A WIDNES brickie who threw in the trowel in favour of a life as an inventor stands to gain millions of pounds from his brainchild.

Dennis Outten, now the proud managing director of his own limited company Easytip, is on the road to a life of luxury after launching a groundbreaking device aimed at taking the elbow grease out of lugging heavy wheelbarrow loads into rubbish skips.

Former builder Dennis and his wife and business partner Carolyn are now viewing a luxury seven-bedroomed pad complete with a swimming pool in Frodsham -­ a far cry from the humble Hough Green home where they once lived!

Dennis, a father-of-four, told the Weekly News of his relief at finally getting the project off the ground and he could hardly believe how his good fortune had rocketed over recent months.

He admitted that in January, he was about £89,000 in debt after forking out his hard-earned cash to cover the huge costs involved in securing patent rights, covering legal fees, marketing costs and more.

But he said that his commitment to his business plan has finally paid off.

Next month, his bills will be paid and his bank balance will be back in credit to the tune of a staggering £491,000 ­ with the possibility of hundreds of millions more in the pipeline as he releases his device in markets across the globe.

His selected design will be unveiled in January 2002 to coincide with the HIREX exhibition in Birmingham.

This week sees the launch of a dedicated Easytip website and quality and safety standard certification should be finalised by the end of the month.

The product will be manufactured under licence by a major Manchester-based company which will be the sole manufacturer for the European market consisting of 18 countries.

The Easylift machine is designed to be a small, transportable device, weighing less than 90kg, which is easily attached to the side of a skip.

Loads of up to 100kg can safely lifted and lowered to the ground in a 20-second cycle.

Dennis hopes the product will soon be endorsed by the Health and Safety Executive as a means of reducing lifting injuries.

Now, after coming up with a range of different prototypes for the Easylift machine, Dennis has finally picked a winner.

He said: 'I have have been through nine different prototypes so far and I have got to pick the one which is the most cost-effective and user-friendly version.

'Things are just flying at the moment. It's all going in leaps and bounds.

'I was having to knock on people doors to find funding at first but now they are coming to me.

'We have already turned down an eight-figure sum for the design!

'There is a potential market in 94 countries and this could be worth literally hundreds of millions of pounds in the future.

'Great interest has been shown in the product from major hire companies and local authorities. There has also been interest shown by licensors outside Europe.

'We will be moving to pastures new come February or March but still within the borough. We are looking at a six to seven- bedroomed house with a pool in Frodsham.

'We now have £1.3m-worth of machines ordered and we will be selling the things from January 14, my birthday!'