You have an invention or an idea for an invention

Invention development companies are private and public research companies that purport to help inventors develop, patent, and promote their ideas so they can be commercially licensed or sold. While many of these organizations are legitimate, some are not.

I state my stand on the use of such companies on my website - www.gadgets-gizmos-inventions,com. But, you may want to go that way anyway to develop your patent or invention. If that the case, here are seven helpful tips for you to make smart patent and invention development decisions:

?1. Learn About the Patent Process.

?When you understand the basics of how to get a patent, you will know when invention marketers are making promises they, or the patent system, can't deliver. Knowing the steps to do a patent search, and what is required, as well as knowing what happens in the patenting process can only help you in making the right decision. You will have a better idea about whether the company you are talking to knows what they are doing for you - and not just their pocketbook.??2. Do Your Homework.

?Check the organization's references, ask for credentials, and then check them. Ask them for statistics on how many successes they have had compared to how many total clients. They are required by law to offer you this type of information. In fact, the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 gives you the following rights when dealing with invention promoters.

Before an invention promoter can enter into a contract with you, it must disclose the following information about its business practices during the past five years:

?how many inventions it has evaluated,

?how many of those inventions got positive or negative evaluations,

?its total number of customers,

?how many of those customers received a net profit from the promoter's services, and

?how many of those customers have licensed their inventions due to the promoter's services.

This information can help you determine whether the promoter has been selective in deciding which inventions it promotes, and how successful the promoter has been. Ask for names of uccessful?clients, and talk to them.

Invention promoters also must give you the names and addresses of all invention promotion companies they have been affiliated with over the past 10 years.

This information can help to determine whether the company you're considering doing business with has been subject to complaints or legal action.

You can call the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at 1-866-767-3848, and the Better Business Bureau, the consumer protection agency, and the Attorney General in your state or city, and in the state or city where the company is headquartered to check them out.??3. Be Realistic.

?Not every invention is patentable. Know that very few ideas - even the good ones - become commercially successful. Be wary of any developer willing to promote virtually any invention. If you are presented with the phrase - "We think your idea has great market potential" - beware, and take it for what it is - in a lot of cases, just a sales pitch. ??4. Know Where Your Money Is Going.

?Ask the organization how your money will be spent. Be on guard against large up-front fees and find out exactly how the money is spent. If the company gives you something like - "Our company has evaluated your idea, and now wants to prepare a more in-depth research report. It'll be several hundred dollars" - ask them if the idea is good enough for more research why don they foot the bill. ??5. Protect Your Rights.

DO NOT disclose your invention to a developer over the phone (or at any time) before first having them sign a confidentiality agreement. You could forfeit valuable patent rights. A sample confidentiality agreement is available on my website. ??6. Track Your Invention's Progress.

?If you decide to use an invention development organization, deal directly with the agent or patent attorney who will be handling your patent application. A lot of these type of firms outsource the work which is not good for you.

Many invention promotion firms also may claim to perform patent searches on your idea. Fraudulent invention promotion firms usually do patent searches that are are incomplete, conducted in the wrong category, or unaccompanied by a legal opinion on the results of the search from a registered patent attorney.

Because unscrupulous firms promote virtually any idea or invention without regard to its patentability - they may go ahead and market an idea for which someone already has a valid, unexpired patent. In that case, you may be the one subjected to a patent infringement lawsuit - even if the promotional efforts on your invention are successful. Most probably, the way the infringement suit is attracted is through a successful product.??7. Don't Get Discouraged! ??The patent process can be very complicated, so you will probably need professional help. There are many good patent agents and attorneys that can help you. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office maintains a nationwide register of attorneys and agents who meet the legal, scientific and technical requirements of the office.

The first step should be a patent search done by a reputable searcher. Your patent attorney can help with this, and should review the search for a package price, depending on the complexity of the invention.

Hang in there. It is a long and complicated process. But if your idea passes the initial search test and evaluation, there is a good chance you can receive a patent - in two or so years.

Sorry ... the history books aren't quite right

Actually, the first sewing machine patent was received in 1755 by Charles Weisenthal in London. Technically, his machine did embroidery, but it was the first to recognize that an eye-pointed needle did not need to pass entirely through a garment. This machine was not labor or time-saving, though, and was thus not a practical solution as a "machine that can be used for sewing".

Another machine was invented in Paris in 1804 by Thomas Stone and John Henderson -- it involved a pair of pincers on either side of a piece of material. The pincers would grab a needle as it passed through the material. This machine was no faster than hand-sewing and was not accepted as a solution, either.

