OH Julie… HA now you got my hyperactivity mode a runnin thinking of all the conflict resolution at the jail and MH… :) eeeek !!! If i get a BIG SPARK i’ll email ya Don… :)))) and say it’s Julie’s fault then we can resolve that … :))))

The Monte Cristo is a favorite drink of mine.. if made correctly ;)

Don, I see Fairin as a natural fit for your conflict resolution game: she could give you real life stories. Probably also for the book.

The Monte Cristo sandwich is one of my favorites, if it is made correctly.

All of my entries will be patent pending with prototypes. ; )

For the record: I never even proceed with an invention unless I know i can make a good working prototype or have one made. I cannot count the number of times I have built a great prototype and then proceeded to improve my inventions further after seeing & working with my prototypes for awhile. Having direct access to an Objet 250 3D printer surely helps, but it isn’t always needed. Dream it, Build it, See it, Live It.

~TCOMC

I’m afraid if I understood myself I’d use it against myself…

I wonder if the app search would be close enough to publishing. Is there any way any of these could go that route? That conflict resolution game sounds like a good one for school counselors to use with kids. I mean, not a massive customer base, but that could still become a widely used tool over time. I bet it’s tough to get a “game” like that out there. You sure have an interesting bunch of skills, Don! lol

I created a conflict resolution game a long time ago – never went anywhere. I created a board game centered around traveling the US. I never sent that one out. I wrote a book for counselors that work with adolescents – that did well for a couple years.

Now I am writing a book titled: HOW TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF and decide if you want to change. I’ve done about 120 pages so far (and am still trying to understand myself). Let me know if anyone would be willing to review the book and give me feedback. This is just another way of inventing and create prototypes. Hmmmm – I wonder if EN wants to get into publishing?

Thank you Jane and Julie, not a bad idea…you know I did outline a few different ideas back in the day. ;-)

Michael, I agree with Imajane – I think the story cards are brilliant and you should resurrect them. You could even make a set for adults – all sorts of possibilities!

Michael, your story cards sound like a great app idea!

Rainer, mine all have drawings. If a prototype can be made with stuff I already have around the house, I make one and upload a few pix. I used to do a quick video of my sketches while I spoke about the concept, but I’ve gotten away from that since getting my graphic pen and uploading the images/sell sheets directly from those files. I don’t have pencil/paper sketches to photograph now. But I think the main thing is a clear and concise explanation.

Rainer, to enhance your question, think about different types of prototypes: Works-like, Looks-like, and Works-like/Looks-like.

I’ll always have some sort of drawing or rendering with mine, but I’ve worked consistently for many years at building those skills to be able to illustrate my ideas (or build comuter games.) If it is something that would lead people to say: “Really, can that work?” or if I ask myself that question in my early design stage then I figure building a Works-like prototype is a necessity. That can be time-consuming. Of the 30 or 40 invention ideas that have passed my initial sniff test, I’d say 6 or 7 are waiting on me to prove they will work. Half of the remaining would really want a rendering to best show them. Maybe three are more concept or business process oriented and at most would have diagrams to illustrate a concept. Which leaves me less than a quarter that could go with a simple illustration and description.

Sometimes I don’t know exactly how something would work, but based on what already exists I know it is easily solvable and I would feel confident that an engineer would quickly know the best implementation. Those may be better served without confusing the issue.

I have no specific successes to back any of this up, but it is my current strategy always open for re-inventing.

Hey everyone thanks for the replies…appreciate it….Don’t worry about the off topic stuff it doesn’t
bother me.Keeps the thread on top which helps with the topic replies.

:)

Rainer,
I submit written descriptions and google sketch-up designs.

Julie, sorry I missed your question. The Story Cards have been out of circulation for six or seven years now but were on the market for about 12 years. There was a time when I wanted to write Children’s Stories but knew I would need an angle in such a saturated market. So I created interchangeable stories, created the artwork using my daughters colored pencils (no computer cheating back then), sourced a playing card company (again no computer help), designed and handmade over two hundred wooden display racks and went from one gift shop to the next.
I invoiced and kept inventory out of the home and eventually used a small distributor to get them around the Country. A great experience all around. The cards had seven beginnings, seven second phase and so on through to the seven endings; 49 cards and 823,543 total story combinations. The funny thing is that at one time I had one store that I had set up, that was selling almost as many as my distributor and that store was in the town I had lived in as a child…Carmel, CA.
The patents are another story so I won’t bore you all at once.

Sorry to hijack your thread Rainer; close to 50/50 on the topic. I would probably like to do more prototyping but I’ve got this 14 trillion dollar debt that I’m trying to whittle down right now.

OH do tell SAM…!!! but perhaps we should go on into the lounge for this…Don’t wanna step on Rainers topic… it’s REALLY easy for me to get off topic… side tracked… distracted… HAR !!!! Now you made me remember a turtle i had named bubbles cuz he blew them when i held him under water….. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!

Betsy n Julie.. i get it now… profile vs dashboard… :)))) WOW Julie some of your blogs are fascinating… i only tried that married life one time… when i was 36 (thought i was dieing on the vine) lasted 1 year… HAR that was the worst year of my life !!! :)))) i always say… "i am HAPPILLY single… !!!! :)))))))) but i must say i do have allot of wonderful friends men and women….THANK YOU GOD… SPIRIT of the universe … whatever label you want to attach :))))

Fairin,
I did the same thing when I was a kid…. cats, dogs, snakes, turtles, salamanders, frogs, crayfish, bugs in general, birds… I had a Blue Jay land on my head one day and I walked around the neighborhood for about 2 hours with him up there, I was a proud 9 year old that day. I also caught a Blue Heron one day (by hand!) and brought him home to show him off… he crapped everywhere! My mother was real pleased with me that day! I’ve got a great story about a snake a Nun and a 4th grader.

