Top (Spray) Gun

CEDAR FALLS, IOWA

With concern for members' earnings as well as for reducing chemical pollution, University of Northern Iowa research technician Rick Klein has helped to invent a spray-paint gun attachment called Laser Touch. Klein, a member of AFSCME Local 2659 (Council 61), has gotten the invention verified by the Environmental Protection Agency and has licensed it for sale by a private marketing firm.

Laser Touch, Klein says, "targets better and uses much less paint [than an ordinary spray apparatus], and will therefore cut down the amount of hazardous air pollutants released."

Union painters, he adds, may find the invention useful in securing wage increases and even fending off dismissal: "In one union plant we worked with, senior employees were asked to learn to paint or be laid off. The local union asked for our assistance in training them, and the attachment helped them learn to paint properly in one shift."

Laser Touch costs about $800. Sounding like his own best marketer, Klein declares, "Some places can save that much with it in a single night."