In 1790, Englishman Thomas Saint patented a machine that had many of the features of a real sewing machine: an overhanging arm, a straight, perpendicular needle, a horizontal cloth table, and needle fed from a spool. It's doubtful whether or not Saint ever really built his machine, though. A version made in 1873 from his original patent plans did not work.

In 1830, Frenchman Barthelemy Thimonnier patented the next sewing machine. This one actually worked -- although it was a huge device set in a frame similar to a wooden loom.

It was able to sew a straight chainstitch and was about as fast as a hand sewer. By 1831, Thimonnier had about 80 seamstresses in his tailoring shop using his machines to sew uniforms for the French army. The machines could sew about 100 stitches a minute by that time.

Technically, Thimonnier invented the first machine that could be used to really accomplish some sewing.

Unfortunately, for him, the social structure of the time was not ready to accept this type of technilogical advance. Fearful for their jobs, mobs of journeyman tailors rushed his shop and destroyed his machines. Thimonnier tried at least twice more to introduce his machines (now improved to 300 stitches a minute), but similar bad luck dogged him. He finally gave up and died a poor man in 1857.

In 1834, the sewing machine was invented again in New York by Walter Hunt. Hunt's machine was a major improvement over previous one's. Instead of stitching the easily unraveled chainstitch like all previous machines, Hunt's could produce a lockstitch. He did this by using two thread spools: one above, one below. He used a shuttle to push the lower thread through the loop caused by the needle pushing through the fabric. This same principle has since been used by all successful sewing machines.

Unfortunately, for Hunt (and others, it turns out), he neglected to patent this machine with the two threads and a shuttle system. Hunt was also a Quaker; when his daughter suggested his machine would do harm to seamstresses who might be put out of work, Hunt seemed to agree. He took no further interest in his sewing machine.

Not long after, in 1839, a Bostonian machine shop owner named Ari Davis was approached by two men who wanted to build a knitting machine. During their discussions, Davis suggested they try a sewing machine instead. The men figured such a machine would be a financial bonanza and Davis attempted -- and failed -- to create such a machine.

The noteworthy part of this Boston venture was that Davis had an apprentice who took an interest in this matter. The apprentice's name was Elias Howe.

Howe began trying to develop a sewing machine on his own. He came up with the idea of using two threads and a shuttle -- the same idea Hunt had used ten years earlier. Howe continued to develop his machine; by 1845 he had completed a machine that was able to perform all the stitchwork to assemble two suits of woolen clothes. In 1846 Howe received a patent on his device.

The journal, "Scientific American" was impressed as they praised Howe's "extraordinary invention". Perhaps Hunt would have received similar praise had he bothered to patent his device more than ten years earlier.

Unfortunately, "Scientific American" were the only ones impressed. Howe spent three years trying to drum up interest in both American and England. By 1849, he was basically broke. His wife died (and he had to borrow the money to reach her bedside before she died). He attended her funeral in a borrowed suit; he then heard that the ship containing all his household goods was wrecked and all his goods were lost. Discouraged, He gave up his sewing machine quest and took a machine shop job for a weekly wage.

Actually, Howe's machine failed for a good reason, it was not quite a practical solution. His machine did not have a presser foot; in order to sew fabric, the pieces had to be matched inside a metal frame. This frame was then attached to the machine and guided the stitching. Once you reached the end of the frame, it had to be removed and the fabric reset. This meant that A) no continuous stitching was possible, and B) you could only stitch in straight lines, you could not follow a curve. Because of this, Howe's machine could not be considered a serious solution to the sewing problem and was therefore not a true and practical "sewing machine".

In 1850 a familiar name entered the sewing machine world -- Isaac Singer. I think that Singer should be considered the inventor of the first practical sewing machine -- it could stitch continuous lines, it could stitch around curves, it used a pressor foot, and it was a marketable solution available for a reasonable price.

Other inventors also introduced sewing machines to compete with Singer -- and the sewing machine industry was born.

However, Elias Howe was not quite finished. He noticed that all sewing machines used two threads and a shuttle.

He held a patent on this method (even though Hunt had invented it first a decade earlier) Howe then embraced that great American business plan, "Those who can, do -- those who can't, sue!"

Howe began a vigorous legal campaign against all sewing machine manufacturers. It's interesting to note that it was impossible to build a practical sewing machine solely by using Howe's patents. It took many patented items (they soon ranged into the 100's) in order to construct a workable sewing machine. Still, the idea of two threads and a shuttle was also an essential component of a usable sewing machine.

The courts agreed. Howe soon received royalties of up to $25 per every sewing machine sold. Without selling a single machine of his own design, Howe became rich.

