This is the Enigma encryption machine used by the German forces during WW2.

Actually the principles of its operation had been patented in the 1920’s and details would have been available to anyone, by examination of the patent specification. These are available from the relevant Patent office.

Patents are said to be the largest single source of information and ideas in existence, do you ever make use of this resource?

Let us help you make use of patents for creation of ideas. Sometimes unrelated industries have ideas that you can make use of.

Example:

A conveyor system for logs was adapted for mail handling.

The patent gave details of a 3 conveyor system which straightened the logs at the same time as conveying them to the saw mill.

It consisted of 3 belts, one main centre belt, conveyed the logs. Two smaller outer belts were also used one traveling in the same direction as the main belt but faster, the other in the opposite direction. They had the effect of aligning the logs onto the path of the main belt. A similar system was adapted for use in conveying items in a mail handling system, alignment being required for optical address reading.

What is a patent

• It is an agreement between the applicant and a government giving the applicant a monopoly on the idea in exchange for providing details of the idea.

• It is quite common to be asked what is patentable, here are some of the main requirements.

• To be patentable an idea must be new –You should not tell anyone of your idea unless you really have to.

• It can be a new combination of known ideas but there must be some unforeseen (non obvious) advantage in the combination, or some inventive step in producing that combination

• It must not be an obvious development of something that is already known

• It must be something that is capable of commercial development.

• It may also cover a method of manufacture.

• It cannot be a method for playing a game, or something that is merely a business scheme

• It must not be for illegal, or immoral purpose.

• A patent covers the invention, not the application to which the invention is put.

• A patent must be applied for in each territory that it is required to give cover for the invention. Normally, this means the countries in which the product is going to be marketed.

• It is possible to take out World patents and European patents which relieve some of the cost of this procedure. We can help advise on probable cost, time, and when to make such decisions.

The Wright Brothers did not invent the Aeroplane but rather developed ideas that other inventors had worked on for many years.

The Wrights concentrated among other things on controlling the flight of their machine and developed wing warping to control it in roll. They patented this idea, but other pioneers of flight overcame this by introducing ailerons, which were much more successful.

This machine is a modern airframe built to an original design for “Those Magnificent Men” film, and uses ailerons for roll control. It may be seen in flight regularly at the Shuttleworth Collection, which is near to Biggleswade in Bedfordshire.

Why a Patent Engineer

It is becoming more common for a company to employ a Patent Engineer, why is this?

We will work with your engineers to understand your products and ideas. We can use our knowledge of patents to identify and then overcome problems created by competitor patents. “Work around” solutions are usually available given a knowledge of the patent system and a good understanding of the engineering involved.

Use of a Patent Engineer is cost effective, and can avoid the very high costs associated with Lawyers fees.

When to make new applications of your own

We will work with you to understand your designs, and to make recommendations regarding ideas suitable for new applications. Sometimes a registered design is more applicable than a patent, we can advise on this. 

 This is the worlds first computer, known as Colossus, it was built in great secrecy for use at Bletchley Park during WW2 for the decryption of intercepted ciphers. It used 3,000 valves which were permanently powered for reliability reasons.

Prevention is better than cure

• Using us at an early stage in a project can pay dividends.

• It is better to know of any potential patent problems early on.

• We will carry out a search for your intended design and identify any potential threats.

• We can help overcome problems. We understand marketing needs and can help with suitable specification changes, design / implementation change, to overcome any problem.

Searches

• Whether it is looking for competitor patents or to provide design ideas we can carry out searches of patent data bases.

• The data base used and the cost involved can be varied to suit the situation.

• If you want to make use of a patented idea we can often help in finding a way around the patent, avoiding any infringement.

Litigation

• We help in litigation cases, by getting to know how your product design and understanding cited patent material  we are able to establish the extent of any potential patent problem. We can help find ways to overcome such problems by (often subtle) changes to your design or specification.

• We can also help establish if a competitor is infringing one of your patents.

• We will analyze competitor machines / designs and compare with your patents to find likely areas of infringement.

Training

Let us help you gain a better understanding of patents and how they fit among other forms of intellectual property. There are easy ways of understanding patent specifications if you are shown the correct way to go about it.

Training sessions can be tailored to suit your needs, or you can join in our training days which we hold at various locations.

•   Learn how to easily understand a patent specification.

•  The elementary rules of UK patent Law.

•  Filing procedures and costs .

• What is a patent – what is patentable.

• What other forms of intellectual property you should know about.

You may already know that a golf ball is dimpled in order that it travels further, but may not know why. The reason is to do with the boundary layer. This is the layer of air near to the surface of an object in flight.

Dimples have the effect of making the boundary layer stay attached to the ball longer. Instead of the air stream  breaking up and becoming turbulent at the point of maximum diameter it occurs later, further round towards the back of the ball. This means that turbulence, is of a much smaller area than that of the ball.

Turbulence is the main cause of drag, the area it acts over impacting directly on the drag.

What form of protection is appropriate?

During a training seminar I was asked a question, the answer to which, illustrates quite well the difference between certain types of Intellectual Property.

The question was – If I were to change the shape of a golf ball, how would I protect the idea, by a patent or copyright.

Actually the choice would normally be between patent and registered design, and the decision requires knowledge of why the shape has been changed.

If there is some technical advantage in the change, e.g. the ball goes further, accuracy of trajectory, etc. than a patent would be applicable.

If the change was purely cosmetic then the appropriate protection would be registered design.

British inventors

The UK has a reputation  for having a proliferation of inventors. Research in Japan has shown that more than  40% of discoveries taken up on a worldwide basis originated in the UK.

The origin of some early inventions are disputed. Although the Wright brother are generally credited with the first powered flight three British inventors are possible contenders, Pilcher built a powered plane in 1899, Bill Frost is supposed to have flown his plane in 1895, or possibly the first was  John Stringfellow 55 years before the Wrights, his creation is supposed to have flown 10 yards..

Sir Joseph Swan of Newcastle gave a public demonstration of a light bulb in Jsnuary 1879, 10 months before Edison.

In 1711 Christopher Holtum demonstrated a horseless carriage, this is 180 years before Karl Benz.

The Frenchman Daguerre claimed the invention of the photographic process in 1838 but Thomas Wedgewood published his findings on experiments with silver nitrate and the images it produced 36 years prior to this.

In more recent years many inventions can be credited to UK inventors. Among them are the Hovercraft, composite materials, the jet engine, the computer, also well known are Dyson for his vacuum cleaner and  Trevor Bayliss for the wind up radio.

The first gas turbine engine to run self sustaining was built in 1903 by a Norwegian engineer by the name of Elling. The first patents for jet propulsion were issued in 1917. However limitations in design and metallurgy prevented such engines reaching manufacture.

In 1929 Wittle submitted his ideas for a jet engine to his superiors, but he was destined to struggle to gain support. He took out a patent which was granted in 1932, but he was later to allow this to lapse due to having insufficient funds to keep it in force, (actually a sum of £5). Despite official lack of interest in his work he managed to keep ahead of his German counterpart Von Ohain, who was working along similar lines, for a number of years. Von Ohain received more help than Whittle however and his engine first flew in a Heinkel aircraft in August 1939. Whittle had to fight against opposition to his ideas and it was not until May 1941 that his engine flew in a Gloucester aircraft.

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