Category: Inventing

Articles relating to Inventing and the invention process.

What Should I Invent?

I often get asked “What should I invent”, by budding inventors or those who feel the need to invent something, but are not sure exactly what. And that’s a really good place to start. Inventing is not always about waking up in the middle of the night (or not being able to fall asleep) with a “Eureka” moment. Sometimes it takes a bit more of a methodical approach.

Here’s a few tips on discovering what you should invent.

1. What Do I Know A Lot About?

This is a good place to start. Ask yourself this question. And I promise you, you know a lot about something that most people don’t. Often, the best ideas and inventions come from those with “insider information”. Your in-depth knowledge about a specific topic or industry gives you a wealth of information that other people lack.

Exercise 1

Get a pen, or open up Evernote, and write down areas that you have some knowledge about. I suggest you do it right now to keep the momentum going. Choose about 3 subjects that you know a lot about and write them as headings.

2. What Can Be Improved?

Did you know that most inventions are improvements upon previous inventions? Very few inventions are radically new, they are often minor (or major) improvements in what’s come before. We’re going to continue the exercise above with a way to improve upon what already exists.

Say you know a lot about sports. This means you probably know a lot about what sports equipment works, what doesn’t, what training techniques or props are useful, and what could really be a good invention in this field. You’ll know what tweaks or modifications are needed to existing products that could make them work that much better.

Exercise 2

So under the headings you created in the step above, write down 5 things that need fixing in the area. Just write whatever comes to mind, even if it seems ridiculous when you’re thinking about it. If you have more than 5, keep going. There’s absolutely no limit.

You may even start to see some kind of pattern or connection in the items you are writing about. They could all be leading to something that makes a task more efficient, or saves money, or makes it easier or quicker to do something. This means you are on the right track.

3. Keep Writing

So the exercise that we did above was a way to get the juices flowing. However, to keep the juices flowing, without you even being aware of it, I would strongly suggest keeping a journal. Get yourself a small journal, one that you could carry around with you, or use the notepad on your mobile phone. Write down whatever ideas come to mind wherever you are. If you are the supermarket and think about a new food combination, write it down. If you are watching your kid’s baseball game and think about a new kind of training product, write it down.

The more you write, the more ideas of what to invent will flow.

Exercise 3

This exercise gets you to start thinking visually. Select a few items you wrote in exercise 2 and try and sketch them. You don’t need to be a good drawer, you just need to start thinking about them in a visual way. I’m sure you were thinking of them in your mind’s eye while writing them. As you draw, you’ll notice that new improvements or ideas start flowing. It’s really powerful.

4. Keep Your Eyes Open

Ok, so if you’ve done some of the exercises above, and continue keeping a journal in order to write and draw your inspirations and ideas, you’ll notice that ideas of what you should invent should start flowing.

Exercise 4

This one is just about keeping your eyes open. When you’re taking a walk, observe how people go about their day. At the office, see what tasks cause the biggest headaches or get the most complaints. Read the newspaper and see what the current trends or issues are.

I hope that the exercises and processes I’ve spoken about above gives you some starting points on answering that most important question, “What should I invent”!

May 28, 2014
Submit An Invention For Commercialization
Creating a new invention can take lots of time and money. So, for most inventors finding away to commercialize their invention is very important. Commercialization will allow you to recoup the money you spent developing the invention and to be rewarded financially for your innovation.

One commercialization option available to inventors is to submit an invention to interested companies for sale or licensing.

Submit An Invention: Commercial Purposes

To commercialize an invention you can either create a business around it or offer it to others for sale or licensing. The latter option appeals to many inventors for the following reasons:
1. Selling or licensing an invention is easier and requires less money.
2. When you sell or license an invention, you transfers all business risk to someone else.
3. After selling or licensing an invention, the inventor becomes free to pursue other ideas, while still profiting from his invention.
Invention submission is a popular way to market your invention to companies and most will accept submissions for inventions that fit within their range of existing products.When you submit an invention to an interested company, you provide them with all the information they need to adequately evaluate your product for purchase or licensing.

Before Your Submit An Invention

Before you submit an invention, here are six things you need to do:

1) Patent your invention – Many large corporations will not accept a submission unless the invention has already been patented. From the company’s perspective, the patent search you performed during the patenting process is the most effective way of discovering reasons why your invention may not be successful on the market.

2) Get prepared – This means doing some market research and preparing the materials needed to market your invention to interested companies. Here are three ways to prepare yourself:

It is always a good idea, before you submit an invention, to prepare a “sell sheet” that shows all the information needed to know what your product is and why a company should be interested in acquiring it. This information should include the name of your product, a tag line, the problem your product addresses, the solution it provides, its benefits, its features and any graphics need to express the above.

Prepare the prototypes, product specifications, drawings, cost estimates, testimonials and any other materials that will demonstrate your invention’s potential in the marketplace.

Acquire an excellent understanding of your product’s industry and identify who the players are in your product’s market.

3) Choose the right companies to approach – Look for companies that carry products in the same category as your invention. The Thomas Register of Manufacturers is an excellent resource for finding U.S. manufacturers and distributors in any industry.

