Mike Puzey (The man behind the name), and holder of about 25 international patents, was born in Zimbabwe, and comes from a very mechanical family background. Able to strip and rebuild his go-kart engine as early as five years of age, he built his first Motocross bike at eleven by welding together cannibalized scrap part. Mike Puzey grew up around cars, bikes and planes and at a younger age than mo
st, qualified as an aircraft engineer and commercial pilot. He is responsible for a string of mechanical gizmos, including mass market exercise machines, a pool cleaner, a hovercraft, a two-speed gearbox, a four-stroke scooter engine, and a human-powered hydrofoil called Pump-a-Bike. Mike has been doing leading edge design full-time for a number of years and has produced numerous patented products that are licensed to third parties. Ownership and control of intellectual property rights is the key to the commercial success of inventions, says Mike Puzey, the Randburg whizzkid who has made his name internationally as the designer of the Big Boy scooter. His principal focus going forward is on his own Puzey Design product portfolio. Additionally, Puzey will be commercializing a number of patented technologies that emerged from his research. "SA is oozing with good ideas but people are not realistic about how to turn them into commercial successes," says Puzey. " You have to come up with products that fit into society's lifestyles, that are functional and saleable, and then don't patent until the whole thing is ready to be tooled. Puzey's workshop is a tidy place which contradicts the stereotype of the crazy inventor in his shambolic den. Here he manufactures and tests every prototype item himself to the final finished standard.
