Johnny Ball

conceived more than two decades ago in the gold mines of alaska, johnnyball is the first from dirtworks products. it began back in the 90s when inventor john miller saw the need for an onboard measuring tool that would give operators guidance on level and grade. working the mines as an operator himself, john knew that attempting to guess level and slope wasn’t enough. he needed to know he was level. yet, to his surprise, there was no 3d measuring product on the market. this experience planted the seed for johnnyball. but it turns out johnnyball wasn’t john’s first invention. before johnnyball, he developed, patented and sold the rockland smart thumb, an extendible thumb attachment for legacy backhoes, which he sold into the market through caterpillar of west michigan. john then sold the business to rockland manufacturing, which continues to sell the smart thumb today. in 2012, john began to turn his attention back to johnnyball. after a couple years of product development, lab, and