Susan….in a patent you don’t want to get that specific because you will NARROW your patent protection. Just say a rough texture and it’s use or compare it vaguely and see if the examiner narrows it. If you measure specifically then someone can possibly get around you.

I had this issue on one of my patents where angle measurements were declared by my patent agent. i did not like that specific claim because someone could just go outside of my claimed angles (shape) It would not work as well but it would work and they get around me.

Same if you declare a degree of roughness exactly. Just be careful….maybe you have to for some reason of your own.

Ron Komorowski
Inventor of Handi-Straps
www.handi-straps.com

Susan, I think the word my may also be grit.
( Minute rough granules or abrasives)

Try this link for surface finish explanation

http://www.engineersedge.com/surface_finish.htm

What is grit?
When talking about sandpaper “grit” is a reference to the number of abrasive particles per inch of sandpaper. The lower the grit the rougher the sandpaper and conversely, the higher the grit number the smoother the sandpaper. This make sense if you imagine how small the particles on an 800-grit sandpaper would need to be to fit into a 1" square. Sandpaper is referred to by the size of its grit (i.e. 150-grit sandpaper).

http://www.woodturners.org/tech_tips/misc-pages...

Thanks for the info!

I had a quick conversation with my patent attorney concerning a new project I’m working on. I wanted to lay claim to a compontent that has a rough surface. My attorney said that I should technically describe the rough surface and write the claims to include “A textured surface of at least (insert grade here).” He believes saying textured, frosted, rough, etc. will not be specific enough because it’s an important element.

I would just provide a minimum grade without locking myself within a range.

The link Pat provided led me to a company that produces surface roughness scales. I’ll contact them tomorrow to see if their scale would be appropriate to describe surface roughness for my application.

Its a scientific Math Equasion way over my head. Ron can figure it out he says he’s a math whizz. OOP’S sorry Ron I mean Master Mathematician…LMAO

Susan, If you make the patent specific for a ‘graded’ rough surface, is it possible that someone could make the product with a different surface and get around your patent? Ron has a very good point which I can attest to.