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SUTARS AB

I am Bo Strandfelt. After running my small spare time business for a couple of years in my own name, I registered Sutars Aktiebolag in 1968, and since 1969 I am working full time for my company.

Importing and distributing pleasure boats and boat accessories (1969-1982), I noticed as early as 1971 the abundance of useful 12V accessories that came with the so called Car Plug and the absence of a corresponding Female suitable in the marine environment. There was the normal car cigar lighter, worthless as a power outlet after a few months at sea. There was, and still is the 12 mm plug/socket system, universal as it is known in Germany. However, the car plug had to be replaced, and so the ability to use the appliance in the car was lost.

In 1979 the first set of tools were ready, and patent and design registrations were applied for on key markets. In May 1981 we had a quarter page advertisement in IBI that brought a lot of enquiries. Very soon after introducing the Socket into the market, there were numerous enquiries for a corresponding plug.

On designing our own Plug, I had four important features in mind; marine quality i.e. non-corrosive metal parts, sizeable conductors for high amperage, lead wires to be easily fixed on with screws, and the plug should have to stay better connected in the proper cigar lighter socket than existing ones.

After 1995 the flush-mounted Socket is also available with a round frontplate. When installing a rectangular instrument you have to be very careful to get it in line (parallel) with any nearby edges or reference lines, whereas it is not easy to see if a round one is a little out of balance. Also the majority of instruments tend to be round.

The marketing turned out to be rather tough, and it took many years to get the project into the blue. Quite a number of distributors, to whom I made offers, replied that they saw no market for our socket.

Eventually hard work established a market and my socket started to appear as standard equipment in boats and caravans (RVs) both here and there. In 1990 I discovered the first copies and patent infringements. Typically the swines, that have had my socket copied, are among those that saw no market... In one case they have also used the font as in our logo on the socket cap, so that even I have to be within a distance of half a metre to see, if it is the real thing or a copy. I am bitter about the copying, but also a wee bit proud. Well, they do not copy everything. The copies I have seen so far are not as good as the original.

The future looks bright. All 12 Volt battery chargers for the mobile phones come with the Car Plug. We have the attractive females.