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Has anyone invented and patented a product or repair product the relates to the optical dispensary?
What was your experience? Good, bad, expensive? Did you produce and sell or sell the rights?
Did you make any money? Was your invention stolen?
This should be interesting!
I did. Worked out pretty well. If you can, get some patent protection, at least a provisional patent.
A lot of things needed to come together, some by design, some by luck and a lot of persistence. Not easy.
Good luck.
So vague but informative! How much did you earn?Quote:
Originally Posted by optimensch
Quote:
Originally Posted by haliopt
Yes I did................
I thought some over 20 years ago, that if one could tint lenses in a Microwave oven with the speed one could heat a glass of milk I would become instantly rich.
So I started a research program that lasted about 2 to 3 years in my company.
I found out that by buying and using regular optical dyes from anybody including BPI or any of the others it would not work, because they were all working with low energy pigments, meaning they had to be used below the boiling point in a heat transfer system, like a water bath, and that was a no no in a Microwave oven.
The standard optical dyes all fell apart when heated in a Microwave oven and the colors came out all wrong when overheated, which is standard in a Microwave, as also a top speed.
So I had to go back and restart the research, to find the right basic dyes that would work and tint under direct high instant heat, as well as the plastic materials used, which became the next hurdle, because the colors would change within the same dyes in a higher heat system, between uncoated CR39 and coated Polycarbonate lens materials, and also their coatings.
End result: The tinting process depending on the lens material was between 1 and three minutes
Finally I had it all together, and it worked for most lenses on the market and I went on, and patented the idea on world wide basis covering most industrial countries.
Thanks to the Canadian Governments research and development grants for valid research done, some parts of the research work got refunded.
All in all the patenting of the tinting system has cost me over $ 100,000 dollars over the years including renewals.
It was a worthwhle adventure, but believe me it was rough sledding and a lot of doubt and pain along the way, wound up investing a lot more than I had intended to before getting any ROI.Quote:
Originally Posted by haliopt
We filed provisional patents with USPTO (I suggest a really good patent agent, you DON"T need a lawyer, at least that's what I did). About a year or so after the US provisional, we applied for a full US patent. THere is a procedure for the EU to get further provisional protection, but ultimately you must file in each country separately. At that point the people who bought the rights from me did the Euro part.
Don't know about Canada but in the US you may run into "shop rights” which arise when an employee uses an employer's resources to create an invention. The employee does not own the invention rather it must be assigned to the employer. If your brain child has anything to do with your employment ( a new lens edger ) you had best keep it under your hat, quit your job and seek the advise of a patent attorney.
Inventions are like novels. Everyone has one tucked away in his brain pan that will lead him to fame and glory.