Jeffrey Smith Develops Idea that ‘Makes Scents’
Drive Time System uses aromatherapy to take the stress (and smell) out of driving.
By MARNI MELLEN
The Fairfield Ledger staff writer
February 23, 1998
It’s smaller than a breadbox and the aroma is not of fresh-baked bread.
Think more of something the size of a tube of lipstick. Think of walking through a garden, with the scent of roses wafting through the air. Think of smelling the roses while driving your car. Of being environmentally friendly and ecologically correct. Of not getting charged up about that driver ahead who doesn’t signal.
It’s all a part of aromatherapy adapted for the motorist by the inventor who said he just wanted to do something nice for people.
It is not a value judgment to say that Jeffrey Smith’s idea for the Drive Time System “makes scents.”
Smith invented the idea of a gadget that plugs into a cigarette lighter to fill a vehicle with a fresh aroma that can be calming or stimulating – or just simply pleasant. He calls it the Aeron Drive Time System, and it integrates aromatherapy with electronic ingenuity to create the ultimate automotive air freshener.
The son of Leroy Smith of Fairfield, Jeffrey Smith said he has been “tinkering” with things in the basement at home since he was 8. However, it took other key players to make the small parts work out satisfactorily. Smith did the creative design and the packaging and received help on the technical aspect of his invention.
A dozen prototypes
Engineer Brad Koeblinger is credited with engineering the custom components of the gadget, which Is assembled by a company in South Dakota. It took 12 prototypes, 1,600 man-hours and 12 different companies at work on the different parts to bring the Drive Time System to where it is today.
Where it is today is in 350 stores nationwide and in a variety of catalogs oriented toward Earth-friendly, chemical-free, and/or innovative products on the market. It also has been featured in Teen magazine, Road King, Truckers Connection, and Natural Living. Thirty magazines have carried at least briefs on the new product.
Product available locally
In Fairfield, it is marketed at Somebody Cares, Thymely Solutions, and at Custom Audio Designs (Radio Shack). It also is the hands of distributors who deal in lines of assorted products. The company has a web site viewed by 2,252 people between Jan. 26 and Feb. 18. There were more than 700 requests for the offer of a small sample vial of scent.
“It’s been a long road,” said Smith, as he sat behind the makeshift black-painted desk in the smartly, sparsely appointed Aeron office at 406 W. Depot Ave. For five years, he tried to think of something new to promote aromatherapy.
The new product first came out in May 1997, but had to be modified to fit in the lighter channel of all new cars, and was reintroduced in November.
The Drive Time System was to be offered on the 24-hour Home Shopping Network over Thanksgiving weekend, but the appearance of Drive Time’s spokesperson, Monica Hadley, was delayed until Jan. 22.
Hadley, also a homegrown business product and daughter of Caroline Herr Kilbourne, opened her own accounting office in 1984. She now has two partners and a dozen or more employees in Fairfield Accounting Services at 54 1/2 N. Main St. Hadley handles the business and finance side of Aeron. She also handled Drive Time’s television debut on Home Shopping.
She made four eight-minute appearances – two of them in the middle of the night and two morning spots. The advance order was for 1,500 units and the show oversold at $19.95 each. Hadley said she was selling one every second.
Different scents, different effects
Hadley said driving “is a most stressful activity,” making scents an appropriate choice to change the mood.
“Different scents have different effects,” she said. “Peppermint, wintergreen, lemon – those are alertness scents. Some are more relaxing, like rose petals and lavender.”
The Drive Time System diffuser pulls apart to reveal a small tray with a pad. Drops of oil are applied to the pad; the tray is replaced and plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter. The intensity of scent is controlled by the amount of oil used – another advantage over chemical-based air fresheners, Hadley said.
“An awful lot of cars are out there and a lot of people who like good smells,” she said. “Kids love it. Teenagers love it. It appeals to all age categories.”
Marketing direction for the future points toward such heavyweights as military bases and the rental car industry. The web site is https://aerondrivetime.com/.
Caption 1: DASHBOARD WINS BY A NOSE – Pure-oil essence in a diffuser that plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter is the invention of Jeffrey Smith, left, with the business and marketing assistance of Monica Hadley. The Fairfielders expect to smell success with an aromatherapy product strictly for drivers.
Caption 2: DIFFUSER OF SCENTS – The Drive Time dispenser is pulled apart to expose the little white pad on which aromatic oil is dropped. The invention gives drivers a new lease on their driving experience.