Did you know the connection?

Veröffentlicht am 2012/02/09 von admin

Maple syrup, lacrosse and kayaks have one thing in common. Guess what? No idea? Well, they are all inventions of Native Americans. Yesterday we told you about some important inventions by African-Americans, today let´s have a closer look at things Native Americans came up with.

Maple syrup, for instance. Aboriginal peoples living in the northeastern part of North America were the first groups known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar. They let the sap of the maple tree drip into pails and boiled it until it turned into syrup.

The game of lacrosse was invented by the American tribes living around the St. Lawrence River in New York and Ontario, and was spread by the Huron and the Iroquois.

Traditional lacrosse games were sometimes major events that could last serveral days. As many as 100 to 1000 men from opposite villages or tribes would participate. The Cherokees called the sport „the little brother of war“ because it was considered excellent military training.

The kayak on the other hand was invented by the Inuit Peoples. The skin-covered kayaks of the Arctic people are excellent examples of a technology developed over centuries of experimental refinement and everyday use.

Important African-American inventions

Veröffentlicht am 2012/02/08 von admin

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Do you know that some of the world´s most popular inventions were created by African-Americans? In honor of Black History Month Inventors Digest is currently celebrating the valuable contributions of famous black inventors.

As an example the magazine names Lewis Howard Latimer. In 1874, he copatented (with Charles W. Brown) an improved toilet system for railroad cars. In 1881 Latimer received another patent for the „Process of Manufacturing Carbons“, an improved method for the production of carbon filaments used in lightbulbs.

We want to introduce you another important African-American inventor – Garrett Morgan.

He created a Safety Hood and 1914 patented it as a Breathing Device, which later came to be known as the Gas Mask. Morgan’s Gas Mask consisted of a hood with two long tubes, one allowing in clean air and the other allowing the user to exhale air out of the hood.

After witnessing a collision between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage, Morgan also took his turn at inventing a traffic signal. As you can read on about.com the Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This „third position“ halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely.

Do you want to know who invented the elevator, the lawn mower or the refrigerator.

Here you find a list of other important African-American inventors. Check it out!

From a Terrible Accident to an Inventors Award

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/25 von admin

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As we know, in most cases inventions result from necessities, problems, challenges or the need for simplicity but they also derive from accidents. Two young engineering students from Canada, Stephen Slen and Aaron Coret, have invented a landing pad for snowboarders and skiers after one of them, Aaron, had a severe accident while snowboarding in Whistler, Canada.

In recent years, snowboarding and skiing have also been accepted as disciplines at Olympic games. Therefore, the young engineers have teamed up to invent a landing pad to save skiers and snowboarders from hitting the ground to hard when landing.

Working from the back of a sail-manufacturing shop, they created a 15-by-20-by-5-foot vinyl-and-nylon landing pad that contained two inflatable chambers. The upper chamber was sealed, while the four-foot-high lower chamber had valves that released a controlled amount of air on impact. Unlike most landing pads, which give so much that they envelop the athlete, the prototype remained firm enough to land on and ride off of, but it had enough give to reduce the risk of injury.

To test the invention, Stephen and Aaron went up a glacier in Canada, but they were still unsure if it was going to work. With Aaron paralyzed from the neck, Stephen had to take the first jump to test the prototype. He took the risk, jumped down…….. and landed perfectly to then ride on. The invention worked and was ready to be patented.

The two of them founded a company, Katal Innovations Inc., and with the help of an expert who in large custom made bouncy castles, they were able to develop the pad further. When Canadian officials asked them to use their pad during the opening ceremony for the Vancouver Olympics, it was a dream come true for the young engineers. Since then it had been installed in different skiing resorts in the U.S. and Canada and is on a straight road to success.

Do you know …. AIA?

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/24 von admin

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Do you remember the American Invents Act being implemented in 2011? On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the America Invents Act. It is a historic patent reform legislation to support American inventors. It basically speeds up the process to receive a patent and gives entrepreneurs and small business owners the chance to bring their product to the market much sooner and quicker.

The most significant change which will derive from this law is the change from first-to-invent to first-to-file. It defines who will receive the grant of a patent or an invention. With the first-to-file system, the person who first filed the invention is granted the patent regardless of the date of the actual invention. With this system, products and inventions can be marketed faster and introduced to the public much earlier than before. President Obama hopes to increase the creation of jobs and the competitiveness of United States entrepreneurs in comparison with other countries.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is now working on further reports and studies and is also planning events across the country to discuss the propositions. The events are free and open to the public. Every inventor, entrepreneur and small business owner is welcome to attend and use the opportunity to interact and contribute to the discussions. Registration is not required. For further details about location and timing please look at the USPTO website.

Service Please vs. No Wishes

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/23 von admin

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Popular Restaurants , Bars and Delis tend to get busy especially during lunch or dinner time. And surely everyone is familiar with a situation where the service staff is either nowhere to be seen or does not give us enough time to make a decision.

