Set out to design a replacement for rivets, which can be opened also, like screws. However, the task was to make something that looked identical from both sides. So I put my mind to work, and came out with this: Scruvits ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) I called them Scruvits, as in screwed rivets, that can be unscrewed without any damage, able to take a regular as well as a phillips head screwdriver - And can also be tightened too (if the joint becomes loose over time). However, to make such a product in reality, I also had to design all the jigs and specific thread taps too. But... When I showed my invention to someone - I got laughed at, as such a thing (unknown to me) already existed! So talk about reinventing the wheel! I now think that I must have seen this somewhere, but forgot all about it - However the concept must have been lurking around in my subconscious. That's how I came up with exactly what's being offered by many hardware stores... Anyway, I now bought a few of these *Scruvits*, as a reminder to never do anything like this again (as some people are still laughing at me over this). Screw rivets ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
I had no idea these existed S-H so your reinvention is not something to be laughed at. Wish these would be standard on everything - it would make my small repair work and tinkerings easier
I wouldn't have laughed at you as it's people like you who come up with all the great inventions. I'm sure your next project will make folks sit up and take notice.
S-H I agree with Eileen & others. I am impressed that you "designed" this & can make them! I have heard from my musician son that he will get a tune or rift in his head & initially, he can't tell if it is his own creation or something he heard sometime. I bet this happen all the time.
At least you did not apply for a patent search. To have the examiner say someone already did that. Jerry P.S. Unless you have your patent attorney/barrister re-write the the application as an improvement/different and you get a patent 7 years later.
I doubt if the Trade Mark and Registration Office of Pakistan (which also handles Patents) will see it that way... More likely, they may have come after me with a butcher's cleaver in hand! Ah yes, small repair work - Now that's really where the whole crux of the matter is... Sure, it would make a lot of sense to have such Scruvits in all places where rivets usually are. But critics will argue that it will drive up the price - However the reality is that we (as in people like you and I, who enjoy repairing and tinkering), are fighting something that's known as "planned obsolescence"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence Actually Eileen, they are not entirely in the wrong (when it comes to laughing at me) - As I'm the one who's made the most fun of them in the past, over their mistakes! So for them this is all just sweet revenge! I've actually been doing this AutoCAD designing stuff since 1992 (when I got my first PC, in my early teens). I guess being dyslexic naturally made me more proficient in this type of thing... However since that time, this is the first ever occurrence where something like this has happened with me... So it's not at all that common in my profession. Scruvit in wire-frame state ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) However I do know a fashion designer, and she says that it happens with her very often. And I've heard that writers/journalists too experience this periodically Where they accidentally end up plagiarizing someone else's written phrases, and sometimes even full sentences also. So I guess music too must be a field (of which I practically know nothing about), where the mind can play such tricks on ourselves. But generally speaking, no, it doesn't happen a lot in my area of expertise. Perhaps, as my choice of material was 18-8 stainless steel - Thus making it totally rust proof in very corrosive marine environment. I also added 2 nylon washers (o-rings), plus a raised collar were the shaft of the screw meets the flat head (for extra strength). Well I didn't actually bother with filing for a patent, as this is not the main object that I am designing. It's actually one of the many different parts which make up the whole thing. Besides, our Trade Mark and Registration Office of Pakistan (which also handles Patents) requires that we also provide them with a working prototype - Something real, solid, otherwise no patent. So just a theory and/or a design isn't enough...
But can you do as Jerry suggests, and when you are ready, apply for a patent as an improvement? At my daughter's company, the owner developed a complicated piece of laboratory equipment, and guess what? He never applied for a patent. So of course other companies picked it up. The owner has been left with applying for a patent as an improvement.
