Crafting the Cuddle Seat

Kalispell entrepreneurs manufacture infant support chair

Following the paper chase through patents, trademarks and product liability insurance has been an education in tenacity for Dan and Neva Youreman.

But, the entrepreneurial Kalispell couple figured, when you've got a great idea you've got to run with it.

The Cuddle Seat, Neva Youreman's great idea, had its genesis in 1997 and in the past 4 1/2 years has taken off on a sprint of its own.

She knew her homemade design - a firm foam support that wraps around seated infants to brace their backs and arms, without letting them squirm out the front - was a winner the first time she took it to a restaurant.

"People kept coming up to me asking if they could use it when I was finished," she said of her repeated experience at several restaurants. After telling them the seat actually was her own that she had brought with her, "they'd ask me where they could buy one."

Without a patent at that time, she had to be a bit cagey as she protected her future business venture. She told them she just didn't know.

Now, the first 1,000 Cuddle Seats are off the production line and Youreman knows exactly where they can be bought. This summer she and her husband will start selling them, each stamped with her "Mother's Seal of Approval," online through their soon-to-be-live Web site.

And in another year or so, she's expecting to have her own shelf space in some of the nation's box stores.

YOUREMAN'S invention already has drawn the praise of former New England Patriots starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, a family friend, along with his dad, Mac Bledsoe. Other parents who gave it a test run reacted the same way, she said.

She designed the Cuddle Seat - marketed in either pink or blue - to adapt to any high chair or most any chair with arms. She said it's great for "preemies" and small babies.

And its washable vinyl cover, storage pouch with pockets for baby bottles, wipes and other goods, and a carrying case so parents can sling it along with other on-the-go necessities just seal the deal.

The Cuddle Seat is the second invention from Neva Youreman, herself the daughter of an intermittent inventor.

Her father, Ed Olson, in the early 1970s built a near-perpetual-motion motor. Running on oil that recycled itself, the motor operated his own house for two solid years before the flywheel froze up. He later devised a hydraulic engine that used only a tiny amount of gas. But it got the cold shoulder from government officials and industry moguls who stood to gain from gas consumption.

SOME OF his taste for creating apparently was salted into his daughter.

Working through their joint venture, Daneva Enterprises, the Youremans marketed Neva's first invention in the early 1990s.

On the maiden voyage of their new motor home in 1991, they discovered the shallow shelf in the shower just wasn't enough to hold bottles in place. She had some surgical latex tubing from physical therapy she'd been undergoing, so she rigged a short length of it to suction cups at either end. They perfected the idea with a slip-proof joint between the tubing and suction cup, and for 10 years marketed their Multi-Use Flexible Strap through the recreational vehicle and outdoor supplier Camping World.

They assembled, marketed, packaged and shipped the strap themselves until it got overwhelming and 4 1/2 years ago, Gary Byers of Creative Sales in Columbia Falls bought the product line.

THAT MOVE gave them time to focus on Neva's newest invention, the Cuddle Seat.

As it turned out, time was just what they needed - and in full measure.

Her first model, fashioned in 1997 from red vinyl and stiff plastic inserts cut from milk jugs, was fastened at the sides with plastic wire-ties. As she and Dan worked through successive prototypes, she wanted an upgrade to side wings that are fully attached by vinyl. Her home sewing machine wasn't up to the task, so they had Valley Upholstery produce the next prototype from her new design.

Next came a permanently fixed webbing strap so parents didn't have to tussle with a loose strap that could slip out of position. By that time, they had made connections through a Chicago firm to a factory in Beijing that sewed the Cuddle Seat to her specifications and produced a quality product.

She had all materials double-tested for fire ratings and lead-free content, assuring that they're child-safe.

A FINISHED product needs good patent protection, and getting it was no easy task.

With the Flexible Strap they had tackled the U.S. Patent Office by themselves, sans attorney. They had waded through the mountains of paperwork, but the cost and hassle finally left the strap in "patent pending" status.

When it came to the Cuddle Seat, they sunk their teeth - and most of their savings - into the patenting and trademark registration process.

They now hold a patent on the product and a fully registered trademark on the logo. Lad Barney with Kalispell's Small Business Development Center said the drawn-out, onerous and expensive process means that few who begin trademark registration carry it out to completion.

Youreman took inspiration for the mother and baby seal logo, along with the "Mother's Seal of Approval," from a pair of ceramic figurines that her 18-year-old son, Kase Smith, gave her in 1987 shortly before his death.

This time, the Youremans hired a registered patent attorney from Hamilton, Jean Kyle.

"She's just absolutely wonderful," Youreman said. Kyle watched the calendar for them, tracked paperwork progress and generally smoothed the way through the two-year timeline.

Youreman knew she was safe on her use of the phrase, "Mother's Seal of Approval," thanks to a quick answer from the patent and trademark office.

"But I wasn't sure with the 'Cuddle Seat' [name], because you can't find everything on the Internet. It took a patent office global search" to confirm its uniqueness.

Conditional registration came with the caveat that they must make an in-state sale and an out-of-state sale within six months. First notice of trademark acceptance was followed by notice of allowance, then in March 2008 they won acceptance of the state of use for their registered trademark.

TODAY they're awaiting a decision on a Small Business Administration loan to continue with production. And she's working on developing new lines to go along with the original Cuddle Seat.

Working capital will be crucial. Half the cost is paid up-front when they place an order with the Beijing factory, and the other half when the shipment hits the U.S. port.

The first shipment arrived in April, with some Cuddle Seats pre-sold to individuals and the rest to be marketed online. The plain shipping boxes will be redesigned, she said, to customize for box-store shelves - Youreman's goal for 2009.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com