shop4patents Blog

Jack has written a popular featured column for Inventors’ Digest magazine for the past eight years, and served as the invention development and manufacturing expert for Entrepreneur.com, the Internet arm of Entrepreneur magazine. He has also written and published a book on job searching, and was commissioned to write Make Money by Moonlighting by Ted Nicholas of Entrepreneur Publishing Co. He produced and edited THE Inventor’s Master Plan for the United Inventors Association, and authored the chapter on prototyping for Don Debelak’s book, Think Big.

He has served as President of the prestigious United Inventors Association, a not-for-profit umbrella organization that helps inventor networking groups and inventors throughout North America. He presently serves his ninth year as Vice President of the (not-for-profit) Yankee Invention Exposition and Yankee Entrepreneur Workshops, held each October in Waterbury, Connecticut. (more…)

Many of the inventors I work with complain that their prototype didn’t meet their expectations. In almost every case the problem is traceable to communications. The inventor didn’t design the prototype, but left a large part of that task to the prototyper.

An invention is not fully designed until you’ve created a drawing that can be used to communicate all of its features to a remotely located prototyper, and person can produce your invention without further need to contact you, and the resulting prototype is exactly as you imagined it would be.

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What to Expect When filing a Patent Application:
Our show topic last week was “What to Expect in the Filing of your Patent Application.” Joining us was independent inventor, Connie Gordon. After graduating from college in 1993, Connie began working for a custom and spec home builder as a project manager and acted as a liaison between subcontractors, vendor and customer. When the company relocated out of state, she started her own company, “Poirier Homes LLC” which she has now had for over 14 years.

 Connie designs all of the homes and builds them. She is a mother of 2. The building business led to her first invention. The second invention solved a problem between her children and her pets. Contact Connie at www.PoirierHomes.com. (more…)

Inventors… submit a patented product idea to Partners in Innovation. Dial believes that great ideas can come from anywhere. Their Partners in Innovation program is at the forefront of their initiative to partner with inventors to bring innovative products to market. What They’re Looking For: Their needs are specific to their existing product lines and other related categories. They are currently accepting submissions for: Personal care products and devices, Laundry cleaners or additives , Home air treatment products or devices, Auto air treatment products or devices, Carpet and upholstery treatments, Household surface treatment or cleaning products, Auto surface treatment or cleaning products, Pet odor eliminators, Insect control, Novel packaging and dispensing systems, Devices that simplify or enhance the cleaning or home freshening process. If you are an inventor and have a patented or patent-pending product that you would like The Dial Corporation to review, click HERE.

Our friends over at DigitalLife are offering FREE tickets to this year’s event (regular price is $15) If you’re wondering what Digital Life is here’s a taste. Held October 12-15 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, DigitalLife is the ultimate consumer and technology event. 50,000+ attendees will be able to test drive new and unreleased games, try out the latest consumer technologies, meet celebrities, win prizes, and enjoy all aspects of the digital lifestyle. To redeem your free tickets, click HERE. and use the source code “INSIDER” You’ll be able to print out your own tickets.

If you have the common inventor’s dilemma of how to get a large number of consumers aware of your invention and provide them with a means to buy it, you need to listen to this week’s edition of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Inventions, Patents and Beyond. Joining hosts Jillian Freed, Attorney Steven Leavitt and Attorney John Pemberton will be Steve Weiner. Steve has been in sales since 1971, representing major houseware companies. In 1999 he made the committment to specialize in bringing new products to QVC, A COMPANY THAT ALLOWS THE INDEPENDENT ENTREPENUER TO SHOW A PRODUCT DIRECTLY TO THE CONSUMER. Less than 3% of the products that QVC buyers view will go on air. STEVE CAN HELP YOU BE PART OF THAT 3%. Contact him at PO BOX 1446 TEL 410 647 9058 MILLERSVILLE, MD 21108www.youinventit. com or www.wsradio.com . You can listen to past shows from either site. FAX 410 647 3328 SPWEINER1@AOL.COM To listen to any of our shows go to

Copyright 2006. SunZag Creative Products. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the author. Part 2 of Wade Sun’s 4 part article on his 13 Rules of Invention Success will be posted here Next week).

Wade Sun the inventor of the Disc Eraser TM shares the lessons he learned as he went through the process of developing his invention:

“On TV, cool! But where’s my name, and my 60 seconds?
One common struggle that many inventors have is building a working prototype. Unless you are very crafty, or have access to a fabrication shop, it seems impossible to actually build a working prototype yourself. You may hire professionals or students to do it, but most of the fun and learning comes when you build your own prototype. You will also encounter and solve a lot of problems up front, which can be costly mistakes when it gets manufactured later on. I will share my journey of taking a patentable idea from my head (the intangible “invention”) and turning it into a finished prototype by testing and plastic casting at home. For many small to medium sized inventions, plastic is the preferred material in terms of functionality and durability. If you need a unique plastic part for your invention, you can probably learn to make one yourself by following my example. I discovered how to shape and form the parts that I needed by using a plastic molding kit, which is available in specialty plastics crafts shops.

I used Quik Cast, a 2-part liquid that mixes and hardens in a couple hours and cures overnight. And TAP Silicon RTV mold compound, which you design a mold to cast your custom plastic parts in.

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Out of many thousands, Wade made it to the top 30 for the new hit Reality TV show, The American Inventor.

Wade discovered and developed a new technique and product that will revolutionize how the world disposes of unwanted or confidential CD-Rs and DVDRs.

Much simpler than a CD shredder, the Disc Eraser ^TM is safe, small in size, and affordable. It’s also the first and only Eco-Friendly disc destruction device that doesn’t create any eWaste and promotes recycling.

In this Blog entry, Wade will share with us what he had learned going through the American Inventor show and through the invention process, and how he brought his product to market.

Inventors: Read and learn….

What is the Yankee invention expo: http://www.yankeeinventionexpo.org/

The Yankee Invention Exposition is a three day event starting on October 19 and ending on October 21, where inventors can showcase their products to manufacturers, investors, venture capitalists, distributors, licensing firms, wholesalers/retailers and marketers. Also exhibiting will be suppliers of services to inventors including prototypers, marketing experts, telemarketing companies, patent attorneys, fulfillment companies and industrial designers. Entrepreneur Workshops covering basic skills will be available. Yankee Entrepreneur Workshops will be conducted Thursday afternoon and during Friday and Saturday mornings prior to opening of the exhibits, and during the showing of the exhibits. The workshops will cover many subjects of interest to inventors and entrepreneurs. The workshops will be widely publicized and tickets sold to the public. Exhibitors will receive free admission to the workshops..

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The Invention Quest contest is coming soon and Staples is looking for the next big thing! It can be the hottest office essential or a new, innovative organizational product, just as long as it makes work easier. This could be your year to win the $25,000 http://inventionquest.dja.com/ cash prize and have your inventions sold at Staples. To learn more about Staples Invention Quest, click