The fee for a patent lawyer (on average) is 15,000 Dollars for a US patent - And funnily, the fee for the US patent office itself is just 1 Dollar! However this isn't where the story ends. As I would also need a European Union patent too, as well as one in UK too (so that I get some legal cover all throughout the British Commonwealth countries). But after this I will also need to do the same in Japan, Russia, China, Malaysia, Turkey, and the rest of the Middle East also. Plus Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil (as well as many other industrialized nations). Next problem that I'll face (as an inventor) is the stupidity of geopolitics. Like we in Pakistan don't recognize Taiwan as an independent country. We have sided with China on this issue, that Taiwan is a renegade province of China. So if anybody steals my design over there, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it... But this too is a 2 way street, as they also will be totally powerless if I stole their designs and mass produced in my country. Same is the story when it comes to Israel, as we also don't recognize it as a nation. So the same legal jumble starts out here. And than there is the nation of India right next door to me. However we (Indians and Pakistani) hate each other so much, at every level, that even if we had proper legal coverage across the border - We will still steal each other's designs out of spite... So this is what it actually takes to get a global patent (at the cost of over 250,000 US$)... Get it in just 1 country, and others will steal it from you somehow. And even if you are able to manage it some way, how will you stop someone in another 3rd world country from mass producing it on his own? How will you exactly enforce the law somewhere deep inside South America for example??? Also, it often takes years to finally get a patent, so all this money (over 250,000 US$) - You will not be able to recoup so soon from your invention. And since I come out with such small inventions every few weeks, I'll need to dish out this same amount of money every few weeks also (with no chance of getting it back as profit anytime soon)! And even after that there is no sure way of securing my invention... So I'm not opting for a patent, certainly not for something this small and meaningless. I mean, it's just a rivet with a screw thread - Which I just Googled up some pictures of too, by writing "screwed Rivet" in the search. And found 100s of other similar designs... So even if I get all the patents in my name, I seriously doubt if I will ever get back the money spent on acquiring patents, not even after 2 years of constant production... As the value of each screwed rivet (and the profit I'll get from it) won't actually amount to much at this rate. So realistically speaking, it's just not worth a patent... I can be far more effective and comfortable by producing this on my own right now. And the only real insurance that I'll have against anyone else stealing this idea - Is if I make and market this at a very fair price (as low as possible). Thus not leaving any profit margin for anyone else who'll try to steal the design and start producing it on his own. Since my production facility is already established, means that I can (usually) beat all the other small time producers - As I can mass produce it in greater numbers, and at a far lower price than all my competitors. So that's the way of going about it in my opinion. Invent it, market it, profit from it immediately, and be happy - For about 2 to 5 years that is, after which someone somewhere will probably copy it also. So at that point don't feel bitter about it, but rather move onto something else, of a newer and greater design (as you've had your fun with this)! At least this way you'd keep making good money, instead of spending/wasting it on legalities (which ultimately don't don't give you much legal protection anyway). 8) Heck, after a few years of producing this, (if I do go ahead with production that is), I myself may become so bored from it in time - That I may actually give away the design and tooling to some other competitor. I mean, I see a greater value in sharing and being friendly with my competitors. As there will be times when I'll need their support too, (like when the government tries to impose extra tax on all metal working facilities). So that's when all competitors need to be friends, so we can stand united. Besides, it's not all that uncommon for one company to get swamped with orders (leaving very little or no time to produce all it's other products) - So naturally, who will you go to at such a time to ask if you could have something of yours made at their facility? Obviously to someone who will welcome the idea of becoming your business partner for a little while (until the demand is met). So it doesn't always makes good business sense in the long run to throttle all your competitors. Therefore let everyone else enjoy too... Seriously, if any of you guys want this design for yourselves - Then feel free to use it, (as I've got no issues)! In fact it would make me very happy if someone elsewhere gets off to a great start on my design! There really is no shortage of design ideas in my head - So I'm not the type to guard it too jealously... But yes, for something that is too sophisticated, and earth shatteringly new and innovative, (a kind of invention that inventors come up with just once or twice in a lifetime) - Then getting a patent is a must! But this screwed rivet is just too small and insignificant do be considered for a patent... Scruvits (un-rendered) ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
Oh my gosh. That is all so interesting. Waiting to see what you dream up next. I love coming up with solutions to simple problems. Simple is the key word here.
Yup, that just about nails it alright - To come up with simple solutions, for complex problems. So yes, this is perhaps the biggest motivating force behind every inventor, designer, technician, engineer, or scientist... But you know what? Something equally pleasurable is sharing your design with others - Even those who themselves are not into this kind of stuff. Why? Because I believe (almost the same as Socrates) that the best ideas come from unconventional means, by arguments. So although this is the first time that I accidentally created something that was already available in the market (hence my blunder) - But when I bounce my ideas off other people (specially those with a fresh mind, as in people who don't know much of this stuff), is when I get some of the best and inspiring ideas in return! From fresh, open, and unpolished minds... So for me being unconventional is actually the real key word for positive productivity and solid invention! This is how we probably evolved from scavenging apes, into hunter gatherers, and later learned teamwork, leading to collective farming, and breeding of livestock in captivity too - Causing the birth of civilization, that so today we are capable of a little space travel also (like going to the moon). But later, the entire universe will become our domain! All thanks to inventions by unconventional means! Because it really is all about tool, the ability to make them at will - That function as out own extension, enabling us to do more with less effort! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM6OIlreneA Therefore I am now inspired, to share a few more ideas that are floating inside my head! GardenStew really is a wonderful melting pot - As in a great collection of wonderful and very well educated people from all over the globe - So the perfect place to bounce off some of my designing ideas! And being able to show-off in front of the ladies (with my designs/inventions) is of course a very welcome windfall too!
