ATS Inventors Corner

Originally posted by Wertdagf
I was going to train 100 crows to collect litter in return for food from an automatic despenser that would weigh and determine a food value for an item using a few lasers and a weight plate.

they are pretty smart birds... i bet if they could make a living off of collecting shiny things... they would.

My other idea was training ants to fear light like cockroaches... so they would only come out when its dark and clean your house. When the sun comes up they go hide and you have your entire house free of food particles.

That would never work. The ACLU would sue you for using slave labor and the court would make you pay the crows.

Originally posted by AwakeinNM

Originally posted by Legion2024
reply to post by BABYBULL24

 

yeah one of mine would be a baby bottle formula maker like a coffee machine makes up to 6 feeds so a new mother does not need to stumble around the kitchen in the middle of the night. steam sterilizes mixes and heats to one of a dozen presets.

THAT is an awesome idea. I am dealing with that now with a 4-month old. Mixing that stuff by hand X times a day is a pain. I think 12 presets is a lot. Do 2oz. increments from 2 to maybe 10 oz. or however much a typical newborn bottle holds.n Don't forget, formula goes bad after a couple hours so you don't want to be wasting it.

Also, you should have it be able to thaw and heat frozen breast milk, too. Moms often pump and freeze that stuff and use it for the first few months. Drop that brick-o-milk in the hopper and badabing.

Develop a proprietary bottle, too - you'll boost your bottom line.

www.uspto.gov

Protect yourself.

edit on 31-3-2012 by AwakeinNM because: (no reason given)

Big problem is that it's been done years ago. You can buy bottle warmers for a few dollars at any baby store.

So I doubt you could patent the idea, even if you added bells & whistles to make it so, the price would go way, way up & nobody would buy it.

Majority of people boil a kettle for a few secs, then pour in the water to heat the bottle. A far smaller number use bottle warmers which are dirt cheap. Heck for a few dollars you can also get the little bags to put the bottles in that keep the bottles warm for hours which is what a lot of parents also do. Make a 2/3 bottles up, give 1 to the baby, then put the other 1/2 in the keep warm bag. To put it into production, you will need to have the cash to pay a company to make it for you. You then need to get it safety checked because it's used for babies. Which doesn't come cheap. Then you need to find someone to sell it for you, which won't be easy as almost all baby stores have their own cheap branded baby warmers. In the end your talking a good few thousand to properly patent it & 100's of thousand's of dollars to get it all up & running for what amounts to an 'glorified' kettle.

The phrase 'peeing against the wind' strongly comes to mind in this instance!

My idea #1:

An elevator room. Imagine living in a house that has a room that is an elevator with windows.

My idea #2:

Mailbox answering machines. It only makes sense.


What you think about my ideas someone? Cool or what?

Originally posted by big_BHOY

Originally posted by AwakeinNM

Originally posted by Legion2024
reply to post by BABYBULL24

 

yeah one of mine would be a baby bottle formula maker like a coffee machine makes up to 6 feeds so a new mother does not need to stumble around the kitchen in the middle of the night. steam sterilizes mixes and heats to one of a dozen presets.

THAT is an awesome idea. I am dealing with that now with a 4-month old. Mixing that stuff by hand X times a day is a pain. I think 12 presets is a lot. Do 2oz. increments from 2 to maybe 10 oz. or however much a typical newborn bottle holds.n Don't forget, formula goes bad after a couple hours so you don't want to be wasting it.

Also, you should have it be able to thaw and heat frozen breast milk, too. Moms often pump and freeze that stuff and use it for the first few months. Drop that brick-o-milk in the hopper and badabing.

Develop a proprietary bottle, too - you'll boost your bottom line.

www.uspto.gov

Protect yourself.

edit on 31-3-2012 by AwakeinNM because: (no reason given)

Big problem is that it's been done years ago. You can buy bottle warmers for a few dollars at any baby store.

So I doubt you could patent the idea, even if you added bells & whistles to make it so, the price would go way, way up & nobody would buy it.