Fairin you can see people’s profile page and pics that they post—-but nobody can see each others dashboards. That would be top secret!

Fairin, click on their avatar.

Off Topic.. excuse me…

Don… Yup that one avatar was actually me with my pet chicken Henny. BIG GRIN… i posted another of my friend Marge holding a hatchet and Henny… HAHAHA It does seem that really creative people can’t sit still for a minute… funny how that works into some sort of “disorder” eh? When i was recovering from surgery in 2004 i created a Pet Taxi & Emergency Transport called the Tail Wagon… it was a Big success but i had to shut it down as i couldn’t keep up with it AND work…. i tried to hire a driver but couldn’t find one to be insured and bonded for dirt wages…HAR !!!

Julie… How do you see other peoples dashboards? curious…

Hey Sam… YOU are soooooo right… i love animals since i was tiny…i used to go out in the orchards and catch field mice for pets…OMG !! i also caught snakes, had a crawdad for a pet… caterpillars.. that crawled away from me :))) and frogs… EVERYTHING i could get my hands on i called a pet… even this white moth with a furry looking head… CRAZY eh?? No wonder i was given up for adoption at birth..HAHAAAA

Don! OUTSTANDING IDEA! I’ll offer up my spare tire(s) to test your ‘lipo-dyson’ !!!!!!!!

New avatar Fairin?
I get the feeling you are an animal person.

Michael, didn’t I just read something about your story cards? Did it get deleted? I did a google search but quite a few sites showed up. I also see a patented product on your dashboard: can you tell us about your success(es)? (I don’t follow all the topics so maybe you already did this somewhere else.) Anyone with a product on the market is allowed to give the link in the threads – as long as it isn’t something you are trying to sell to help inventors. (Sure hope that I have that right….)

I like your smile Fairin and hope you make millions. Since most of us inventor types are either obsessive/compulsive or bipolar, we have to have someone moderate our activities. I actually spent my whole 401K on inventions and only made a small amount in return. It’s probably good now that I’m poor and can’t afford my ideas. Still, there a few ideas ………….

Don …. your wife must SCREAM every time she sees that “light bulb” go off in your head !!! HAHAAA EEEEEEEEEEK !!!

Now THAT I could use!

You go girl! I have one prototype for a home liposuction device on my dyson vacuum but I can’t get anyone to try it out.

Well, James, you obviously weren’t at that wet tee-shirt contest I won last month!

Hey Don,
If you can condense that reduced gravity machine to bra-size you will have a winner!

Don,
I have found that there are already a few ways to reduce gravity; exercise, diet and hot tubs. Also, point A and point B on the swing set.
Seriously though, where do you live, you know for wind direction purposes…fallout and that kind of stuff.

I always do prototypes as “proof of concept”. I think I learn a whole lot more when I make up a prototype, even if its plastic and cardboard. Years ago, I understand you had to have a working model to submit for a patent. I made one model that took up my whole garage (my wife wasn’t happy about it but it worked). I have an “idea” for reducing gravity but want to make a working prototype before I submit for a patent. I need a small nuclear reactor – kind of like one used in a nuclear submarine, to test the concept. If you come across one in a garage sale, give me a ring.

When I was searching for a manufacturer, I sent them a drawing of the pillowcase along with written instructions because it had to be made in steps. The first manufacturer had no idea what I was talking about so I decided to use the wording on the patent but that produced something that even I didn’t understand. Writing precise directions is a very difficult thing to do when you have been ‘dealing’ with the product from the beginning – even if you dismantle the prototype, you will still probably miss something. I finally found a manufacturer because I sent them an actual pillowcase, (no pattern, no instructions) and then THEY told me the steps they would take. Being open to seeing your idea through another person’s eyes is invaluable, I think. (But, that person must either be in the correct industry or someone with a keen eye who doesn’t care if they perhaps hurt your feelings. All this done with an NDA.) That’s my two cents.

Rainer, as you can now tell, we Browns can’t “keep it simple” as you requested.
;-)

Hi Rainer, if you are trying to determine if your chances are better with a prototype versus a sketch and explanation the answer is simple. It depends if the idea is a good one. Look at Emery Cat, it was introduced with a prototype. Eggies was introduced with a written explanantion. Both are finding success. I have to give EN credit they give each entry the same chance to find success. Your job is to make the presentation your best and make sure it conveys your idea so they GET the idea and see its benefits. I want to be clear I am not saying just throw gibberish on a napkin and send it in and hope someone can figure out what you are trying to say. You always want to put your best foot forward. I am saying you can spend $10,000 on a presentation and it can still be a piece of junk and not GET the point across. I get contacted by Inventors all the time asking for help wanting me to review their presentation. What they sortof say in 18 pages could be said in two paragraphs.
You can take a piece of poop and make a slick presenation and write a fantastic pitch for it, but in the end it will still be a piece of poop. You want to write a pitch that is concise, on a product that is a good idea, has market value (not value you WANT it to have) and is easy for people to see its benefits.
Here is a link to a thread I started on improving your chances in the EN Searches you may want to look through.

http://www.edisonnation.com/forums/other/topics...