Two longtime Arlington residents invent and launch innovative new bathroom product

The plunger. It’s a dirty topic that no one talks about, but we all have to deal with it. We’ve all had the same experience; we plunge the toilet and don’t know what to do with that nasty plunger afterwards.

A lot of times after use, the go-to is to stick it in the tub or back on the floor to deal with the inevitable later. Two longtime Arlington residents came up with a better way.

The idea of the Schoon was a glimmer in inventor Elaine Steele’s brain one morning in January of 2020 after plunging yet another clog in her old bathroom in her old house in Arlington. A search of the internet for a plunger that has a way to clean itself yielded no results, Elaine realized a self-cleaning plunger did not exist. After an exhaustive search of the Patent and Trademark site for hours and hours to find a product that was already out there, she found that there was none.

Elaine approached her longtime friend and coworker, Pierre, about the idea of a self-cleaning plunger. Being a germaphobe, he was intrigued, and the two started collaborating on the idea that February. Several designs, a few prototypes, lots of testing, and a patent application later, the Schoon was born and is now ready for manufacturing.

So how does the Schoon work? After unclogging your toilet, the Schoon allows you to use the wand to spray disinfectant over the top and the underneath of the plunger cup, cleaning the plunger immediately after use. The Schoon’s design also allows you to spray and disinfect the surrounding bathroom area. Elaine says, “Pierre and I intentionally created a sleek design, with the intention that you leave it out and at the ready for use when you need it.”

Where can you purchase the Schoon?  You will find the evolution of the Schoon from idea, to sketches, to prototyping and testing on their Kickstarter Campaign page. Elaine says that the most common question she hears from excited parties after talking about the Schoon is, “what’s a Kickstarter???” She explains “Kickstarter is a platform where inventors go after prototyping to introduce their product to the world. Kickstarter Campaigns allow backers to pre-order and purchase their Schoon as early adopters. Once a Kickstarter Campaign reaches its Campaign goal, the invention goes right to production.” Elaine and Pierre say that once they reach their pre-order goal, the Schoon will go straight to manufacturing with Maryland’s Xometry, and the Schoon will be delivered before the Holidays.

The Schoon launched its Kickstarter campaign May 17th. You can pre-order the Schoon from May 17-June 20. This is the final stage in bringing this product to market. The Schoon is patent pending.

Pre-order the Schoon at the Kickstarter campaign here.

To learn more about the Schoon, visit www.theschoon.com.

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