Two German inventors, Moritz Engelhardt and Frieder Schrenk, recently came up with an idea that very easily solves this challenge for both, guest and waiting staff. It also gives discreetly but still highly visible and innovative room for advertising on the table. The advertising device “Service Ampel” (Ampel is the German word for signal lights or traffic signal) is placed on each table and operated by the guests themselves. Other than the signal lights we know, it works with two colored sides and no further energy is needed.

When the guests sit down to read the menu and make their choices, the Ampel gets turned green to the “no wishes” –side, letting the waiter or waitress know that there is still time needed. However, is the device turned red to the “service please” –side , it discreetly tells every service personnel that the guests are ready to order. Througout the entire visit, the guests receive exactly the attention they are asking for, which can have an enormous inpact on customer satisfaction and revenue.

Are you worried about having too much clutter on the table? Well, it easily replaces the “Reserved” sign, if needed. In addition to this highly effective way of communication, it gives room for advertising and logos, which we usually see on napkins, coasters and glasses. Whenever the promotion ends or a new season is about to start, signs and drawings can be changed easily.

This product is a true all-rounder and a great asset to every caterer or gastronomer.

The Female Edison

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/20 von admin

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Have you ever heard somebody using this expression? It is not a way to refer Mrs Edison, no, it actually describes women that were able to receive patents for various products and ideas. One of them is Margaret Knight, the first women who received a U.S. Patent and who was also known as the Queen of Paper Bags.

Margaret was born in York, Maine, but spent her childhood in Manchester, New Hampshire. She had little bothers and made kites and sleds for them, which where the envy of the neighborhood. Although she only received her first patent at the age of 30, these kites can be considered her first inventions. As an adult, Margaret Knight moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where she worked in a manufacturing company for paper bags.

While working there, she invented machinery that would automatically fold and glue the bottom of the bag to create a bottom square. But since the reaction to this improvement was not positive, Margaret moved on and founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in 1870.

Every paper grocery bag that we can find in stores today, goes back to her inventions. She also invented a number of domestic gadget in her life like a numbering machine and a window frame and sash, patented in 1894. However, her creativity never gave her much profit. She died of pneumonia in 1914 leaving an estate valued at less than $300.

A Council for Florida Inventors!

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/19 von admin

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Today we would like to introduce you to another source of help. If you have an invention and you would like to gain knowledge about the experience of other inventors, associations are usually a good way to start. They can provide assistance and real live experience on the basis of non-profit organizational structures. These are always good for inventors who do not want to spend money on services provided by companies.

The Inventor’s Council of Central Florida is an organization to encourage creative people and give educational advice. It has been formed in the 1950’s and is continuously running since 1974 by entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, moms and many others but most importantly inventors wishing to help other inventors. At their monthly meetings in Orlando, Florida, the council is aiming to create a comfortable, informal atmosphere where information, skills and ideas are exchanged. All under a non-disclosure agreement, of course.

The council invites guest speakers, such as patent attorneys and successful entrepreneurs but also venture capital group representatives. They also organize workshops for their members on a regular basis and provide judges in various national and international invention award competitions. So if you have an invention and you are looking for real life experience and help, this might be a good start.

SOPA and PIPA Put Websites on Blackout

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/18 von admin

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A lot of websites went black today in the early hours of the morning to show their protest against two bills currently discussed in the United States House of Representatives. They are called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act).

Both bills have been brought forward in the effort to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign websites. Thinking about it, this sounds not necessarily negative, however in the opinion of Wikipedia and many other organizations including political parties, these bills when becoming law, will harm free expression by badly influencing the internet.

In easy words, an internet user can be fined, when posting a youtube video to their facebook profile. Wikipedia sees a great danger to their concept of free publicly available information through their website. On the other side, supporters of these bills say, that too much intellectual property gets stolen by foreign websites which harms American entrepreneurs and inventors and is beyond U.S. law.

The protest against this act goes far beyond U.S. borders. Many organisations all over the world, have launched videos and protest banners to join the strike.

Do You Know … Utility Models?

Veröffentlicht am 2012/01/17 von admin

There are different ways to protect your intellectual property. The most commonly known is to apply for a patent. But have you heard about Utility Models? In many countries, this seems to be easier and cheaper.

A utility model is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which allows the rights holder to prevent others from commercially using the protected invention, without his authorization, for a limited period of time. In its basic definition, a utility model is similar to a patent, but has a shorter term (often six to ten years).

In fact, utility models are sometimes referred to as “petty patents” or “innovation patents.” The requirements for acquiring a utility model are less stringent than for patents. While the requirement of “novelty” is always to be met, that of “inventive step” or “non-obviousness” may be much lower or absent altogether. In practice, protection for utility models is often sought for innovations of a rather incremental character which may not meet the patentability criteria.

The term of protection for utility models is shorter than for patents and varies from country to country (usually between 7 and 10 years without the possibility of extension or renewal). In most countries where utility model protection is available, patent offices do not examine applications as to substance prior to registration. This means that the registration process is often significantly simpler and faster, taking, on average, six months. Utility models are much cheaper to obtain and to maintain.

In some countries, utility model protection can only be obtained for certain fields of technology and only for products but not for processes.To find more information on patents and how to apply, please visit www.inventorhaus.com.