The following article about inventors living in southwest Florida appeared in the Lifestyle section of the Fort Myers News-Press on Tuesday, May 9th and  Bill was one of the featured inventors.     

Made in Southwest Florida
 Originally posted on May 09, 2006

The old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention" really rings true in Southwest Florida.

When The News-Press put out a query for local inventors, we were swamped with replies. At least 65 people wrote in, with some of the most interesting inventions we had ever heard of. Most weren't "mad scientist" gadgets (although a few were). Instead, most of them were very practical, seemingly well designed devices, always brought on by a necessity that popped up in the inventor's life.

With the ABC television network program "American Inventor" bringing new attention to the tinkerer, we wanted to give you a sampling of some of the brightest minds in Southwest Florida and their innovative ideas. There are many more, but here are a few of the most interesting.

Garden of ideas: Bill Chrysler, Alva

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* Invention: Heart Hoe
* Year of invention: 1995
* Description: A multipurpose tool that edges, weeds, digs holes and removes sod

How he did it: Gardening had always been a passion for Chrysler and when he retired to Alva, he had five acres to work with, but the back-breaking work soon got old.

“The tough part of doing the gardening is creating the beds,” Chrysler said. “There aren’t any tools on the market that do just that, so I started designing my own tools. I wanted to create all these beds and borders and beautiful things.”

Chrysler created a round bed-cutting tool that worked well, but when he ground it down into the shape of the heart, he found it worked even better.

After getting a patent, Chrysler and his wife Kay started spreading the gospel of the Heart Hoe at garden shows. One thing led to another and, in 1996, his invention ended up making seven or eight appearances on the QVC cable shopping network, where it sold out each time. 

Now, Chrysler has added two new tools to his family of inventions — the Ripper, which makes removing sod easy, and the Cracker Jack, used for getting grass and leaves out of small cracks and crevices.

Contact: (800) 728-2306 or hearthoe.com