invention, inventor, inventions, PES Ltd

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Are you a private inventor?

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” (Mark Twain, invention investor)

PES Workshop: aerial camera mount construction

Contents:

Overview

How are we different?

Free technical appraisal

Preliminary feasibility study

First-prototyping service

Why use us? Or what can we do for you?

What to avoid

How to commercialise effectively

Overview

There are three key questions to answer...

IS IT NEW?
DOES IT WORK?
IS IT YOURS?

In this section we explain what the first steps are and outline our services (and also what you should avoid) and then there are some examples of inventions which became famous products. The real facts might surprise you: a lot of myths have grown up around these products.

There is quite a lot of information to take in but its worth reading through to help you avoid making the mistakes that so many have made before you.

But, before we go any further, a word of warning....

In the Daily Mirror ("Sorted" by Penman & Greenwood, p16, Friday 27th April 2001) the following companies were referred to as "parasites": "ISC Invention Submission Corporation", "International Technology Exchange", "International Product Design", and "Patent Trademark Institute of America". These companies are reported to have taken thousands from unwary inventors, promising huge profits but actually doing nothing apart from generating paperwork. In short check people out, do not agree to part with large sums of money in advance and ensure that companies can back up any claims they make. Find out how they make their money...If they are claiming to be able to set up a licensing deal for you then its reasonable to expect that they earn a significant amount of their income from successful licenses. If however, they earn 99.99% (more probably) of their income from inventors' fees then perhaps you should be suspicious. There is more on this subject a bit further below.

What you are embarking on is very, very difficult to achieve. Many companies will have you believe that your idea is a sure winner and will encourage you to spend your money.

How are we different?

We believe in long-term business relationships. We aren't interested in a quick short-term involvement but in a long and profitable business collaboration. In fact its true to say that its very hard to make much profit from one-off R&D projects. The key is to help these develop into long term business collaborations: as you make money from the idea, so can we.

As mentioned, there are three basic questions that you need to answer before you can bring your new product idea to the attention of a manufacturer or an investor:

IS IT NEW?
DOES IT WORK?
IS IT YOURS?

Free technical appraisal

Before we get to these however we first establish confidentiality with the inventor by providing a signed non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Then we request that the client sends a brief description in their own words along with a couple of sketches. We welcome other materials but it is extremely useful to have a summary written by the client using our project description form (click to open). Once we have received this we undertake a free technical appraisal. The objective here is to firstly establish:

that it is indeed workable
how ambitious the project is
and finally, could we make one?

"Thank you for getting back to me. I am extremely impressed by your appraisal of the idea" Dr. Sipho Mgidlana, Walking Aid project.

IS IT NEW?

The biggest mistake many people make is to assume that because they have never seen their idea in the shops it therefore doesn’t exist. It is essential to search for products and patents that might be relevant. This enables you to decide whether or not to invest further in the idea.

Preliminary Feasibility Service

We provide a ‘Preliminary Feasibility Study’ service. This is a product search and a patent search, run in parallel: the results from one feed into the other and vice-versa. For instance, sometimes a company that has manufactured a product that is relevant will have also applied for patents. So we look for patent applications made by that company. Or conversely we might find a patent that looks relevant and so we check out the people who submitted it to see if they have manufactured it. Thus the two searches tie together. We may also look at relevant research papers. In general patent searchers look for patents only. (We are aware of a UK company that has a granted patent for a device that was actually published in an academic journal by someone else forty years previously!)

The objective of the searches is to find published documents. We do not attempt to provide you with every document ever published however but to focus on the key ones which have a real bearing on the invention. The overall aim is to enable you to decide whether to take the idea further.

"Thanks so much for this extremely comprehensive report! Because there are some very similar items here, I'm going to look into how readily available they are before I decide what to do. Many thanks - an excellent service well worth the money!" (Mrs Clare Moss, baby product)

"Thanks for the feasibility study and your comments. It was surprising and encouraging to find someone had already thought of the idea although slightly different (I am not as daft as I thought). I take it that’s the end of the matter but I would like to thank-you for your professional way of dealing with the job at hand. I would not hesitate to use your services again" (Mr. Steven Park, relaxation aid)

Once you feel comfortable that there is a good chance that it is new, we can move on to building a prototype.

