Inventors

[rlp in Co.]

If you have an invention in your head, do the work to make it and patent it! I know that there are guys out there that have inventive minds. I just recently ordered a wire feed solder gun, an idea that I had many, many years ago! I don't know how long they have been made but I bet that I thought of it first!
Have any of you used help to get your invention made and patented? If you have, who did you use? I have several more ideas that someone will probably think of, if I don't get around to making them. I am working on one now but my lathe is in an unheated building and I need to move it into a heated building so I can work on cold days.

 

[NY 986]

Any idea I had I discovered somebody else had it before me. I thought of stalk chopper knives for a corn head back during the mid-1970's as a boy and also independently drew an idea for a rotary separator for a combine around the same time. I wish those ideas would have amounted to something. It is and has been not cheap to bring an idea to market. You need to research an idea to see if somebody already holds a similar patent on it. Unless you possess a very sharp mind this requires an attorney with a patent background to sort things out. Then an idea needs development including testing which also can be expensive. Then if a big company such as JD or CNH has something similar then you wind up fighting a legion of lawyers. A lot of times the talk of somebody making millions of an idea is just that. Talk. If somebody is lucky and it pertains to farm equipment is the manufacturer agrees to some kind of payment where you at least get something for your idea even if it is not what you hoped for. Anyways, explore an idea then go from there. The worst thing to do is let something slip by because of discouragement. Good luck.

 

[wp6529]

You do not need to bring your invention to market, nor would most individuals really be able to these days. You do need to be able to get the invention fully described and investigate existing patents in the same area to see if someone beat you to it, and if not those prior references need to be included in your patent application.

Whatever the invention is, your claims need to be both detailed and general at the same time. Detailed so the patent office can determine it is patentable, and general so that it can cover slight variations to not give an easy workaround.

Once you have the patent application filed then you can start shopping it around to see which major company that has the resources to bring it to market you can sell the patent to. You also have to think about the value of upfront sale of the patent vs. some upfront and some continuing royalties. Which is better would depend on how many units you think would sell and how long until the item became obsolete.

 

[rlp in Co.]

Has a rotary separator been patented yet? My Dad built a mini thrashing machine a long time ago and he used it to thresh beans. He was experimenting on breeding better beans and corn.

 

[DelMN]

Back in the early sixties, I thought of making a phone that you could carry in your pocket. This phone would take pictures and share them with others, deposit my checks to the bank, sent messages to others, give the weather forecast, give directions for traveling, etc. I wonder if anyone picked upon that!

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

There's a very eye-opening video on youtube made by Rich Bosch of Deboss Garage about his experience bringing his invention, "Tape Boss" to market. Million dollar idea, except everyone else made the million dollars. Took him years, and selling every last one of the Tape Bosses he had manufactured, to break even.

 

[wp6529]

(quoted from post at 15:41:49 04/06/23) Has a rotary separator been patented yet? My Dad built a mini thrashing machine a long time ago and he used it to thresh beans. He was experimenting on breeding better beans and corn.

You can't patent something that is already publicly known (prior art). You can however patent an improvement to something that is prior art as long as the improvement meets the "new, useful and not obvious to one skilled in the art" requirements.

 

[DoubleO7]

The only strength a patent has is the amount of money you are willing to spend to defend it.

 

[wp6529]

(quoted from post at 15:54:50 04/06/23)
The only strength a patent has is the amount of money you are willing to spend to defend it.

^^^ This is why your immediate goal should be to sell your patent to a large company i.e. Deere, New Holland, etc. who has the resources to move it forward and defend it. Get your money and move on to new ideas. You can also just license it and sell non-exclusive licenses to more than one company if the patent is sufficiently valuable that they would be interested.

This post was edited by wp6529 on 04/06/2023 at 01:02 pm.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

In my old job I went through the patenting process a number of times. I developed the ideas and worked with the law firm the company retained. It usually took a good three years to complete the process and I have no idea what it cost. All my prototypes, notes, drawings were handled by the law firm and I signed off on the final document. Most of them were never used. Often a company will patent something only to keep a competitor from using it. One of them, though, goes out in the product packaging in thousands per week and I never even got a Nice job, thanks A..H... for it. Still a little bitter but for the most part I had fun developing the idea.

 

[rlp in Co.]

That's discouraging! I wonder if Honda
gets any money from all the millions of
Honda clone engines that China builds
every year!

 

[rlp in Co.]

Seems like you should have gotten at least get a percentage from the idea!

 

[sms]

When I got a job in engineering one of the contract pages you signed gave all rights to the company. They probably made good money from a couple things we did. I had several ideas when working construction. The most notable was when I was grading by myself and had to keep getting off the machine to shoot grade, I figured you could put a stick on the blade and use a laser(40+ years ago). Should have pursued that one.

 

[rlp in Co.]

My idea is an drastic improvement to a
machine. I don't like that obvious thing!
Like maybe some guy thought of making
waffle head hammers. Shouldn't he deserve
a pattent?

 

[RBnSC]

I think Dick Tracey had you beat.

 

[rlp in Co.]

That was a good idea! And even have the machine automatically adjust itself!

 

[ADB-Ia]

My brother had several patented inventions/improvements when he worked for Vermeer mfg. They got the patent - he got a t-shirt.

 

[rrlund]

I never did, but my uncle took a pick up from a combine and a binder canvas, and made a bean windrower in the early 60s. Innes came out and looked at it. I don't know how much they paid him for it. He never patented it.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

The T-shirt was more than I got. I was in R&D at the time and there were no payments awarded. We all sighed the patent agreements and non-disclosure forms. But patents were supposed to be considered in the annual performance rating which had a direct effect on the year-end bonus. Another project I worked on brought me in contact with a guy in a one-man shop who patented a process for resurfacing the wheels of packer-dozers. He was trying to sell it to Cat and others but was getting nowhere at the time.

 

[rlp in Co.]

I bet a lot of farm machines were invented by farmers and a lot never got anything for them!