4) Know the company – Do research on each company you plan to approach. Analyze their manufacturing and distribution capabilities and determine the likelihood of them understanding the benefits of acquiring your invention. The latter will aid you in formulating an effective sales pitch.

5) Prepare a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) – A NDA is a document stating that the confidential information you disclose while discussing your invention must remain confidential. To pitch your invention effectively, you may need to provide sensitive and confidential business information. An NDA allows you to do this without the risk of having your ideas stolen or leaked to the public. Some companies may refuse to sign a NDA. Others will assist on using their own NDA, which may limit your protection and their own liability. Either way, it is still advantageous to prepare your own NDA, if only as starting point for negotiating this issue.

6) Find an attorney – It is essential that you work with an intellectual property attorney to insure that any information or materials you provide to interested parties are adequately protected by a patent or a confidentiality agreement. Do not submit any information or sign any agreements without first having it reviewed by your attorney.

If you question your ability to do the market research, prepare the necessary materials and negotiate the agreement on your own, there are numerous invention submission companies who will assist you for a percentage of your earnings. But, be sure to avoid invention submission scams and companies that ask you for money up front.

Invention marketing is a tough business. The overall success rate for inventor seeking to license or sell their invention is low. But being properly prepared to submit an invention to interested companies will dramatically increase your chances for success.
February 11, 2013
How To Copyright An Idea
In this article we talk about how to copyright an idea. Have you a written a new ebook that you would like to distribute or a new song that you would like to publish? Do you have an idea for a movie script that you would like to shop around? Have you developed a new app for smart-phones that you would like to sell online?

You understand that to protect your ideas from being “stolen” before you get the chance to reap the financial benefits of your creative expression, you need to copyright your ideas. However, intellectual property laws have always confused you and spending money on an attorney, to help you through what you truly believe should be a simple endeavor, is out of the question.

Luckily for you, once you get past the rhetoric, it is truly simple to copyright an idea. Below, we will discus various aspects of copyright protection and how to obtain a copyright.

So Can You Copyright An Idea?

A copyright protects the original expression of an idea. Such as, the way a book is written or the way a dance is performed, not the ideas they express.You cannot copyright an idea per se. You must first convert that idea into something tangible. This means by writing it down or recording it.

Requirements For Copyright

To receive a copyright, your idea must meet these two requirements:

1. The idea must be original, meaning not copied from someone else

2. The idea must be reduced into a tangible form of expression, which can be reproduced or otherwise communicated, such as on paper, cd, dvd or similar.

What A Copyright Does

A copyright grants you the exclusive right to reproduce, sell or distribute your idea. This is more accurately a “negative right” to prevent others from reproducing, selling or distributing your idea.

What a Copyright Protects

Copyright protects written works, musical scores and lyrics, dramatic works, choreographic works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures and other audio visual works, sound recordings and architectural works.

What a Copyright Does Not Protect

Copyright does not protect ideas (such as insights, facts and statistic), patentable subject matter, names, titles, short phrase and slogans, familiar symbols or designs, list of items (as opposed to explanations), oral works which are not reduced to tangible form (such as speeches or vocal performances) or works consisting of common property (like the the standard calendar).

How To Copyright An Idea

Copyright is automatically secured when a work is created. No further notice or registration is required. However, there are certain advantages to registering a copyright. Some of these advantages are as follows:
1. Registration provides a public record of your copyright
2. If you register within the first 5 years of the publication of your idea, your registration will be considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.
3. If you happen to win that court case, a registered work makes you eligible to receive statutory damages and attorney’s fees.
How To Register A Copyright

You may register at anytime during the life of your copyright. To do so, visit the Library of Congress website, download and fill out the appropriate form for the type of work you wish to register. You then need to mail the it back to the Library of Congress along with a copy of your work and the appropriate registration fee.

Alternatively, to receive a lower filing fee, faster processing time and other advantages, you can register your work online through the Library of Congress’ electronic Copyright Office (eCO).

In summary, to copyright an idea you need to 1) reduce your original idea into tangible form, 2) make sure it is eligible for copyright, 3) visit the Library of Congress website, 4) fill out the appropriate form, 5) deposit a copy of your work and 6) pay the registration fee. It’s as simple as that.
February 3, 2013
How To Invent Something
So I take it you are wanting to know how to invent something. So let’s cut to the chase.

In this article I’m going to give you some techniques that you can apply almost immediately in order to invent something new, original and potentially brilliant.

Follow the process below.

How To Invent Something Right Now

You are more likely to invent something in an area or topic that interests you than some random field or topic you haven’t given much thought to.

You are also more likely to be innovative around an expertise you already have, because you (often unknowingly) have in-depth knowledge that others don’t necessarily have.

So to start I want you to start off by getting an old-fashioned notepad and pen.

Step 1: What Inventive Areas Interest You

Got it (seriously you need to get it and do this right now). This is your canvas. Now write down 5 fields or areas that interest you. You can be quite general for the moment. Golf, football, cooking, anything that comes to mind.

Don’t whine that you have no interests; everyone has interests.

