| While his natural curiosity has often led | | | | People's Republic of China." |
| inventor Frank Miller of Ponte Vedra Beach to | | | | |
| research and development, his diagnosis of | | | | Camar and Miller met recently to add a |
| prostate cancer six years ago added another | | | | 12-ounce bottle of Auto-RX to the oil in |
| kind of R&D to his repertoire -- resolve and | | | | Camar's 1994 Ford Taurus. |
| determination. | | | | |
| | | | "After 35 years in the operations end of the |
| "I had no insurance when I was diagnosed with | | | | oil business, I was a skeptic," said Camar, |
| cancer," he recalled. "I was dead broke and | | | | now retired, "but I've watched Frank market |
| nearly dead when I picked myself up off the | | | | Auto-RX and seen the e-mail testimonies pour |
| floor and started researching an idea that | | | | in, so I had to try it. This old car had some |
| had been in the back of my mind for years. I | | | | transmission problems, but since Auto-RX went |
| had nothing left but time on my hands and the | | | | into my transmission fluid, the results have |
| intense desire to leave something of value | | | | been remarkable. Now, it's going into my oil. |
| behind me." | | | | As Frank says, a clean engine is a healthy |
| | | | engine, and since better combustion equals |
| Frank's idea? Inventing an environmentally | | | | better gas mileage, that's for me!" |
| safe, non-solvent metal cleaner that would | | | | |
| work in engines, gear-boxes, transmissions | | | | On Miller's Web site, and other Web sites |
| and any type of oil-lubricated equipment. | | | | frequented by auto enthusiasts, such as the |
| | | | buzz about Auto-RX is predominantly positive. |
| An application engineer who worked in the | | | | |
| printing industry for some 30 years, Miller | | | | "I have noticed an increase that went from 18 |
| said he spent much of his career "knee-deep" | | | | miles per gallon to 21 miles per gallon," |
| in petroleum-based solvents used to clean | | | | wrote Daryl Baines of DeLand. "On my daily |
| printing presses. He's convinced that his | | | | commute, coming home tonight, I did tank top |
| close proximity to those solvents brought on | | | | up and got 27 MPG versus my normal 24.5! .. . |
| his cancer. | | | | Woo Woo ... Snake oil, I think not," wrote |
| | | | Steve On from Palmdale, Calif. |
| "I found out that my fellow in-plant | | | | |
| technicians nearly all had the same cancer," | | | | Frank Nipper of Jacksonville said a |
| Miller said. "It's the constant eight hours a | | | | lubrication specialist recommended that he |
| day, five days a week of solvents getting | | | | try Auto-RX for the rear main seal oil leak |
| into your skin and pores that does it, and | | | | in his 1987 Mitsubishi pickup truck. |
| it's in the air that we breathe. Solvents do | | | | |
| not disappear. When they drift from the | | | | "It just absolutely stopped the leak," Nipper |
| printing plant or through the emissions from | | | | said. "It seems Frank has a really effective |
| your car, they hang onto leaves and drop into | | | | product." |
| the grass. They are there forever." | | | | |
| | | | "It cost me less per bottle than the |
| Physically weak and financially strapped, | | | | present-day cost of a tank of gas, and my |
| Miller spent hours at his computer, searching | | | | engine in my 2002 Chrysler Sebring is worth |
| the Internet for the newest non-solvent, | | | | $6,000," said John Marchant of Jacksonville's |
| non-petroleum chemical technology. | | | | Northside. "The dealership told me I had |
| | | | sludge in the engine and they couldn't do |
| "I was determined to find a formula that | | | | anything for me. I put Auto-RX in my oil. My |
| would clean metal and not poison me," he | | | | engine is now quieter and running smoother. |
| said, "and I found it in Natralube 1006, a | | | | It's working." |
| natural occurring ester chemical formula | | | | |
| developed by the Fanning Corp. With that | | | | After about five years of marketing on the |
| formula as a base, we developed the | | | | Internet, and the addition of new lines |
| pourability that would make the product | | | | including 3-RX for printing presses and |
| viable." | | | | Cycle-RX for motorcycles, Miller recently |
| | | | incorporated his business. |
| After independent field and emissions tests | | | | |
| and receiving U.S. application patent No. | | | | "I just need a couple more years to make my |
| 6,544,349 for the cleaner, which he named | | | | dreams come true and leave a legacy for my |
| Auto-RX, Miller arranged with Haviland | | | | four kids and four grandkids," he said. |
| Consumer Products in Grand Rapids, Mich., to | | | | |
| produce and bottle it, set up his Web site | | | | "I've devoted myself to staying alive and |
| and began marketing it over the Internet. | | | | getting this thing off the ground," he said. |
| | | | "I go in for treatments every four months, |
| "It was a stroke of genius to sell it only | | | | work out twice a day, eat a lot of healthy |
| over the Internet," said Miller's friend, | | | | green stuff like broccoli, and take a battery |
| Michael Camar of Jacksonville Beach. "Frank | | | | of strong nutrients over and above the chemo. |
| has complete control over his invention. He | | | | I'm not afraid to die. I just want to die |
| answers his phone and his e-mails, fields | | | | well, knowing that I've done something good. |
| questions and gives advice one-on-one to | | | | I'm praying to God that my kids inherit a |
| customers. That kind of service is rare these | | | | company they can be proud of or the money |
| days. Frank's invented the most ecologically | | | | from the sale of that company. Either way, |
| safe product I've ever seen, and it's working | | | | I'll be in the history books as the guy who |
| in engines everywhere from California to the | | | | did this. |