Industry: Consumer Promotional Products, Corporate/Personal Gifts

End Users: Consumers, Companies

Solution: The Golden Rule Marble^tm is a one-inch sphere made of cats-eye acrylic, encircled by a brass band inscribed with the Golden Rule.

PROBLEM:
A large company based in Akron, Ohio, had a specific gift in mind to commemorate its 50th anniversary of doing business. The “Golden Rule” – do unto others as you would have them do unto you – is a principle that has driven the organization for all its years in business. Management wanted to take this concept and turn it into a memorable gift for its employees, customers and partners.

The company’s owners had discovered a little marble with the Golden Rule message; but after searching high and low, these only existed in very limited quantities. They needed 2,000 of them!

They approached Vallmar to find a way to mass-produce what is now known as the Golden Rule Marble. (www.Golden-Rule-Marble.com)

CONSIDERATIONS:The Vallmar Engineering team had to address several challenges in developing the Golden Rule Marble:

1. The client wanted the product to be a certain color.
2. They also wanted the marble to look like light was coming from within.
3. The goal was to develop a quality of product to represent a $40-50 value.
4. With regard to functionality, the materials had to also withstand rapid temperature change without cracking.

SOLUTION:

To address the color and “light coming from within” requirements, the Vallmar Engineering team worked with RTP Company to develop a proprietary, custom-blended polymer for the outer layer of the marble. The transparent blue color (now also available in white, green, red and black) was specifically designed to appear to be lighter inside than outside.

To give the marble its weight and quality perception, the center core of the marble is a stainless steel sphere, while a hand-finished brass band encircles the entire marble with the Golden Rule inscription running through the brass.

Specifically, the team at Vallmar devised a set of crossed crush ribs to address the possibility of cracking due to rapid temperature change.

RESULTS: Vallmar has a worldwide patent-pending status on the Golden Rule Marble.
Besides creating a great specific product for the company that originally requested it, outside orders are now being taken at www.golden-rule-marble.com or calling +1-330-686-2472.

ABOUT VALLMAR & CO: Vallmar Studios offers inventors the resources they need to give their inventions a fair chance in the competitive marketplace. From prototypes to product management, engineering to licensing support, Vallmar Studios helps inventors manage the process from start to finish. Many inventions fail because precious start-up resources are lost on misguided prototyping or inadequate patent filings. The professional team at Vallmar has nearly 30 years of experience bringing hundreds of products to market. For more information about Vallmar, visit www.vallmar.com or call 800-986-0795.