating added clean-up time has great value. Even mom or dad being able to rinse off the kids' feet and toys or the family pet, before climbing into the car has great value by adding convenience, saving time and making the day’s outing that much more enjoyable.

Health Care:

We are an aging society. Health care has made a major shift from rehabilitation in institutional settings to care and rehab. in the home. The aging population, with significant care needs (bed-bound and wheelchair- bound patients), is being shifted to the home as well. Home health care is the fastest growing segment of the health care market, and is projected to grow at an amazing 30% per year for the next ten years. Patients who may have spent several days in a hospital just a few years ago are now sent home in almost half the time. Significant recuperation and convalescence are now the responsibility of the family or home health care agencies.

Bed-bound patients now cared for in the home make up a significant share of the health care continuum. There are approximately 200,000 stroke victims per year nationally. Most are limited in the use of their affected side. Add closed-head injuries, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s and the approximately 6 million Americans who live in nursing homes, Assisted Living Centers, or are cared for in the home with significant impairment, and there is a great need for this product. This does not include the hundreds of thousands of developmentally disabled young people in our country who go without a daily shower or fresh water hair wash. If the patient is unable to take a shower, or the shower is not converted for use by a partially or totally disabled person, hygiene becomes a significant issue. It is no easy task for the caregiver to provide a shower or wash a loved one’s hair. Because it is difficult, it is not done as often as one would like.

A thorough search has been conducted in the health care field for comparable products. Hair rinses, suspended plastic water containers with a pull spout, and a pitcher of water are the only bedside aides available for shampooing and completely rinsing the hair. Even for wheelchair-bound patients, a shower hose that has easy access to a sink for washing a loved one’s hair is difficult, as most wheelchair patients' heads do not reach the sink. The Portable Thermal Shower has great potential for adding a better quality of life for the patient, and added convenience for the caregiver. Even in nursing homes, except for the ride down the hall in a PVC chair with your rear end hanging out to get your weekly shower, there is no easy way to wash a resident’s hair. With the Portable Thermal Shower and accompanying portable water residue head basin, residents can have their hair washed on a regular basis with little inconvenience to the caregiver.

Stroke patients, paraplegics and quadriplegics, severely affected Multiple Schlerosis patients, head injury patients, comatose patients; even patients with Alzheimer’s and Dementia can be more easily cared for with the Portable Thermal Shower. There are tens of thousands of patients and their caregivers who could benefit from the convenience of the Portable Thermal Shower.

Civil / Industrial Health and Safety:

Lifeguards, primitive area fire fighters, paramedics and police, in limited interviews, have all expressed a significant interest in the Portable Thermal Shower. Rinsing off after a cold water rescue or aiding an exposure victim, and showering after a long rural firefight has great applicability. Rinsing a surface wound from dirt and debris with a pressurized flow or rinsing the sand off a cut or sting ray barb, or washing yourself off after providing first aid has value by being portable and easily accessible when needed. The portability of the shower also makes it ideal for individual clean up of fire personnel after any hazardous material incident.

OSHA requirements are scheduled to become even more precautionary within the next couple of years. Janitorial services, construction workers, and other outdoors occupations where dirt and grime or work with hazardous chemicals currently do or will require a portable rinsing apparatus. The Portable Thermal Shower, sometimes filled with purified water to meet OSHA requirements, will meet existing and proposed future safety requirements.

Civil Safety issues include disaster relief. How many Californians have earthquake kits in the garage or back yard? Most cities also store vast amounts of equipment specified for earthquake or disaster relief. The Portable Thermal Shower fits in with any individual or city’s emergency supplies. The importance of a portable pressurized shower is not limited to Californians. The American Red Cross supplies equipment for disaster relief worldwide!

Pet Use:

Many pet owners, especially if they own mid- to large-sized animals, dread the inevitable weekend pet wash. It is unkind, especially in cool weather, to use the garden hose to wash your pet. Using a wash basin and "fire relaying" buckets of warm water to the tub are inconvenient and require more than one person to complete the task. With the Portable Thermal Shower, you can wet your pet with warm water, lather up with soap, and rinse with warm fresh water. Your pet will no longer cower at the weekend call to bathe, but actually enjoy their bathing experience.

Ever take your dog to the beach, lake or any outdoor wild adventure? How about a walk in the rain or in a dirty, dusty environment? Ever heard a story from a friend who contacted poison oak from their dog? Take the Portable Thermal Shower along, wash and rinse your pet before you get into your car. No car cleanup, the weekend bath is complete.

The pet market is a prime market for the Portable Thermal Shower. It has retail and catalog appeal for pet lovers everywhere.

Military Use:

Again, the Portable Thermal Shower is a portable device, and although it is not recommended as added weight to a soldiers backpack, it is easy to transport to primitive areas for use by the troops. Although water is a valued commodity in war-torn areas, troops left for extended periods in the field could make good use of the Portable Thermal Shower. Washing out of a helmet does not give one the feeling of a good cleaning. By obtaining a Decentralized Blanket Purchase Agreement and establishing trial use, the Portable Thermal Shower has significant opportunity.

Inventor:  Dan Kenney, President and CEO of PTS Industries, Inc., 2037 Prowse St., Placentia, CA 92870. Phone: 714-524-5389; FAX: 714-524-5389; Cell Phone: (714) 366-8086.
E-mail: [email protected]

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