Majority of people boil a kettle for a few secs, then pour in the water to heat the bottle. A far smaller number use bottle warmers which are dirt cheap. Heck for a few dollars you can also get the little bags to put the bottles in that keep the bottles warm for hours which is what a lot of parents also do. Make a 2/3 bottles up, give 1 to the baby, then put the other 1/2 in the keep warm bag. To put it into production, you will need to have the cash to pay a company to make it for you. You then need to get it safety checked because it's used for babies. Which doesn't come cheap. Then you need to find someone to sell it for you, which won't be easy as almost all baby stores have their own cheap branded baby warmers. In the end your talking a good few thousand to properly patent it & 100's of thousand's of dollars to get it all up & running for what amounts to an 'glorified' kettle.

The phrase 'peeing against the wind' strongly comes to mind in this instance!

If I understand the guy's idea, he wants to make a machine that has a water reservoir like a coffeemaker, and also a hopper for the formula powder, so that you can dial in a quantity and press a button, and the machine dispenses hot water and formula in the right ratio - perhaps even mixing it together, All you'd have to do is put a bottle under it. I can't see everyone buying one, but some people have a lot of money and love cool stuff.

I would love to go down in history as the bloke that gave away a life changing idea for nothing and it changed the course of humanity. what a feeling that would be.

I am channeling Phage, much to his horror " Yes it would, and do you have ideas like that? What are they and where are they?"
apologies to all.

I like the idea, as already seen some unusual ideas, but hey, it is ATS

i had an idea yesterday while driving.. being followed by a cop... well long story short, theirs never a speed limit sign around when you need one.... sooo, i think someone could make a little display to put on your dash that lets you know the speed limit of any road your on at any time... gives you a lil beep when your over the limit..
just a thought..

I had an idea a while back, turns out it was invented over a decade ago and nobody has done anything with it. I was thinking more along the lines of a surface to air missile system and not airborne delivery though.

www.google.com...

Meanwhile, hundreds die from tornadoes.

I strongly agree with you. An inventors forum would be great. It would be a place where people can get feedback on their ideas on the ATS sample population I just hope nobody would be foolish enough to divulge all their plans hehe.

reply to post by RSF77


How about a hot water tank you can heat with your woodstove? Anyone any ideas?

reply to post by RSF77

I had many ideas for patents that I thought up only to find that someone had patented them recently or a long time ago. These patents were usually bought up and the technology buried. They must have interfered with the present powerful energy providers or the basics of the patents have been incorporated into military or space applications. One is also readily available to third world countries but not thought to be needed here. I can't create anything original it seems. I no longer care to investigate these other than for personal use.

reply to post by AwakeinNM


Yep, after reading the description, that's pretty much it. The point I made was that it wasn't practical for numerous reasons.

First you need to look at the target audience & figure out what your machine has that makes people want it.

Chances are if people already have a child, then they'll do it the same way as before. So your most likely looking at new parents as your primary target audience. Sales are down everywhere because of the state of the economy. Your talking a big expense for newbies. Your also looking at adding another new big countertop item in their already cluttered kitchen.

Let's break it down:

Initial setup costs.

Thousands to patent it worldwide.
Hire an engineer to build a prototype.
Buy parts in bulk + Hire staff to help you build them or get a factory to build it to your specs, who will only do so with a very high minimum order quantity to make it worth their while.
Need to find someone willing to sell/stock it for you.
Need to give it a warranty for a year, so have to keep plenty of extra spare parts plus engineer(s) to fix them when they break down.
etc, etc, etc.

[B]What will this machine do to give it an advantage compared to existing methods[/B]

It automatically drops in the formula to the water then heats it.

The existing method involves scooping the powder into the bottle, run the kettle for a few secs, or pop it all in the microwave for a few secs. Either that or throw it in a bottle warmer.

Both the machine & manual method involve physically going over putting on the cap & shaking it.

So the main selling point of this machine is to save the few secs of having to scoop in some powder & pour in water. The problem is that it's nullified by the time it takes you to initially fill the tank up with water & formula.

Chances are almost everybody will have a kettle &/or microwave in their kitchen, or will be able to afford a cheap bottle warmer.

What about making multiple bottles

If you want the machine to do it, then your talking adding many new parts to do this (increasing the risk of something going wrong inside & it ending up back at you for repair). Unless you add in multiple heating elements then it will take far longer compared to the manual method, It also increases the dimensions of the unit & obviously the cost to the consumer as well.

