Success Stories

From compelling idea to startling innovation

Walter Berry and Senior Design Engineer Dave Pierson browse through the dozens of prototypes they created during the creation of the Siphon Flush.

Berry's Siphon Flush was deemed to be a "Level 5" innovation. Besides garnering industry awards, the device has received quick acceptance by water utilities in the drought-stricken West and Southest.

The Siphon Flush prototype garnered avid industry interest and accolades at the 2008 WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Expo in Las Vegas.

A few years ago, Walter Berry, a born innovator and serial entrepreneur, made a startling discovery. His small, empty Arizona vacation home racked up a $500 water bill in one month, thanks to a hardened, degraded old toilet flapper that let thousands of gallons of water slip silently down the drain.

Berry also discovered this happens a lot. With the Census Bureau estimating more than 222 million toilets in residential homes, one study estimates more than 11 million gallons of water a day are being wasted through toilet leaks each day. That is equivalent to the volume of water rushing over Niagara Falls in 2.2 hours.

Berry approached MAGNET's Product Design & Development team of engineers to help him actualize an idea he had to eliminate flappers from toilets. The team helped Berry analyze dozens of possible solutions before coming up with a design so startlingly innovative, it won the Managing Automation 2009 Progressive Manufacturing 100 Award and the High Achiever award in Innovation Mastery.

Instead of a clunky flapper, Berry and MAGNET Senior Design Engineer Dave Pierson came up with the Siphon Flush, a device with no moving parts to degrade. The unique siphon design uses an air bubble to control the flushing process. The air bubble is replaced with every flush. So there is nothing to degrade or break and the toilet can never leak.

Visit the MAGNET PDD site to read about how Berry's invention has moved into production and sold tens of thousands of units nationwide in its first year of production.