Meet the Inventor of the DR Tow-Behind Trimmer!

Just in time for spring, DR has recently announced a very exciting new kind of string trimmer: the Tow-Behind Trimmer Mower for riding lawn mowers. It’s a genius concept – the machine tows behind your riding lawn mower and allows you to trim along fence lines, around garden borders, and other hard-to-reach areas while you mow. No need to spend time mowing, and then MORE time going around on foot to do the trimming with a handheld string trimmer.

The Tow-Behind Trimmer is the brain child of a certain midwestern gentleman with a penchant for innovation, George Guoan (yes, another clever inventor named George). Guoan, a retired automotive engineer, was looking for a simpler way to help his sister maintain her horse pastures in Michigan. His background in engineering was helpful as he designed and built the prototype for a machine that could trim under fences while he mowed.

When DR Senior Product Manager Michael Johnston found out about Guoan’s invention, he knew it would be the next DR superstar. After negotiating a deal over homemade apple cider, Johnston brought the prototype back to our headquarters in Vermont and our engineers went to work making it into the DR machine that’s available now.

Here’s what Guoan had to say about his experience with DR:

Within months of contacting Michael Johnston, Senior Product Manager for DR Power Equipment, my idea was on the market.  While Michael was on vacation, he took his personal time and expense to look over my invention. He was impressed and we proceeded from there to negotiate a deal.  I am not new at this, every vehicle on the road has my ideas on it. DR are the very best people I have dealt with.  If you have a product you are interested in negotiating a fair deal with, don’t put it under the bench-make it your bonanza!

In addition, I would like to thank the staff of DR company for their honesty and fairness in every aspect of their dealings with me and my family.