My Patents

Many years ago the issue of traffic delay caused by lane blockage during expressway repair was frequently in the news.  Keeping a lane open during its repair by routing the traffic over it with a 4.5 ft high by 160 ft long bridge was the subject of my "MORV" patent.  Issued in 1964, this patent described repair equipment mounted under the "mobile overpass road-repair vehicle", traffic control and throughput over it, and advanced patching techniques.  Although providing a smooth highway with extended life seems important, the politics of highway construction and maintenance are probably in control.

Although patents may only be issued in the name of the actual inventor, one concept I developed for an industrial client was patented by him in his name.  The problem was a noisy, impacting swinging gate.  My solution involved a unique geometry for cushioning both opening and closing of the gate with a single shock absorber.

Patent infringement and mechanical design

Before investing effort in a detailed design, an engineer with a new concept should immediately perform a state-of-the-art search,  www.freepatentsonline.com provides free, key-word access to patents and more.  Older patents showing your concept are not a bar to your manufacturing, but are prior art and a bar to your being granted a  patent.  Sometimes, a professional state-of-the-art search is a good investment even early in the problem definition process.  On one occasion I paid for most of a patent application before traveling to DC and finding a 1940 patent that described my idea almost exactly.  (Several years ago older patents were not available to online searching.)

Today, individual inventors can file a provisional patent at very low cost and effort.  The provisionals aren't evaluated by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but create a record of invention date.  This gives the inventor freedom to discuss his/her concept without asking for non-disclosure agreements.  For more information please see - www.rollindix.biz.