What If?

[swamprat]

What if?

I design an entirely new weapon. Do I have to apply for a firearms manufactoring license before appling for a patent?

 

Swamprat

[AzRednek]

What if?

I design an entirely new weapon. Do I have to apply for a firearms manufactoring license before appling for a patent?

 

Swamprat

 

If I recall it correctly, you can apply for a patent, be issued a patent pending with blue prints and/or mechanical drawings. I believe you eventually have to have a prototype. I'm no expert and could be way out in left field so your best bet if you're really on to something is speak to a patent lawyer. While I worked for the Post Office I learned about alot of mail order fraud. These companies that offer to market your invention are often a rip-off. Be carefull if you go that route but if you're on to something, by all means do what ever it takes.

 

I watched a friend spend thousands on his invention, a portable ash tray one would carry in their pocket. He got the patent pending, spent several grand having a Taiwan factory manufacture it and it totally flopped. He quit his good paying job, traveled around the country and hardly sold any.

 

In the late 60's I was working in an auto parts store. There used to be a nerd type that came in occasionlly with some hair-brained ideas. The man himself was repulsive, he could usually be smelled as soon as he walked in the building. I recall once he ate a Jack-In-The-Box burger at our counter. He spilled the burger's sauce all over his shirt. He came back a few days later in the same stained shirt.

 

Long story short, he didn't really invent anything. He took an old idea, the coolant over-flow system on your car's radiator. Seems somebody, I can't recall whom, one of the defunct auto makers like Hudson or Packard tried it, let it go by the way side and never filed for a patent. The nerd in his garage perfected it, patened it and made a fortune.

 

It began as as add-on accesory sold in auto parts stores. Then big 3 auto makers eventually bought it and have to pay him a royalty on every one they used. One story I heard had GM buying it outright for big bucks. The coolant recovery system is now a standard item on all cars and trucks. The nerd's patent had something to do with the radiator's cap and gasket. What ever the cap does that causes the system to inhale coolant after it cools is what his patent was based on. I have no idea what kind of money he made but if it was only a nickle for every car made since thay became a standard item in the mid 70's. I would imagine he is pretty well set for life.