A Scottish entrepreneur rejected by experts on the Dragons’ Den television programme is hoping to crack the United States after seeing sales of his invention for propping up wobbly table legs pass £1 million.

Andrew Gordon, 31, has struck a deal to sell the gadget, which can be adjusted according to the extent of the wobble, in stores of the discount chain The Dollar Chest.

The invention, launched in Britain as “STABLEtable” and selling at £1, will be renamed “WobbleWizard” on the other side of the Atlantic.

Mr Gordon said: “America’s the big one and I’m hoping this deal is just the start over there and we can get into somewhere like Wal-Mart. Americans tend to like something novel and I think they’ll lap it up.”

The latest success comes three years after a panel of business experts on Dragons’ Den, the BBC Two programme, turned down Mr Gordon’s appeal for £90,000 of “angel funding”.

One of the panel, Rachel Elnaugh, the founder of the Red Letter Days business which collapsed later that year, said that STABLEtable was the “most ridiculous idea” she had ever heard of. Sales have since surged, with orders of 300,000 in China in the past six months, 150,000 in Australia and 100,000 in Spain.

Total sales have reached £1 million and Mr Gordon hopes that a recent UK distribution deal with Massive Housewares, a wholesaler that sends kitchen sharpeners and washing up lines across Europe, will help to win deals with Tesco and Asda.

Kensington Palace and the Exam Officers’ Association are already on the client list in the UK.

Mr Gordon, who has kept his full-time job as a marketing manager for Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “I never thought I’d sell one of these, let alone a million. think I’ve got a three-year window to do as well as I can.”

STABLEtable, a simple design with eight plastic leaves pinned together, is sold online for £1. After being turned down by Dragons’ Den, Mr Gordon took out a loan to launch his business and tracked down a Chinese manufacturer on the internet after being turned down by British firms.

He said: “Everything always said made in China on it, so I thought I’d have a look on the internet. I emailed a few and one came back to me and it’s worked really well.”

He had the original idea over a pint of Guinness with a friend when he saw a table propped up by a napkin. His friends and family have all pitched in to help.

His sister, Leanne, market tested the STABLEmate in New York while his mother Moira is company secretary “which really annoys my father”.

The STABLEmate is one of several inventions to have succeeded despite being panned by the Dragons’ Den panel.

Rob Law’s Trunki wheelie suitcase, which doubles as a ride-on toy for children, has proved a commercial hit with John Lewis and Harrods and is now on trial in Wal-Mart in America.

Yesterday Ms Elnaugh said it was “brilliant” Mr Gordon had succeeded but insisted the Dragons’ Den panel had been right to turn him down.

She said: “I’m really glad Andrew’s done well, but if you’re investing, you want to be seeing a return in six months, not three years.

“You have to remember that on the programme we were thinking about ideas as potential investors, the business case.

“If he’d have gone on and made £1 milliion in six months that would have been impressive, but three years is a long time for an investor to wait.”

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