era Glass Inc. offers prototyping and product development services, as well as general manufacturing services. These services are not limited to plastics but encompass a variety of materials. Whatever material is appropriate for the project. These projects range from molded fiberglass shapes, to mechanized metal prototypes.
Vietnam Flood Resistant Prefab House
- The goal was to design an easy to build, inexpensive house for villagers on the Mekong Delta. The concept needed to address basic complications associated with building in the area. Flooding, termites, rot due to humidity, scarcity of wood, and lack of heavy equipment.
- The resulting structure will not rot, its impervious to termites and is well insulated, material costs are low. The structure is light enough to float when fitted with pontoons.
- A U.S. Patent was granted on this design. Based upon the innovative use of materials, and the shapes incorporated into resolving design challenges.
Water Ski Rope Spooler
- This project originated as a referral by a local Patent Attorney
- The goal was to come up with a device that would spool up water ski rope neatly and automatically, allowing for an easy change over
from one type of ski rope to another. - The design shown was conceived in it’s entirety at Lera Glass. All the fabrication except for the aluminum welding was performed at Lera Glass.
- The design features interchangeable spools and limited slip clutch assembly for safety. The unit slips into a bracket that stays attached to the boat.
KayaMaran
- This project was the result of another referral.
- The goal was to design a paddle craft similar to a Kayak, but much more stable. Difficult to flip but light enough to easily handle.
- The customer showed up with a couple of rough pontoons and a chair.
- Lera Glass produced the prototype in it‘s entirety, then produced molds allowing the customer to sell boats. The finished KayaMaran shown here, was produced at Lera Glass.
Martini Stool
- This customer came to us with a prototype shape he built himself. It was non functional, ( non weight bearing), but was pretty close to the shape he wanted.
- We refined the shape, made a set of molds, and made a test prototype to evaluate the designs viability.
- Once it was established that the stool supported 300 lbs., and was stable, we produced a second set of production tooling and built the stool shown, allowing the client to go to market.
- The Stool has a high quality pearl automotive finish.
Outdoor Enclosure for Sensitive Projection Equipment
- The goal was a versatile, weather proof, outdoor enclosure for sensitive projection equipment. It needed to be durable and collapsible enough to ship easily, and inexpensively.
- The base was built from large tube steel sections that allowed the unit to be fork lifted from all sides.
- The interior floor was fiberglass with plywood sandwiched in. This was a tough floor that allowed a variety of projection configurations.
- The interior frame was constructed from tubing typically used for roll bars in race cars.
- The outer skin was made from interlocking fiberglass sections that attached to the interior frame. It also produced a weather proof barrier.
- The entire unit collapsed down to a 6 x 8 ft, foot print, that was two feet tall. (an acceptable size for air freight).