Inventor back on fire trail

Ralph Stansbury with his camp fire, Hastings. News. Business. 17 February 2015 Hawke's Bay Today photograph by Warren Buckland HBG 07Mar15 - CAN DO: Another chapter is about to start in 71-y

FORMER Hastings plumber Ralph Stansberry was a retiree until he was told he couldn't light a fire in Yellowstone National Park.
"I tried to light a campfire but the rangers had no sense of humour about that at all," he said.
"I said you never ever tell a Kiwi he can't do something - there is no such word as can't.
"It is one of the first things my boss, when I was an apprentice, taught me. He said there was no such thing as can't. There are no problems, just solutions."
It was the first stop for the successful United States businessman's campervan tour of state and national parks with American wife Judith Hansen.
Realising that retirement was not for him, the challenge of making a compliant portable gas fire was "the perfect opportunity".
"How can you camp around without a camp fire?"
Mr Stansberry made a prototype and returned to the park to ask if it was compliant. The response was mixed.
"He said it's perfect except you've got to have it UL approved before it can come in, and that's virtually impossible.
"I said once again don't throw a challenge to a Kiwi."
UL (Underwriters Laboratories) is an internationally-accredited standards/safety body.
"When I got to UL, I realised we were in for big dollars and I said to my wife we're going to have to invest everything we've got into this if we are going to go with it.
"UL kept saying, no you can't do that and I kept saying, you don't say 'can't' to a Kiwi, because they can."
Mr Stansberry had an engineer work full-time on modifications until the portable fire gained approval.
"Every flame on every one of them is exactly identical and cannot reach the ground from its peak, because if it does and then blows over it could catch fire on the grass. It also has to stand up to a 30-mile-an-hour gale and not blow out.
"We went to an insurance company for liability and they said a live flame has never been insured before, but you have its UL approval so we will insure it. We have never had a claim, of course."
His product, the Kozy Times Camp Fire, was popular with those seeing it in action.
"I would go right down the end of a camping area and set up the fireplace. The next thing half a dozen people would come around, then all of a sudden you have about a dozen people drinking my beer and sitting by the fire."
Once people knew what it was, he would turn it off.
"It turned dead quiet and people would say, 'Okay we'll see you tomorrow'. Saved me a lot of beer."
"When you start off with a new product, particularly in the US, it is extremely hard to get into any sort of market or manufacturing. You have to educate about 268 million people and that's an awfully big job."
Mr Stansberry was born in Masterton and left Hastings to join the family business in Wellington.
He owned a plumbing, drainage, sheet metal and roofing business in Kerikeri, then a sheet metal business in Auckland where he designed and developed products for the first refurbishment of the Auckland International Airport.
With a dislike of plumbing, and sheet metal a "first love", the entrepreneur developed products for export.
"I came up with different ideas - mobile plant holders and that sort of thing."
A rocky divorce arrived at the same time as an opportunity to design plumbing in a new Dominica hotel, which led to an invitation to install it.
A US citizen through his US Marine father, his diving hobby and technical expertise gave him an opportunity to be a "hard hat diver"working on Florida nuclear power stations' underwater cooling systems "with an air hose and a microphone so they could tell when you're going to sleep".
Mr Stansberry then joined a Hawaiian company, designing and constructing "naturalised" waterfalls and swimming pools before his unsuccessful retirement to campervan life.
He had intended making just 50 fireplaces to sell as they travelled but, because of the need for expensive Underwriters Laboratory and CSA approval needed to burn fire in restricted areas, a larger market was needed.
Camping World, which claims to be the world's largest supplier of recreation vehicle parts and supplies, stocked the portable fire.
On the cusp of success, things did not go to plan.
"Camping World wanted it exclusively, which was a lesson we learned. They sold a lot of units for us which kept us going."
Other potential markets were hurting "and I thought it the right time to withdraw and not try and struggle on - to be ready when the economy comes right".
He wants to manufacture again, using Hawke's Bay as a base, but needs partners.
"There is something like 8.4 million motorhomes throughout the US and, here in New Zealand, there are 26,000 and that number is on the increase. So now is the time.
He said Europe was "wide open" and it was the only product that had UL and CSA approval.
"It is a bloody good opportunity."
He is adamant Chinese production is a mistake.
"Over the years I've had a lot of dealings with people in the US who have sent product to China. The rules of the road are that if you don't personally know how to handle things in China yourself, you have to get yourself somebody very, very reliable and trustworthy."
He said several associates received a container load of below-specification electrical product they were unable to sell.
"If you are not there to actually see the thing before it gets to the wharf, you own it.
"Manufacturing ethics are nowhere near where they are here or in the US.
"One of the companies we were looking at investing with took my product over to China and had one made. It came back absolutely terrible - absolutely shocking. "I personally believe that America and New Zealand must keep the country working. We have great ability to actually get on with jobs and I think we can be competitive with China - I don't have any doubt about it."
His wife "fell in love"with New Zealand and they have no plans to leave Napier, a puzzle for the man she calls "a creative genius".
"The female always wins every time - I'm not sure how that works," he said.