Singer and others tried to oppose him. They uncovered Walter Hunt's earlier work and tried to find some proof that was presentable in court in order to break Howe's patent. Unfortunately, when Hunt lost interest in his device, he neglected to keep any of the devices he had already constructed or notes of their workings.

Although Hunt was first, it was impossible to prove in court and Howe's suit held up.

So -- it's apparent that Elias Howe did not invent the first sewing machine. He didn't even invent the first sewing device. What he did do was be the first to patent a component that was used by the real inventor of the first workable, usable, and marketable sewing machine, Isaac Singer.

What do I need to think about first in taking my idea to market

To begin, allow me to tackle a typical misunderstanding along with numerous first-time creators that begin with a concept however possess small knowledge of how you can really earn money from their own creation (we. at the.: they do not realize the choices to take their own concept to promote). Numerous creators think that they must invest hundreds and hundreds of bucks building as well as production their own suggestions by themselves to achieve success, and that's why a person study a lot of tales regarding creators that invested their own existence cost savings chasing after a good creation. Whilst production is actually 1 choice for several creators, it's not the most typical choice as well as definitely not minimal dangerous.

Both primary choices that you could think about with regard to building your own creation tend to be:

Choice 1 -- Production as well as advertising your own creation by yourself

Through the years, I've caused countless creators along with a typical misconception which i observe may be the indisputable fact that being successful by having an creation indicates building, production as well as advertising the actual creation by themselves. Consequently, these types of creators invest thousands building prototypes as well as establishing production prior to these people actually obtain indicated curiosity or even buy purchases through businesses. Whenever determining the direction to go, you need to very first consider your own greatest objective. If you're attempting to develop a company close to your own concept and be a business owner, after that production might be your own choice; nevertheless, in the event that you are searching for a business to pay for a person for the concept, after that this could not really end up being your very best strategy. Be aware: should you choose to build up as well as produce your own concept by yourself, I would suggest that you simply try to safe curiosity and/or buy obligations before you decide to draw the actual bring about upon production. There's a huge difference in between creating a prototype as well as establishing production.

Choice two -- Licensing with regard to royalties

In my opinion, 98% associated with creators wind up heading this particular path, meaning instead of production as well as advertising the actual creation by themselves, these people try to look for a business in order to permit or even buy the invention's obvious privileges from their store as a swap for any vips or even money repayment. The concept is actually to have set up organization create, produce, as well as marketplace the actual creation with their current products. The important thing in order to achievement with this particular strategy would be to properly as well as appropriately ready your concept with regard to demonstration along with associated producers or even marketers to go over permit possibilities, which could vary from easy styles throughout completely building your own creation.

Prior to all of us move ahead although, Let me strengthen which it is crucial to comprehend that the likelihood of achievement improve while you undertake the actual improvement as well as obvious procedure, it doesn't matter how great it may seem your own concept is actually. For instance, if you're within the idea phase with no obvious safety with no official item styles or even prototypes, chances associated with achievement tend to be restricted should you attempt to strategy a business; nevertheless, because your own concept gets much more created as well as "real" having a appropriately created digital or even bodily prototype, your own likelihood of achievement improve.

Exactly the same is true along with obvious privileges. For those who have a good released obvious through america Obvious & Brand Workplace (USPTO), your own likelihood of achievement tend to be much better than should you experienced obvious impending standing or even absolutely no obvious whatsoever, presuming your own concept is actually great to start with. Regrettably, it won't really make a difference that which you possess in position in case your concept is actually poor to start with.

General, the actual industry offs tend to be period, work as well as cash. Through trading the best period of time, work, as well as cash in to your own concept, a person improve your own likelihood of achievement. During my look at, the actual objective ought to be to reduce your own price as well as danger through trading sufficient in to your own concept every single child reveal this properly as well as successfully along with businesses prior to flowing cash to the concept. For instance, a person might be able to begin through submitting the provisional obvious prior to this is needed in order to document a complete power obvious. [If you do find a company to license your invention, it's possible that you can negotiate for the company to pay for the utility patent.] Additionally, you might want to begin by creating your own item "virtually" before you decide to transfer to the actual costly prototype procedure. Once again, you are able to acquire curiosity as well as permit the actual creation without having trading lots of money in to prototype improvement. In the event that insufficient a functional design gets the roadblock as well as you are listening to great suggestions, you might want to discover creating a operating or even concrete prototype later on along the way for those who have the actual savings to do this. The concept would be to function wise with the procedure to achieve the permit contract without having investing more income compared to required about the item.