Yes, I remember when recycling garbage was first implemented into our daily lives. Separating garbage into paper, cans, and glass containers became the law and the thing to do in our town. I was a young nurse working in the hospital, and at that time the hospital used laundry bins. The laundry bins were three separate bins, but were connected and mounted on wheels. I thought about the concept of having the three containers connected to separate or recycle garbage at home. Two years later I was shopping and saw my idea on the market.

When Tivo first came out, I thought it would be neat to have that feature on your car audio system (pause, rewind, record a talk show, etc.).

I thought about it again when I started hangin’ out here… Then last week I saw one in a Crutchfield Catalog.

:-(

As a child I saw my mom and aunt painting their toes. It was so funny seeing them trying to keep their toes apart not to mess up the nail polish. I told my uncle there should be something to keep the toes apart. Unfortunately I never thought any further about it. Now the seperators are even in dollar stores.

Mary; I love the separators. They are so clever! Do you know if the inventor has made any money?

The ‘Powermat’ is a recent instance. I had explained how this would work years ago to a girlfriend of mine. To include the different cases that had the charger circuitry in it. Just come home and set your cell phone, ipod, or whatever down on the charger station and it would charge through inductance. I had wondered why noone had came up with it before. I just figured the inductive field would induce a current inside the charging device and could damage it so I never made a prototype or anything. But there have been others :(

Reminds me of one of my favorite Dr. Evil quotes: “My father would make outrageous claims like I invented the question mark”

Non evelyn, I don’t know who invented them or even when they first came out. But they are easy to find so they must be selling fairly well.

When I was a child (11)
I was playing with a shoe box and a clear bic pen. I put the pen partially into a hole in the side of the (turned upside down)
box and peered into a second hole on the the other side of the box. I noticed the inside of the box was illuminated from the outside light throught the bic pen (tube) and thought this would be a great way to light our kitchen, instead of the florecent tubes we currently are using without having to use electricity, in my twenties I read an article of a man who invented and patented a “skylight” product similar to what I envisioned.

I have missed the boat a number of times, but it was not due to not trying. I take those misses from a positive slant. Yes, someone else got it to market before me, but it also means I was thinking in the right area. It validates my research that the idea was marketable. Now, whether it is going to be a huge seller is up to the consumer. I don’t hate the person that got to market before me. Actually, I wish them the best of success. I want to see anyone that has the heart and a good idea work through the inventing system and find succees for their efforts.
That is what separates a lot of Inventors from others. Are you out there trying as hard as you can or sitting back wishing a company would magically know you are alive and have an idea and contact you? Are you the spectator or the player? Seeing ideas you had on the shelf or getting rejections for your submissions are just a part of the game/business. I don’t know anyone that has been successful in any venture that did not also have the pleasure of failing. Everyone has heard the phrase “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” That also applies to inventing with a slight change. “If you survive your failures and learn from them it can only makes you smarter.”

I have a favorite phrase that I think sums it up for many areas of your life.

“Dreams are accomplished by those that do, not by those who wish.”

http://www.rogerbrown.net

Just last week or maybe the one before lol, a product I have been working on came on the market. My question to anyone who wants to answer is. If my product is different in design to the one that just came out can I still pursue mine and get it on the market. It seems there is interest out there for it. thanks for your insight.

Mary

Mary, make sure you are not violating any patents or IP of the other product. If not, then you should be in the clear.

Let us know over in the “patent” forum if you need help with your searching. Ideally, the other product will be marked with a patent number or “Patent Pending” if they have filed a patent.

Okay so I have gotten a name for myself among family and friends. Years ago it seemed evrytime I got a good idea boom 6 months later there it was.

Starting with the built into car car seat. This idea I sat on (pun intended) for about 2 years it was about 25 years ago and obtaining a patent was not as easy as it is today. Communicating with retailers was next to impossible also. I was in the midst of obtaining a patent when a friend called and told me they saw a commercial for my built in car car seat. UGH!!!!

Next would be the big huge rolls of toilet paper and sanitary shield in public bathrooms. I worked as a janitor at a federal building and use to pile up the broom handle with tons of rolls of tp to load up the bathrooms each day. (See necessity is the Mother of invention.) In this situation just another case of “great minds think alike”. Missed it by thaat much.

Then there’s the tweak to the disposable bottle. I even wrote Playtex about my idea. Saved the letter BTW. I wrote them about making their disposable bottles freezable and able to pump directly into and store breast milk (ziploc style) . Aaannnyyyway. They responded with a generic Thank you for writing we have a professional staff of people working to make our products better and chances are they are already working on the idea you submitted. Yata, yata, yeah right. Probably, how can I prove it wasn’t?

Oh yes and the nighttime incontinence discrete disposable underwear. Again I mailed my idea this time to Kimberly-Clark. (Them being the leaders in disposable undergarments.) I received the same basic response as I had from Playtex. Six months to a year later Goodnites were being sold. I then learned that mailing my ideas was not the way to go about getting my inventions out there (with me behind them anyway. I don’t send my info directly any more!! Now I’m not disputing that they weren’t already working on it cuz for it to come out that quickly they probably were; but can i just say UGH!

I then went the route of invention submission company and I pulled out before any monetary loss to me. My idea for that submission was a child locator.

So now I am very happy to be pursuing my current ideas thru EN and anxiously awaiting EE S4.

A true inventor is just one thought away from the next great idea.

I think everyone has ideas they never pursued and then seen them on the shelves later….I have all to many times….