An Australian inventor from a small wine-growing valley north of Adelaide, Australia, has invented a polystyrene brochure holder that is being marketed throughout North America. Peter Eaton from Clare Valley, about 80 miles north of Adelaide, designed the brochure display system, Expanda-stand, which is now manufactured by injection molders in St. Charles, Ill., Adelaide and Johannesburg, South Africa, and sold in 14 countries.
Expanda-stand is manufactured in North America by St. Charles-based Wisse Hamlin Plastics Inc. and has been marketed for the past 18 months by Southern Imperial Inc. in Rockford, Ill.
Eaton said he plans to sell more than 1 million Expanda-stand units in North America in the next 12 months and to increase to 5 million units within three years. New markets are ``popping up like mushrooms,'' Eaton said.
Eaton's company Preton Constructions Pty. Ltd. of Clare, Australia, which trades under the name Preton Display Systems, was predominately a steel fabrication business, but he invented Expanda-stand in 1990 when a Clare Valley company asked him to design a brochure display system.
Eaton said he ``knocked together'' a metal stand in 30 minutes and then approached Adelaide-based injection molder Lincoln Plastics Pty. Ltd. to manufacture the display in high-impact PS.
The holders come in several sizes and can be clipped together to any length, vertically or horizontally, and suspended from a wall or carousel. They are available in clear or tinted plastic.
Eaton said other brochure stands do not offer sufficient support and brochures often bend or become obscured.
He said Expanda-stand gives advertising material maximum visual impact.
Eaton would not disclose sales figures for his company.