DOES IT WORK?

First-prototyping service

Until you have built and tested it you will never really know if it works as you expect it to.

We have made many prototype devices and in every case something was discovered, problems were solved, and the idea was developed. These things can then be incorporated into your patent application.

The first stage is to make a ‘first-prototype’. This usually needs to be done in a workshop initially. That is, it is a false economy to skip this stage and go straight to the product design. It is necessary to first make something to test out the functionality as a proof-of-concept exercise. The design of how it ‘looks and feels’ is an essential part of the process but comes later on. Initially you must prove that it works: first to yourself, then to others.

Bottle carrier (Allan Jacobs)

Pilot studies

Sometimes we propose undertaking a pilot study. This is usually done to resolve a technical uncertainty before proceeding to the prototype stage. It is a cost-effective way to evaluate uncertainty before committing to a full prototype. In the 'bottle carrier' example above, four mock up devices were made and tested before the final design was selected.

IS IT YOURS?

It is not your intellectual property (IP) until you have protected it. Normally that means to apply for a patent (though not in every case).

We work closely with a chartered patent attorney to help you secure the rights to your invention.

Whatever has been discovered in the first-prototype stage can be incorporated into the Patent Specification.

(See also the Intellectual Property 'IP' page)

Why use us? Or, what can we do for you?

Bob Symes of Tomorrows World fame writes in his book "EUREKA! The book of inventing" that Rule 5 (of his 10 Rules for Inventors) is to build a working model. Mr Symes writes (p64):

"...It is quite astonishing how different the 3-D version of an invention can be from its 2-D representation on paper. This is where a working model comes in useful.."

Sir Alan Sugar wrote in his column A Spoonful of Sugar (Daily Mirror, Thursday, April 13, 2001):

"...It appears to me that you help in the development and making of prototypes. One of the most frequent questions asked of me is where to get prototypes and samples made and I am pleased to see that your small firm is ready and able to help people. I will certainly pass your name on to some past readers of my column..."

Our expertise lies in researching and developing ideas through the construction and testing of working models or first-prototypes. Pre-production prototyping comes much further along the line towards manufacturing. We do not produce thick, glossy documents to promote your invention. We simply make a technical assessment of the idea research novelty, and then build one and test it.

Once you have protected your intellectual property rights (IPR) and you have a prototype (and you have applied for a patent) we can assist you with the next stages towards commercialisation.

If you can build a working model yourself we suggest that you should do just that. However, perhaps you do not have the resources necessary to do this?

It may well be a false economy.

What to avoid?

Firstly do not hand over thousands of pounds (in advance) to companies who claim to promote inventions (see ‘Avoid the sharks” above). Check everyone out first. Some companies have been discredited by the BERR (formerly DTI) and others...that is, they are basically operating scams! Typically they will undertake a research study for you for £500 or so. The result of this will be a thick glossy, professional-looking report with artist’s impressions and a lot of ‘marketing data’ plus some patent research results. In practice if you look closely you will notice that the marketing data could apply to any number of products and the patent search results will support them as they attempt to encourage you to invest in your world-beating idea. However the next stage will be a request for something like £6000 to enable them to approach companies on your behalf. If you pay this you will receive nothing but paperwork in return. Over the years we have spoken to many people who have been taken in like this. One man paid a company over £15,000 because they kept telling him they needed more. He trusted them and lost it all with nothing to show but paperwork.

Licensing: the inventors' holy grail!

Even if the company is bonafide, it may still be a very bad idea to hand over a large sum of money to them. A large American company has recently been contacting patent owners in the UK and promoting their services. A client of ours has used them. They charge something like £15,000 and claim a success rate of about 5%. That is just 1 in 20. Those are slim odds when such sums are concerned. The point is, that this company earns 95% of their income from advance fees from inventors. the success rate isn't important when such sums are concerned.

Inventors subculture

Avoid also what might be termed the ‘inventing subculture’. That is, if you are seriously interested in making money you should avoid falling into the ‘expensive hobby’ trap. Thousands of people in this country spend some of their money on their project and then hold onto the belief that one day a big company will knock on their door and take their invention from them in return for royalty payments. In reality this almost never happens. Licensing does happen but it invariably takes place between established businesses. A case in point is Ron Hickman, inventor of the Black and Decker Workmate (more below on this).

