Tool designers at Frogitout.com came up with a simple, ergonomic tool for cutting auto glass during installations called “Glass Knuckles.”
As the name implies, the tool resembles the brass knuckles tough guys use to increase their punching power in fights, but instead of knocking out wise guys, the “glass knuckles” help installers cut out windshields.
“We saw a need for something different to protect both vehicles and technicians on manual cut-outs,” says Jacques Navant, head tool designer and technical director for Frogitout.com.
Don’s Mobile Glass technician, Isac Estrada, uses FrogItOut to remove a windshield at the Modesto, Calif., shop. Photo courtesy of Frogitout.com
According to Dylan Parkhurst, one of the tool’s inventors and an auto manager for Don’s Mobile Glass in Modesto, Calif., the device eliminates the need for other types of cut-out equipment.
“We wanted to be able to save parts and eliminate having to use tools that were damaging vehicles and hurting technicians,” says Parkhurst.
The tool’s design process began with watching auto glass technicians work and asking them what they needed to make work more efficient. “We were looking for the ‘wouldn’t be cool if’ solution,” Navant says.
They worked their way through 10 different prototypes before sending the final design to a fabricator to manufacture. So far, technicians have used it at 60 Don’s Mobile Glass and Valley Glass in Utah.
“We wanted to make something easy to use with a high ergonomic value that protects the technician and vehicle and hopefully looks a little different so that a technician would be proud to show them off around the shop,” Navant says.
Frogitout.com belongs to a family of companies that includes Don’s Mobile Glass, Valley Glass, and Calibration Station.
This is nothing NEW. When urethane and silicone installations started in 1963 we were using Piano Wire which we used needle nose pliers to insert the wire from the inside to the outside then grab the bitter end. Then inserted it thru a hole in a 1″ Dowell wrapped around. You could cut it out with 1 man or 2 The only problem we had to watch the wire from over heating and brake.
This is nothing NEW. When urethane and silicone installations started in 1963 we were using
Piano Wire which we used needle nose pliers to insert the wire from the inside to the outside then grab the bitter end. Then insert the wire thru a hole in a 1″ Dowell then wrap it around. You could cut it out with 1or 2 men. The only problem we had to watch the wire from overheating and brake