BibJib: Staying clean was never so easy

Tillman talks Terrebonne, reflects on vital three terms
September 6, 2011
Thursday, Sept. 8
September 8, 2011
Tillman talks Terrebonne, reflects on vital three terms
September 6, 2011
Thursday, Sept. 8
September 8, 2011

Behind every invention, no matter how big or small, there is a story to be told.


A Swiss engineer invented Velcro after going on a hunting trip with his dog and coming home covered in burrs. Earmuffs were created by 15-year-old Chester Greenwood, who supplied his ear protectors to U.S. soldiers during World War I. In 2008, the sleeved blanket known as the Snuggie became a pop culture phenomenon and was referenced on multiple television shows and worn by the masses at random social events.


“I’m kind of hoping it will be as popular as the hula hoop,” admitted Houma-resident Diane Orr McCandless of her new invention, the BibJib.

Along with her sister, Rita Orr Fulcher, President and CEO of BibJib Inc., and brother, Max Orr, BibJib Inc.’s secretary and treasurer, McCandless conceptualized, designed and now distributes this simple, yet extremely useful product.


“It’s a flexible, semicircular plastic device that you slip a napkin into,” explained McCandless, who acts as the Vice President and Marketing Manager of the company. “It’s just so easy … you just slip it in and flip the napkin over. It’s so simple to use.”


The story behind this slap-yourself-on-the-forehead-for-not-thinking-of-it invention may not spawn a bizarre, fictional movie like the hula hoops’ “The Hudsucker Proxy”, but the fact that these three siblings waited until their later years to start a business together is as significant as the product itself.

“I’m 63, my brother is 72, and my sister is 70,” McCandless said. “We are all senior citizens and we are just starting a new business.”


The idea seed was planted while tending to their elderly mother and dealing with daily spills, according to McCandless.


“With the care of my mother, that was one of the things that got us kind of thinking about what we needed to do,” she said. “Just the sight of the seniors with their bibs on was really disturbing and it bothered the [nursing home] residents themselves.”

The seed sprouted in September 2010, when McCandless received a call from Fulcher, who lives in Leland, Miss. Her frustrated sibling had just ruined another shirt during a meal mishap and was fed up. From there the circular invention quickly spiraled into control.


“Well, my sister called me up … and said we have got to think of something to take care of this problem, something that doesn’t look like a baby bib. So that was our first thing. I started doing some designs and I submitted them to my brother and he played with them,” the youngest sibling explained. “We had one concept in mind and we brought him that concept and he, with an engineering background, was able to develop it into the prototype.”


While this was the first invention for the two sisters, Orr, a resident of New Orleans and employee for L&O Marine Inc., already had a few patented devices under his belt, including a twirling baton.

One of Orr’s friends, John A. Spees of Indy Products Inc., became part of the BibJib equation because of his expertise with plastics and manufacturing. He created the BibJib mold and currently produces the product.


With everything in place, the next step was to concoct a name for the invention. McCandless was put in charge of coming up with a clever moniker and after several rounds of thumbing through the thesaurus, the word “jib” jumped out at her.


“I’ve got a piece of paper that must have a hundred names on it,” said the VP, “I went through the thesaurus and I just kept flipping through it and flipping through it and by about the eighth time, that name I just had to look it up. So I looked up “jib” and it made sense with what we were doing.”

A jib, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a triangular sail set on a stay extending usually from the head of the foremast to the bowsprit or the jibboom; also: the small triangular headsail on a sloop.” This sail resembles the corner of a napkin, which just so happens to be what slips into a BibJib before it is placed around one’s neck.

McCandless explained that there is also a tool called a Jib crane that holds objects in the air, just like the BibJib holds up the napkin.

“It made sense to me,” she said of the now trademarked name. “And when I sent it to (my siblings), they said, ‘Oh, that’s it!'”

The team launched their company in February of this year, but is still waiting for the BibJibs’ preliminary patent, design patent and utility patent to be processed.

BibJibs are currently only sold online for $5 each, although the three siblings hope to one day see it in stores. Napkins are also available to purchase; however, McCandless said any standard cloth, paper or plastic napkin or dishtowel fits into the ring.

According to the company website, the protective product “offers a more dignified solution to dining spills.” The website lists a number of places, events and businesses, where a BibJib comes in handy.

“We envision BibJibs will be used at event gatherings, such as company luncheons, annual dinners, indoor and outdoor parties, awards events and of course the family table. We also believe that our customer base will include restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes and dental offices,” the website reads. McCandless added that people can even use it when they apply make-up or brush their teeth.

“You’re always getting those little splatters all over you,” McCandless said.

The siblings encourage companies to print logos on the BibJibs, and gift-givers to have the napkins monogrammed for a unique present.

While the new product currently only comes in white, black or red, the future of the BibJib seems colorful.

“We would like to go into designer BibJibs with different designs on it,” McCandless said. She already owns a vibrant zebra-patterned one. There has also been talk among the family about manufacturing a child-sized product to help reduce mealtime messiness.

“I know my daughter-in-law says, ‘If you just make one for the children, I would have it on them every night for supper,'” the grandmother of three laughed.

Additional ideas and dreams for the future of the invention include seeing it become a seasonal must-have gift, a tailgating essential and even a fun Mardi Gras’ throw.

“I don’t know what you can compare it to, but it is something that is just simple and useful,” McCandless said. “My brother and I talked about it and maybe one day it will be as common as a toothpick. We just don’t know.”

Frank Fulcher, husband of BibJib Inc. President and CEO Rita Orr Fulcher, shows off the neck-adorning product at a crawfish boil earlier this year. “I’ll wear a BibJib, but I could never see myself wearing a bib,” he was overheard saying. COURTESY PHOTO