By Geoff Adams-Spink Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

The inventor says the device should have a large market

A disabled man who was no longer able to bend to feed his pets has invented a device to make the process easier.

Ray Dinham's DinnerUp invention has been shortlisted for a new product award at Naidex 2007 - the annual disability show at the NEC.

The DinnerUp has taken Mr Dinham six years to develop and sells for just under £70.

He describes his device as "a solution to an everyday problem which had no easy answer".

Feeding frenzy

Somerset-based Ray Dinham has cerebral palsy and began to find it increasingly difficult to bend down to pick up his cats' food bowls.

The 57-year-old former engineer decided to put his skills to work to come up with a solution, but admits that his first attempt was over-ambitious.

"It was an automatic product and a bit too expensive for the market," he told the BBC News website.

His second version is far simpler - a tray attached to a column which, itself, is fixed to a wall or kitchen cabinet.

The tray is then wound up and down the column by turning a handle which includes a clutch device.

Mr Dinham believes that his typical customer will be an older person who finds it difficult to bend down - particularly someone who has recently had a hip replacement.

Naidex - Wizzybug Naidex - picture gallery

"There are 30,000 new hip joints in this country every year, so there's a huge market for a piece of equipment like this," he said.

Although he currently assembles the units himself, Mr Dinham is planning to outsource the manufacturing to a UK-based company as demand increases.

He has already started selling his device abroad including to a satisfied customer in the USA who wanted one in time for his wife's birthday.

"We got it to him in five days by air-freight - he was really chuffed."