Today was the first day of Invention-Con 2025 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.
Its stated purpose was "Empowering American Ingenuity and Innovation".
I signed up for this free event hoping to learn how to get my invention into the hands of the blind students wanting to learn chemistry.
That isn't quite how it worked out.
What I learned was that I did not possess the money to market my Periodic Table that I designed - and got patented! - for blind and low-vision students.
What I learned was how long it takes to not only go through the patent process, but also how much time is involved in getting the invention to market.
I was not the only one learning that lesson.
Six hundred others were online with me, watching and hoping.
The guest speaker was John Adler, Jr., inventor of the CyberKnife, a surgical tool used for targeting radiation therapy.
It took 20 years for his invention to reach the health market for use.
The title of the segment was "A Spark Of Creativity: Key Strategies For The Innovation Journey".
Jack Elston, in the upper right panel, invented an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for sampling severe convective storms.
In other words, he has weather drones that successfully fly into tornados and gather data for analysis.
The lower panel shows Ben Johnson, who worked with his father, Chad Johnson, to invent the Grain Weevil, a robot designed for management work in grain bins, a place extremely hazardous for humans.
Both of these young men made this point about becoming an inventor: tackle a problem that's close to you, to solve a problem in your own community.
That's exactly what I had done in the summer of 2016!
I was teaching introductory college chemistry to a blind student that term and found he had hardly any resources.
There was an electronic system for the Periodic Table, but it was very expensive.
Determined to help him, I set about to make something tactile, inspired by a community fundraiser for a blind child in elementary school.
My first attempt was done by placing raised letters on a wall poster-sized Periodic Table; that didn't quite do the trick.
So I broke the Periodic Table into pieces, concentrating on the Representative Elements first, as that would help explain valence electrons and Lewis Dots.
That was critical for my student's understanding of bonding, which was all part of the first part of the course.
Not only did that work well for him, but the file folder protected the attached raised letters and numbers when it was placed into his bookbag.
Success!
Well, success on my part for making the variation for him and showing him how to use it.
Sadly, like most summer students, he didn't apply himself to studying, even admitting to me that he had not.
Still, my invention had worked... and I was encouraged to get it patented.
Ah, but first there would have to be a patent search to make sure no one else had already created what I had... and that revealed my tactile Periodic Table was unique!
Good to know that was money well spent on my part!
I then proceeded to expand my tactile Periodic Table, adding the Transitional Elements on an extension that fit precisely onto the original invention.
Within a year, I had a provisional patent on my invention, protecting my intellectual property from any others that might have the same notion.
Early in 2018, For Sale By Inventor - the firm handling my patent application - had created a video to tell others of my Periodic Table - hooray!
Later that year, a government shutdown stopped movement forward at USPTO, with naught else done there about my invention until the following spring.
Another slowdown occurred when the pandemic struck, but it looked like movement toward getting the long-awaited patent on my invention would proceed in August of 2020.
So, that's three years after I paid $16,000 to start the patent application process.
However, by the luck of the draw, the reviewer assigned to grant passage to my patent turned out to be one of the most persnickety ever, slowing the process again.
No one had ever warned me about such a person at the USPTO.
Such a disappointing time that was!
Then, at last, it was finally approved!!!
The date was January 4, 2022.
Five and a half years had elapsed from the time I received the provisional patent to the granting of the industrial patent on my invention.
I had no idea it would take so long.
As I learned today, that's more typical than I'd known at the time.
Rawand Rasheed, in the upper right, developed Helix Earth, a retrofit HVAC system that cut energy use while also improving indoor air quality.
The lower left of the screen is Chad Johnson, again talking of Grain Weevil.
The lone woman is Aisha McCain, a three-time cancer survivor, who was inspired by her own experiences to obtain several medical patents, including ones for Drain Care Wear, Smart Sleeve, and the Everyday Hero app.
They all talked of the importance of marketing to not only move the product into the world, but also to get the funding to pursue a patent.
I went to each, hoping for an answer to my question.
"I have a patent already, but have stalled out, financially, on how to get it to market. Is this the panel that can help get my educational tool for the blind into the market?"
Each time, I was referred to the Small Business Association.
That doesn't sound like the place I need.
I need one that would protect me from dealing with scam artists.
I've already had dealings with several of those, starting just two weeks after my patent was made official.
I'm hoping the sessions tomorrow from USPTO will be more helpful.
1 comment:
The second day of the conference did not answer my question, either.
My best recourse, and perhaps only one, is to contact the Savannah Center For The Blind And Low Vision and ask for their help.
I hope Lois Modell is still there, as she was the one I was referred to at the Lions Club luncheon.
https://beachwalksoffaustina.blogspot.com/2023/01/lions-and-legionnaires.html
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