Scott Thornton and Jimmy Petrick know a thing or two about jan/san.
They’ve been in the janitorial and sanitation industry for decades.
The two recently launched Perpetual Motion, which they say is the world’s first full-service disinfecting drone distributorship for indoor and outdoor large-scale venues. The Magnolia-based company calls its company a “total solution” to fight against Covid-19.
Perpetual Motion combines advanced drone systems from Charlotte-based startup Lucid Drone Technologies with "eco-friendly chemistry from Mark-V and Titania and full-service, expert-backed support to enable the large-scale disinfecting needs of learning institutions, athletic facilities and other large infrastructures seeking safe, sanitary and seamless reopenings,” a news release said.
Thornton and Petrick say Perpetual Motion is the first to merge drone technology with a disinfectant that it says is safe for humans, animals and plants.
“Jimmy and I have known each other in the jan-san industry,” Thornton, Perpetual Motion’s president, said in an interview. “I’m what you would call a lifer.”
When Covid-19 began spreading across the world, Thornton said he and Petrick talked and agreed: “We’ve got to do something. With our knowledge, years of experience and the people we know, we can create a company that one, is founded on family and American values and two, (helps keep people safe).”
Perpetual Motion, Petrick says, “provides a one-stop shop for building service contractors.”
Perpetual Motion is distributing directly to people in the janitorial and sanitation industry. It aims to give people the opportunity to own a piece of the business while helping reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other viruses such as the seasonal flu.
“We’ve got some incredible chemistry of the 21st century that nobody else has,” said Petrick, the company's lead consultant. “I came across this technology, this chemistry several years ago. I was known as the antimicrobial expert. There’s no one who has an antimicrobial like this.”
Petrick said the chemistry, along with drone application, is “15 to 20 times more effective than” cleaning by a human.
“Because of technology and electrostatic spraying, it will attach chemistry to places that a conventional sprayer or someone spraying can miss,” he said.
The nitty gritty: The chemical Perpetual Motion uses is an N-listed EPA-approved disinfectant from Mark-V.
“Once this is applied to disinfect, the magic continues with Titania, a non-friction, antimicrobial coating that adheres to any surface, providing an ‘armor shield’ coat that’s effective for up to a year for continuous protection,” Perpetual Motion said in its release.
Titania, the release said, creates activated hydroxyl radicals to extract airborne contaminants and reorganizes their molecular structures into “harmless everyday compounds. Organic materials coming in contact with the solution will break down upon contact, making it ideal for high-capacity venues that require thorough protection.”
Thornton, Petrick said, asked him to vet a drone company “that I really pushed back on because I thought it was gimmicky. I flew out and took a look at these guys, and they’re for real.”
Thornton and Petrick have funded the company themselves so far.
“There’s ample opportunity to scale to a national or global business, and we’re always looking for conversations with venture capitalists,” Petrick said.
Perpetual Motion’s products can serve hospitals, nursing homes, health care clinics, sports arenas, workout facilities, daycares, churches and other public venues, Thornton said.
“When you look at what Covid-19 has done to our economy, especially for people with children who can’t go back to school … let’s get schools going, let’s get our economy going,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want to save some lives. This is truly a company based on saving lives, keeping people healthy, getting mommies and daddies back to work and getting kids back in school.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect a change in Petrick's title.