Write down the first 5 that pop into your mind.

Step 2: Choose The Best One

I want you to look over that list, and seize upon one of the keywords that gives you the most excitement. You should actually feel this excitement as you look at it.

If you don’t get an immediate rush, then rush over to the next keyword.

Choose one right now.

Step 3: Get More Specific

You are wanting to know how to invent something specific right? So you need to get more specific. You need to drill-down. Go to the next page on your notepad, and write down sub-topics that fall under the main topic you chose. So for example, say you chose ‘Golf’. Sub-topics might include ‘golf putters’, ‘golf balls’, ‘golf shirts’ and the like.

Write down as many as come to mind, there’s no limit, but try get down at least 10 sub-areas here.

Step 4: Choose The Best One (again)

Similar to Step 2, you should now choose one of the topics you wrote down that generates the most excitement.

You’ll be amazed at how some sub-areas of something you think you love are completely boring to you, and others generate interest and excitement.

So choose one that does for you.

Step 5: Draw On The Visuals

Ok now you’ve chosen the niche area, and I’m going to show you how to invent something in your chosen niche. It all starts by thinking visually. Your subconscious brain, the place where ideas and inventions flow from, is an incredibly visual system (think of your dreams).

So I want you to go back to your notepad, and start drawing. Drawing you say, aghast? Yes drawing (or sketching or doodling). There’s no one watching you, and no-one cares if you’re not Rembrandt.

Sketch out several pictures of your chosen topic. So if you’re chosen ‘potato peeling’, then sketch out what comes to mind for a potato peelers. If you’ve chosen ‘dog snacks’ then sketch out some of those.

Already you might start getting some invention ideas coming to mind. But don’t worry if you don’t, they should come soon enough.

Got those sketches handy?

Step 6: Improve Upon It

This is really the crux of the entire how to invent something process. How can you improve upon what you have just sketched?

Ask yourself the following questions (and try and answer them). Do this slowly and carefully. This is the part where you are most likely to learn how invent something from your chosen niche.
1. What little thing can I tweak?
2. What is superflous to the design?
3. What can I add to this that will make it more efficient?
4. What are the problems with this ‘thing’? What slows it down, what hinders the process, what is essential to it?
5. What part of this can become a spin-off to another product?
6. What other, completely new uses can I make for this product? What is the craziest (and funniest) way to use this product?
7. If I was teaching someone else how to invent something new relating to this, what would it be?
If you go through these thoroughly, ask yourself these questions and ponder them deeply, something inventive should come of the process.

Conclusion

I hope you have learnt how to invent something new from the process above. Repeat it as often and as much as you like. You’re likely to get better and more creative each time.
January 29, 2013
How To Make An Invention
The Basic First Step after the Great Idea

You have the great idea. It may not change the entire world (although it might) but it will definitely change your world by bringing something into the world that wasn’t there before, or that truly is the better mousetrap.

Either way there is something that has to happen immediately after the great idea for most of us to do anything with it.

How To Make An Invention, otherwise known as prototyping, is about getting the idea out of your head onto a sketchbook and physical object.

How To Make An Invention Prototype

Once an individual comes up with the great idea, the next step is to make a working prototype. Often people have great ideas that might work or would sort of work but they do not turn them into anything concrete to make sure they do work. After you get something that works, then you can figure out if it is worth using. You can figure out the costs, the benefits, what types of materials could make it stronger, better, and more effective. You can streamline and improve upon something that works. Until you have something that works you cannot work with it.

Why do you have to have a prototype again?

The prototype is the first stage of invention design. In summary:
1. To show that your great idea works
2. To have something to protect, whether it is a design or a completely new invention
3. To have something to market and sell.
How To Get To A Prototype?

Once you have the great idea there are a lot of different ways to get the first run prototype.

Make An Invention Yourself

You can learn how to make an invention yourself both physically or digitally.

Build It Physically

A lot of people, including many who are not mechanically inclined, find a way to make their own prototype in their garage with some simple or not so simple tools. This is usually a more economical way to go about the invention design process.

Build It Digitally

Did you know that there is a lot of excellent inventor software available that allows you to digitally build and construct your prototype.

Leverage the Community

Local schools and businesses can be great sources for resources, information and skills that can enable you to build your invention design prototype, and some of these people the local community college may have some students looking to build something as a school project, or the local college with an advanced engineering program or art program may have some students too. For the computer savvy there are 3-D printing options that you can work with to develop highly precise parts. There are businesses that may let you leverage some of their staff like auto shops. Confidentiality agreements should be part of the process to protect your idea. This can also be very economical because you can leverage the experience of people who have knowledge you do not without paying them a lot.

Hire Professional Prototype Builders

This can be a lot more expensive than other routes. On the other hand if the idea is fully formed there can be benefits as well. Often these businesses have marketing and other types of business ties to plug into that you may not have yourself. And they may know more about getting a prototype made than you do. Just keep an eye on the costs.

Ultimately there are a variety of ways to get your invention design made. Just get it made so you can get onto the great part, which is selling your new invention.
January 18, 2013