Looking for products similar to the Black & Decker Scum Buster as
shown in an ebay sale:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11702&item=2084228420
- either a patent issued for similar tool, or anything like it on the
market today. I'm a volunteer consultant with the Small Business Dev.
Ctr. at Southwestern College trying to help out an aspiring inventor
with something like the ScumBuster, but different enough to possibly
have a market niche all its own. The use would be mostly pots and pans
in the kitchen.

Dear Waynelund,

I have enjoyed researching your question. A search of the U.S. Patent
Office yielded many results.  There were several scrub brush
inventions but many were intended for cleaning floors or semiconductor
wafers.  The products that came closest to the one you describe are as
follows:

 Patent number 6,253,405 (2001): Hand held motorized cleaning
apparatus with linear, orbital and/or dual motion:

“In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a
hand held scrub brush is provided comprising a housing, a battery, a
motor, and a cleaning section. The battery is located in a handle of
the housing. The motor is located in the housing and is electrically
connectable to the battery. The cleaning section is connected to the
motor by a drive transmission. The drive transmission provides an
orbital motion of the cleaning section” (Gutelius, Patrick M., 1999)

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=8&f=G&l=50&d=FT00&p=1&S1=((scrub+AND+brush)+AND+motorized)&OS=+(scrub+and+(brush)+and+(motorized))&RS=((scrub+AND+brush)+AND+motorized)

Patent number 5,978,999 (1999): Motorized scrub brush with multiple
hand holding positions
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=15&f=G&l=50&d=FT00&p=1&S1=((scrub+AND+brush)+AND+motorized)&OS=+(scrub+and+(brush)+and+(motorized))&RS=((scrub+AND+brush)+AND+motorized)

Patent Number 5,701,625 (1997): Scrub cleaning machine:
“A multipurpose motorized cordless scrub cleaning machine is disclosed
and is intended to reduce the effort in scrub cleaning jobs around the
house or the work places for general cleaning by the usage of rotating
pads or brushes” (Siman, 1995)
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=26&f=G&l=50&d=FT00&p=1&S1=((scrub+AND+brush)+AND+motorized)&OS=+(scrub+and+(brush)+and+(motorized))&RS=((scrub+AND+brush)+AND+motorized)

Patent number: 5,649,334 : Water and soap dispensing scrubber
apparatus:
“The present invention relates generally to cleaning implements and,
more particularly, to cleaning implements that include a soap supply
and a cleaning brush” (Henriquez, 1996)


Outside of the patent office I could only find one product that was
not the scum buster; however there was no picture or name of the
product described.

“Power Scrubber 
In simple terms, the power scrubber is a pot brush with an electric
motor. Recognizing the effort it takes to scrub pots with baked-on
food or grease, at least one manufacturer has designed these brushes
to rotate on flexible power shafts and scour pots, pans and utensils
with minimal effort. The power unit for the scrubber typically mounts
on the wall at the pot sink and is connected to a six-foot flexible
shaft used to scrub the soiled dishware. One manufacturer makes a
variety of brushes and scrubbers that can be easily changed on the
shaft. In addition to the traditional brushes, there are wire brushes
for scouring tougher soil and even an impregnated plastic composite
head for scrubbing baked-on carbon deposits from pots and baking
pans.”
Food Service Search ( Free registration required)
http://www.foodservicesearch.com/food_safety/the_scrup.cfm


Search Strategy:
U.S. Patent Office “motorized + Scrub + Brush”
Power scrubber
Scrub brushes battery
Scrub brushes motorized

I hope you find this helpful.  If anything is unclear please request a
clarification before rating this answer.  Thank you.

gitana

Thank you very much. I will pass this along to my clients who will
certainly benefit from your research. If the subject is as interesting
as you suggested in your note, please continue, focusing on finding an
appliance design engineer willing to take on the challenge of
improving what is already on the market. But let me get the OK on
additional charges from my client.

Dear Gitana-ga,

What's a nice girl like you doing moonlighting as a Geek?

And "hand held powered scrub brushes"??? Don't even know what they are
(please don't explain).

Anyway, cheery greetings from a new PhD (similar field), and in
Mummy-mode, just do your best, and hope s/he'll forgive you.

Take Care,

Cherry

PS I'm not a mad stalker, honest! Blame Crabcakes.