A YORK businessman who helped found the 1970s pop band Cockney Rebel claimed today his new invention could make millions of computer users smile.

John Crocker says his MouseBean Hand Rest takes the pain out of using a computer mouse, helping reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury.

He said the device's innovative soft pads can help reduce pressure in the wrist and protect the delicate median nerve, helping to prevent an RSI-related condition called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

This can cause tingling or numbness in the thumb and first three fingers, and also burning and tenderness in the forearm and aching in the wrist joint.

John, 49, of Fulford, was electric violinist with Cockney Rebel, whose biggest hit was Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).

After leaving the band, John retrained as a computer engineer and worked at the Evening Press for a time before founding his own consultancy business, developing software systems for large organisations such as the Ministry of Defence.

He invented the MouseBean when his career was brought to a painful halt by the sudden onset of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

"I developed the device out of the sheer desperation at being unable to find a product or treatment to help me," he said.

"It relieved my symptoms and I simply couldn't work without it."

The MouseBean was developed as a business venture after Richard Ames, Cockney Rebel's first tour manager, came across John using the invention purely for himself.

He said he realised it was a "hot idea" and they teamed up to manufacture and sell it.

John, whose business is based at Huntington, says the device, retailing at £6.99, has won rave reviews in specialist computer magazines. Thousands have already been sold, and the company has now entered the American market. He said the rising cost of sickness and claims for damages through RSI was becoming increasingly alarming.

"It has been reported that British businesses lose £1 billion per year owing to skilled workers being crippled by RSI."

The MouseBean has been tested and endorsed by David Tibbs, a retired leading arterial surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, who has also suffered from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

He said it could help sufferers with mild symptoms avoid more severe symptoms and those with more severe symptoms could improve enough to be able to return to work without needing surgery.

John pointed out the MouseBeans were strong and built to last.

"Our engineers have stood on them, washed them in a dishwasher, boiled them in a pan and even driven a car over them!"

Updated: 12:01 Monday, August 12, 2002