Patents

[cowgirl8]

I have a item i've sent to a patent lawyer who is at this moment doing a patent search. i could hear from him at any time on whether i can patent my doohickey. We had a plastics guy make a prototype a few weeks ago, that was pretty exciting but expensive. Now we wait to hear if i can go to the next step or i have a very expensive doohickey. So nerve racking, i'm really not cut out for this kind of thing. Its obviously a pretty good idea or my husband wouldnt have gone along with it. He's been researching plastic injecting machines, he ordered mold making materials. We plan to make a silicone mold and used pour plastics for people to test and to see what kind of market there is. I'm confident they'll sell, but you never know. If we had gone with the plastics guy and his place manufacturing them, we're looking at a 15 to 20 thousand dollar investment before we even sell a single one. If we make them ourselves, i can make a couple hundred in a day. We figure if it gets to be too much and no end to people wanting them, we'll go the factory route...
But right now, i wait to hear on a patent. Anyone here experienced in getting a patent? I'd love to hear your trip though the inventors trek...

 

[greybeard]

Big doohickeys or little doohickeys?

If little, 3d printers really do work, and they are begining to be the way to go instead of injection or extrusion.

 

[cowgirl8]

Big doohickeys or little doohickeys?

If little, 3d printers really do work, and they are begining to be the way to go instead of injection or extrusion.

We've researched the 3d route. The problem is making it water worthy. I know there are various types of 3D printers, but they can leak though the layers. I think with time, the 3D printers will improve way more than they are now. But, for way way less than the price of a printer, we can get everything we need to make silicone molds and plastic to make a couple hundred(waiting for UPS to deliver at any time)... With the files we have on the prototype, we can have molds made if the doohickey becomes more than i can handle..
We had the plastics guy make up a 3d printed prototype. We also have the files for the doohickey that came with what he charged, $900. We needed that first to see if it worked like i wanted. I also want it gasket free, so more testing needs to be done before we make any hardier molds. The plastics guy quoted us 1000 for a silicone mold and 41 dollars for each part made from them. With the magic of youtube, we've been schooled on mold making. Who knew it was even doable for the average crafty person. My husband though, is researching the injection, he really wants one for this and it opens the door for other things. With an investment of around $1000 or less, we can make a injection molder. We can also make a plastic injection mold and each piece will only cost us around 40 cents whereas the plastics guy quoted us anywhere between 1 buck to 2. It wont last as long as a metal one, but a metal one is very expensive and we can just make another plastic one. I'm more a test the water with a toe and not the no guts no glory jump in kind of person. I've never been afraid of a challenge or hard work.

 

[cowgirl8]

There is nothing patented like what i've come up with, but, there are things like it that are. Lawyer thinks getting a utility patent is out of the question but a design isnt. So today, we figure out how to list its description to keep anyone from being able to change it a bit to copy legally or we just go in without a patent. Got all our mold making things yesterday, so today i'll play with that.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I hope you have time and money. A patent is not cheap (lawyers). I have one that I developed at work. Took 4 yrs and well over $10,000 to get everything in order. I did not pay, my employer did. Anyway, good luck.

Tim

Same here. We all sign clauses when we go to work for them. I did get a good bonus. Their lawyers and their trouble, but they do it routinely.

One item was nothing more than a common sense resolution. Adding a couple of bolts to an existing commodity. We machined it and tried it. It worked. They got it patented. I couldn't believe it. Nothing more than an improvement to an existing commodity. The manufacturer must have bought the patent from them because they now offer them on the market. I got $10K

 

[M5farm]

I have never applied for a patent. I have researched it and came to the conclusion that unless you develop a truly unique product and get a patent then you are spinning your wheels. 25 to 50 years ago a patent for improving a product was successful. Today I'm not sold on that concept because of technology. Things are too simple to make on your own nowadays and the time it takes to get everything approved someone else could come up with a better plan and it could be unfruitful.

Maybe your the exception and you do have a great product. Only time will tell.

 

[cowgirl8]

Going to do some more drawings, and soon as its filed, i'm protected. Whether it ever comes to anything, who knows. I know i can sell them via the internet to make my money back and then some. We decided to go ahead with this to, one get a patent, and two, to learn. And of course, sometimes i think i'm crazy, then the next i cant get this done fast enough before someone else gets it done...

