Inventors

[jm.]

I would say if you had been first there you would be a rich man today.

 

[NY 986]

They had lasers for things such as dozers and trenchers to maintain grade while working over 50 years ago. The problem was it was cost prohibitive then. I think that it was the mid-1980's when the lasers could be bought for under 15,000 dollars making them affordable for more contractors.

 

[john in la]

Look up Robert Kearns vrs Ford.

He invented intermittent wipes. Pitched it to Ford and then the other big auto makers. All rejected his idea and then invented their own version of intermittent wipers with a slight change to how the system worked.

Robert spent the rest of his life in court trying to defend his pattern.

 

[Brendon-KS]

I am listed as an inventor on over 20 patents so I've been through the process a number of times. All of these patents are assigned to the company I work for, a major equipment manufacturer.

WP6529 makes some very good points in his replies below. Specifically, a patent held by an individual is typically of little value unless it can be sold to a company that either wants it to incorporate into their product or is looking to keep someone else from using it. Most individuals are not in a position to actually bring a product to market on their own and be successful enough to recoup the patent expenses. Plus, there's nothing criminal about infringing on someone else's patent so if a company sees what you're doing and brings an identical product to market it is completely up to you to defend yourself, the costs of which could be deep into the six-figures. Most people wouldn't have the wherewithal to put up much of a fight at which point the patent is essentially worthless. The important thing to keep in mind is that the process of getting a patent issued, paying the maintenance fees, and defending it in court (if necessary) is an extremely expensive proposition so a person must have a sound business plan in place before making the investment.

 

[Pete in Holland MI]

Once you have an idea that looks like it could yield some good, a patent is applied for. Those will cost several thousand dollars. Once you have that patent, you have the rights to decide who will get to manufacture it.....as it's drawn. Your patent must include a drawing showing how it works. If someone else makes changes to that design, you are not covered. If you build a prototype and sell it to someone, then they now have ownership of your design and can patent it or profit from it. As mentioned earlier, be ready to fight someone in court if your idea is built by someone else. Also, if you work for a company, you may have signed over any rights to a new idea to your employer, even if it won't benefit them.

Good luck !

 

[UncleTom]

This topic answers a lot of questions i have always had in my mind about patents as i thought i have invented a few things and always wondered about a patent. Glad i didnt throw any money away.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

What would prevent China from hacking your invention?

 

[rlp in Co.]

Thanks! He finally got 30 million out of Ford, and an undisclosed settlement out of GM! good for him! Those car makers were some greedy outfits!!!! But it took 12 years to get it!

 

[4520BW]

I helped on the mechanical side of testing prototypes that eventually got patents, of coarse us greease monkey's never got any mention even when several of our suggestions were used. I did help on a big six sigma project and got a meal at golden corral, the engineers got several awards.

 

[Vito]

No. If I invented the cheese grater I would sue him. Thats all they ever did to my skin! LOL

Vito

 

[Crazy Horse]

I remember years and years ago that I built a better mousetrap. Unfortunately the world never did beat a path to my door.

 

[geok]

Here you are.

 

[rlp in Co.]

Ha! At least you got rid of your mice! I have a cat for that; she works cheap! I may have been the first one to cut the top off of. plastic juice bottle and turn it upside down and put it back on and put some apple juice in it to catch flys! I shared that idea everywhere, even on yesterdays tractor!

 

[moresmoke]

Probably by Moline. Ever looked at a corn sheller? It wasnt a new idea when mounted on a self propelled chassis.

 

[John in Mich]

I have had some simple ideas but never followed up on them. May have been useful and may not.
While in manufacturing supervision for 7 years at a GM transmission plant, I was involved in the startup of 3 machining departments. Some very needed engineering support was lacking and my 5 job setters and I were extremely frustrated. We were under pressure to produce parts.
I told each of them to write their ideas in suggestions, get them date stamped as received in the suggestion department and then I wrote work orders to implement them immediately.
One man received a maximum award of $20,000. Within the same year he received another $19,900. There were a number of smaller awards among the other job setters. These were UAW folks with no formal engineering education.
I had learned the power of suggestions from my father's successes at Ford Motor Company. He was the first UAW man (also no formal engineering education) in his plant to earn the maximum award, $6000 and a new 1966 Ford Galaxy for one suggestion. He had earned many smaller awards prior to this.

 

[sotxbill]

Thomas Edison made a fortune by doing just that. He had a team of young engineers working for him and he owned all of their results. Even Alexander Bell worked fro him for a short time.


Other engineers that work for him were....

Edward Goodrich Acheson (18561931)[1]
William Symes Andrews (18471929)[3]
John I. Beggs (18471925)[1]
C. A. Benton
Sigmund Bergmann
Charles S. Bradley
James Burke (18731940)[4]*
Charles Lorenzo Clarke (1853-1941)[5][6]
George V. Delany (died 1933)[7]
Charles L Edgar
Charles L. Eidlitz (18661951), business executive[8]
William E. Gilmore
Edwin T. Greenfield
William Joseph Hammer[9]
John White Howell
Samuel Insull (18591938)[1]
Francis Jehl[10][11]
Oscar Junggren [12]
Alfred W Kiddle
Isaac Krall [13]
Lewis Howard Latimer[14][15]
Thomas Commerford Martin (18561924)[1]
George F. Morrison (18671943), Vice President of General Electric Company[16]
H. W. Nelson [17]
Frederic Nicholls
John G Ott
Henry V.A. Parsell (1868-1962) [18]
Charles E. Pattison [19]
Charles R. Price
Louis Rau
Frederick Sargent
Frederick A. Scheffler[20][21]
Elmer Ambrose Sperry (18601930)[22]
Francis Robbins Upton, first president[21]
Theodore Vandeventer[23]
Montgomery Waddell[24]
Schuyler Skaats Wheeler
Edwin R. Weeks
Charles Wirt

 

[Hobo,NC]

I have sent several tool ideas to Lisle they will send back a reply asking you to send drawings and such. I never took the time to do a drawing as I thought by my description they could figure it out. After a year I had seen they produce two of the tools.

If you cannot mass produce and market the tool you are up the creek, you just gave your idea away : (. I did not expect to get rich off of it but would have liked something other than a HAT.

This is one down to a tee of what I made. I have another modification to it but will keep it to myself.



Lisle 62970 Black Lock Ring Kit

 

[Gary Reif]

Mike, been there done that. I modified another company's part for our plant. My company patented it so no one else could use it. I got my name on the patent and a thanks.

 

[tomNE]

You have a very unrealistic view of what the process involves. Don't for one minute think the system works the way you think it should!

 

[Tony in SD]

We have applied for and received patents for products we developed. First of all, dont send your idea to the companies that advertise on late night tv. You need to seek out a good patent attorney. They are not cheap. The process is long, at least a year, probably more because they compare your idea with existing patents. Once you are issued a patent, there is an annual fee to maintain it. Also not cheap. If you do not maintain your patent, someone else could maintain it for you. If that happens, you just lost your patent. The patent usually lasts 20 years before its protection expires. Finally you will need to sell millions of dollars worth of product for a patent to be worth the effort and is usually only good in the USA. As others have mentioned, China will just steal your idea and run with it.