Patenting as an end in itself and the lure of international patenting

(To follow)

So having identified what you should avoid, how can you commercialise your idea?

How to commercialise effectively

General information

There are two ways to earn money from an invention:

Licensing to an existing manufacturer
Manufacturing it yourself

Licensing basically entails handing over the invention to a third party in return for a royalty or lump sum payment (or both) for a certain period of time and under agreed conditions. The problem with licensing is that it is very enticing ....it appears to offer riches at very low risk....but also extremely difficult. In reality very few inventors are successful. The ones that are tend to become household names such as Trevor Baylis (windup radio) and Ron Hickman (Black and Decker Workmate).

Teamwork is essential. You need a team of trusted people. This team might include your engineering/development colleagues (PES for instance!), your patent agent, your business advisors and so on. Working in isolation will not work because you can't possibly be expected to have sufficient expertise in all fields.

Be 'ruthless' with your idea and with yourself. Expect the worst. Avoid naively 'believing in' your idea. You should believe in it but only after it has been through a proper process of checking and 'due diligence. Be willing to abandon it if it doesn't fare well when examined in detail.

The most important thing really is to never give up. Never be defeated that is. You can decide to abandon a project for various reasons, but at all costs persevere if you are convinced it can be a success.

How to get from the initial stages to a saleable product?

A reasonable more complete plan is listed below:

Research for novelty
Build and test a first-prototype
Protect IPR (apply for a patent etc)
Research what standards (health and safety) need to be adhered to
Finalise design accordingly
Create (at least one) pre-production version
Test extensively
Modify design if required (minor modifications only at this stage)
Proceed to setting-up/tooling for first batch manufacturing
Manufacture of product samples
Testing/certification of samples
Small batch manufacture
Sales

(This does not of course include all the steps that are required in order to be able to sell a product, such as: logo design, packaging, bar code registration, demonstrating samples to potential buyers, business planning and so on: see Business Services pages for more information).

All of the above does require investment.

For more information please see elsewhere on this site. Of particular interest might be the Case Studies.

Some famous examples

Example 1: Black and Decker Workmate

Ron Hickman invented the Black and Decker 'Workmate' in 1961. Most people believe that he was an English 'everyman' who sold his invention to Black & Decker and became rich. He did, but the story is more involved than that.

Ron Hickman's patent drawing

Mr Hickman wrote an article in the CIPA Journal (Vol 34, No. 1 Jan 2005) explaining how he was successful with his invention. He firstly made a number of prototypes and then he approached various manufacturers in 1968 including Stanley, Record, Black & Decker, Burgess, Polycell, Salmens and Marples. All these rejected it as having no commercial potential.

Mr Hickman then set up his own business and within 4 years was selling 14,000 units annually, mainly by mail order. It was then that Walter Goldsmith of Black and Decker approached him. A licence was agreed and by 1981 ten million had been sold and over 60 million have been sold to date.

One thing that isn't known is that Mr Hickman was a designer for Lotus sports cars and he designed the Lotus Elan. So yes, he successfully licensed his invention but only once he had manufactured and successfully sold thousands of them himself and he was already an accomplished engineer before he began.

We believe that this approach is the only valid way to attempt to earn money from an invention.

However you do not need to have quite the level of good fortune as Mr Hickman. Tim Jones began developing his product, The Smart-Slice with us in 2004 and he is now supplying customers in the UK and in mainland Europe. For more information please see the Case Studies page).

Example 2: Trevor Baylis and the wind-up radio

Trevor Baylis is more famous than Ron Hickman and his story can be read in his excellent autobiography "Clock this: my life as an inventor" (Headline Book Publishing, 1999). What is not known so much is that Mr Baylis was a very accomplished engineer.

(More details to follow)

Example 3: James Dyson and the bagless vacuum cleaner

Again, James Dyson very famous and his story can be read in his excellent autobiography "Against The Odds" (published by Orion Business Books). What is not known so much is that Mr Dyson was also a very accomplished designer.By the time he thought of the bagless vacuum cleaner he had already designed military equipment and had set up a factory around another invention of his: the "Ballbarrow". This won the Building Design Innovation Award in 1977.

(More details to follow)