The manual way is the exact same as above to make say 3 bottles. Scoop in some powder & run the kettle for a few secs, pour in the water, close cap & shake, otherwise pop them all in microwave.

So even if you added multiple heating elements to the machine, it still wouldn't save you more than a few seconds compared to the manual method.

What if you want to go out with the baby

You still need something to keep the bottles warm whether the bottle was warmed in the machine or via a kettle/microwave/bottle warmer.

What about feeding in the middle of the night

If you use the machine, unless you plan to make it drive in to your room, then someone physically needs to come into the kitchen, take the bottles out, put the caps on them, then shake the bottles. Go away into bedroom & feed the baby.

The manual way is to make a couple of extra bottles up before putting baby down for the night. You already have the keep warm bag that you use when out & about with the baby. You put the extra bottles in the bag. Baby wakes you up in the middle of the night, you lean over, open the bag up, bring out a bottle & move a few yards to feed him/her. No need to run downstairs & stand in a cold kitchen while the bottle gets prepared.

So far quicker to do it the old-fashioned way!

I could go on & on, but I'm pretty sure you get the point by now. It won't save time, it won't make the whole bottle up as you still need to go to it & screw cap on etc. It won't be cheap to make, nor will people want another big machine laying around on their counter.

I like the way people try to think outside the box, but from a logical & practical pov, it's never ever gonna sell well enough to make it commercially viable. Most likely you'll be forced to try & flog huge numbers of them on fleabay at a knockdown price a short time in the future.

reply to post by big_BHOY


there are all ways wrinkles to ion out so to speak with new idea's

mixing the formula and screwing the bottle top on took a bit to work out. but i think it can be done with designer bottles that come with the machine.

I have talked to new mothers and seasoned mothers and one of the only concerns they had was as you pointed out it would be just another counter top machine that with in 6 to18months would have to be thrown away and or sold.
So with that said i have incorporated a change over unit that completely change's the unit to an coffee machine 2 in one deal type of thing but the coffee part will only have 3 cups on the line..

Also its for making bottles though the night or day at home, When you go out you just need to grab one or 2 bottles from the machine keep them in the all ready available warmers

Yeah as for moving parts and such i agree the more moving parts the higher the chances of needing repairs like most machines.

It will make up to 6 bottles as most mothers will only ever premix 2 bottles as keeping them around for an extended time can lead to nasty s breeding in the bottle.

Remember feed time though the night is not just about feeding. on average i was up changing bubs deposing nappy,s comforting bubs etc, with something like this i would not need to put the baby down.

Another advantage is no sterilization chemicals are needed.

Thank you for the positive criticism

Ohh and the Australian economy is doing fine btw

Good idea, I suffer from occasinal insomnia and on those nights I write ideas down in a notebook and go back to them later on. Some are silly but I have created a second notebook with plausible idea's for inventions. I have many so-so ideas but three or four great ideas. I'm currently working on one full time. A forum where people could discuss these things would be great!

I have had to do ALOT of research on what to do with my ideas, and sift through alot of advice on the best ways to go about it. Stay away from invent help And similar companies. Before you can have a patent you need alot more than an idea. You need prototypes and a few other things and you should prob get a lawyer.
And look for companies that specialize in manufacturing custom parts. I am going through the process with a company that does custom parts for fishing lures and they have been able to meet my specific needs and have been WAY helpful.

Anything that I know I am more than willing to share with others so they may avoid all the noise in this endevour.I dont know all there is to know as I have just started the process but I hope this helps other from hitting all the roadblocks I hit and ?'s I had.

Inventor and Insomniac
-citizenjack

reply to post by Legion2024


Trolling Alert, like you stated free ideas for the lazy, played portal 2 with people who would hack the game, than thinking on the game solution

Originally posted by uggghhh
i had an idea yesterday while driving.. being followed by a cop... well long story short, theirs never a speed limit sign around when you need one.... sooo, i think someone could make a little display to put on your dash that lets you know the speed limit of any road your on at any time... gives you a lil beep when your over the limit..
just a thought..

Done. My G.P.S. does exactly that. I've become totally dependent on it despite the fact I've lived in this city most of my life.

My idea is a broom that is attached to my supervisors a$$. While he's walking around doing nothing, he might as well be sweeping the floor. In person, I would describe it a little more crudely..........