 

[Nesikep]

I've had a couple ideas that could be patented, but never went through with it.. especially because of the cost.

Last idea I had was for a skid steer turning mechanism that could be an improvement to the existing systems.

 

[cowgirl8]

I've had a couple ideas that could be patented, but never went through with it.. especially because of the cost.

Last idea I had was for a skid steer turning mechanism that could be an improvement to the existing systems.

Has someone else come up with it since? This is what has happened to me over the years. I'll come up with something and a year later, someone else went through the trouble and did it. I have many more, this one is getting us educated.

 

[AllForage]

Patents mean nothing unless you have the money to fight in court! More people ruin themselves trying to get rich with doohickeys.

 

[Nesikep]

In my case I'd look at just selling/licensing the patent... I couldn't implement it myself anyhow.

 

[cowgirl8]

I'm waiting to hear from the patent guy. Its a beautiful day out and i'm here pushing send receive on my email page over and over..He needed some drawings. He needed a portion of it in different styles so that the patent would encompass more to keep it from being copied with just a small change. Waiting to hear if its what he needed and hopefully hes not showing my drawings to his colleagues and laughing..

 

[M.Magis]

Some injection mold companies will build a mold for pouring parts rather than injecting them. Limited production ability, but far cheaper.

 

[cowgirl8]

Some injection mold companies will build a mold for pouring parts rather than injecting them. Limited production ability, but far cheaper.

We were quoted a price, 1000 for the mold and 41 dollars for each prototype. After watching many youtubes, i'm going to make myself a mold today and pour prototypes for around $100 for everything. The plastic came in gallon containers, food safe, and will make over 100 pieces. Since i paid to have a guy make the prototype, we have the file for it. If the market looks good for this doohickey, we'll make a plastic injection mold and for around 1000 we can make our own injection machine. The plastic mold will make around 100+ pieces. If that works well, but i'm selling them faster than i can make, we'll take the file we paid for originally and have our son in laws shop make us a aluminum mold. They are good for thousands of moldings. If i still cant keep up, i'll either sell my patent or take it to a plastics place and have them make it. My guess is, i'll be able to keep up here at home and it will be a good side business i can do on my off time.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Plastics? I think you're behind the times.... it's all ball bearings these days.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Plastics? I think you're behind the times.... it's all ball bearings these days.

Carbon Fiber, dude.

 

[cowgirl8]

CO-P.P. a a P.P.( polypropylene ) with a Small % of P.E. ( Polyethylene ) would be the materials we'd be working with.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Fletch - "It's all ball bearings!!": http://youtu.be/4prqDn7QS8I

 

[M.Magis]

Some injection mold companies will build a mold for pouring parts rather than injecting them. Limited production ability, but far cheaper.

We were quoted a price, 1000 for the mold and 41 dollars for each prototype. After watching many youtubes, i'm going to make myself a mold today and pour prototypes for around $100 for everything. The plastic came in gallon containers, food safe, and will make over 100 pieces. Since i paid to have a guy make the prototype, we have the file for it. If the market looks good for this doohickey, we'll make a plastic injection mold and for around 1000 we can make our own injection machine. The plastic mold will make around 100+ pieces. If that works well, but i'm selling them faster than i can make, we'll take the file we paid for originally and have our son in laws shop make us a aluminum mold. They are good for thousands of moldings. If i still cant keep up, i'll either sell my patent or take it to a plastics place and have them make it. My guess is, i'll be able to keep up here at home and it will be a good side business i can do on my off time.

Perhaps when you say 'injection" mold you mean something else. A true injection mold isn't something that can be built at home. They're subjected to many tons of pressure. There's much more to it than just making a hollow core. If you were only quoted $1000 for the mold, it's either extremely small, and not for production use. Or it's not an actual injection mold.

 

[greybeard]

CO-P.P. a a P.P.( polypropylene ) with a Small % of P.E. ( Polyethylene ) would be the materials we'd be working with.

As a copolymer or two different components?
as a copolymer, vacuforming works well with it, but it's almost impossible to glue short of hot air welding. We vacuformed lots with it--clear domes for a big medical company mostly.