ripcord

com) offers a tool similar in function to the Ripcord called the BoreSnake.

The BoreSnake can be used dry, just like the Otis Ripcord, but seeing as it has a built-in brush, putting a few drops of bore cleaner on the bristles seems to me to be the most efficient way to use it.

Considering the Nomex in the Otis Ripcord can handle 700 degrees, I'm guessing putting it through the dishwasher once or twice won't hurt it, either, although Otis doesn't specifically say it's machine washable.

Topfer joins current Ripcord board members Mark Lundstrom, co-founder, president and CEO of Ripcord Systems; David Sola, former managing partner with UBS Warburg and current partner with SOFTBANK UK Ventures; Mark Booth, previously CEO of BSkyB and currently CEO of epartners and managing partner of SOFTBANK UK Ventures; Herbert Schlosser, Senior Advisor and Consultant to the Global Media Group of Salomon Smith Barney Inc.

Based in London and Seattle, Ripcord Systems is an emerging leader in providing single-source wireless solutions that connect corporations with their mobile workforces.

Sola and Booth join existing board members Herbert Schlosser, former CEO of NBC, Tom Hughes, founder and former CEO of Photodisc, Brad Peters, president of Blackfin Capital, and Ripcord co-founders Mark Lundstrom and Drew Ladner.

Additional individual investors in Ripcord include the CEOs of Teledesic, Nextel International, Monster.