Research is key....Patents are not cheap and will either be a huge waste or a great investment...Its not something that you are going to accomplish in a day or two, but keep at it. I would hate to see someone waste money on a patent and it not pay off which happens every day...

Justasquid is right, he sounds like he has dealt with this before...A patent only protects exactly what you have made...someone else can make a tool almost identical but does the exact same thing....I am no inventor nor do I plan to be but if you have a good idea run with it and hopefully it pays off in the end, just dont give up bro.

 

From what I have heard, once you patent something, someone else can change it 10 or 15% and start to make it themselves.

You need to get someone to invest to cover the cost but they will want 51% and control of the final product. Once again, from what I have heard.

My father worked at a Ford plant. In the late 60's he told me that a coworker had a patent on an electrical device where you could through a switch and make a limited slip differential lock up into a positive traction differential. Ford bought the patent from the guy but never used it. They bought it just so the competitors wouldn't have it. Today most 4WD's have some kind of electric type lock-in. Is it from this guys patent? Who knows? If some one changed the wording form "rear wheel locking device" to "front wheel locking device", it's a whole new ball game. With that simple word change you could steal the patent.

Your idea may already be patented as mentioned. Also as mentioned, it takes money to find out. You need a patent lawyer, the key word is lawyer and they are not cheap.

Best of luck to you.

 

You could also skip the patent. Anything truly useful will be copied, regardless of the patent. Companies will do it legally by changing a couple things. Countries will do it illegally by changing nothing and saying "**** you". Your question could be: How much money can I make for myself first?

I would, however, contact a patent lawyer.

 

If it were me I would sit down with Snap-on and talk about it. Let them patent it if they feel it is necessary. Ask for 1.5% of sales after you send the letter to yourself and tell them about the letter.

 

1.5 percent is a pretty depressing number. lol.

I spent the morning in the garage making a revised working prototype. I wish I could share it with everyone!

 

I've done three patent searches. The last one cost about $600. Trouble is they don't always find everything that is the same or even identical. Patents are a mixed bag IMO.. not an easy decision. My personal opinion is you develop it, keep it quiet, then hit the market hard. You can make money before the knockoffs come and while you are doing that figure out how to make it cheaper than anyone when the knockoffs come. Not an easy task but that's how I'd do it!

 

What kind of idiot would give snap on a tool idea? Some people are so naive. If anyone has a great tool idea, send it to me and you can have two sets and a plaque of honor. bwahahahaha! Good luck with it bro.....don't show anyone you are unsure of.

 

good avice hank! Now to just figure out how to do that.

and my thoughts exactly rice. thats why I want to ask my tool dealer one on one and see if he'll sign a non disclosure statement before I show him.

but on that note I can understant why someone would want snapon to make their tool idea. especially as a full time tech. You don't want anything to do with the process of getting it on the market. you just want it in your tool box.

 

As suggested, you still want to do a patent search. It sure would suck if you went through all the trouble of making the prototype, got some investors and then find out it has a patent on it.

something to keep in mind. If the tool idea is specific to a certain trade, and its not going to be purchased by a lot of people, it may never make sense to be made. Most investors won't bother if they can't make a lot of money of it. But its kind of a fine line. If the product you want to make is needed by a lot of people, it will be copied. If its not needed by a lot of people, you may be better off. If theres not enough room for more than one maker of the tool, other companies won't waste their time trying to copy it. So the best scenerio would be a fairly small group of buyers, but large enough to warrant manufacturing them. But, make them yourself. A small investment in equipment now will pay off a great deal later on. With all of the plants that have closed in Michigan, stuff can be bought really cheap. Also, tool and die shops are begging for work right now, and you can probably have a die built to stamp out your parts. A single hit die can be run on a small hydraulic press in your garage.