WET Fiberglass and Plastic Film Composite gets boat form with its own weight

Some of those wacky ideas actually work, like hydroforming metal, explosive bonding dissimilar metals, etc. Out of a 100 of these, you'll get one that is worth moving forward with and out of 100 of these, maybe a few that end up being practical.

Depends on how stretchy the fabric is Gonzo, though a good idea if it's not too stretchy. It'll still be difficult to get desirable shapes, such as hardening of the bilge turn or much more than a plumb or straight stem, etc.

 

PAR- There is one process I have known but never really kicked off. Wet FG is laid on a mold and covered with peel ply. A bladder was then placed on top and inflated with water pressure, like hydroforming.

 

After being involved in several law suites for patten infringement and other things, I can tell you there's nothing really new, or maybe I should say very few new, ideas out there.

We had patents on a method of building an item, another company copied our products down to the smallest detail, so the owner of the company sued them.

After a week of depositions where they grilled me on every detail of our patents and a dozen or more others from the 30's 40's and 50's that were so close to what we reinvented in the 80's that they were almost indistinguishable, we folded our hand. The other guys went out of business due to poor quality a short time later.

After that I started looking at old patents in the composites industry, most things have been thought of before, but either due to lack of technology, need, products or the cost, the ideas didn't catch on. As time goes on the resins and equipment get better, plus with emission regulations getting stricter, the methods get reinvented.

I've let glass hang or sag to get the right shape, even done it with plastic sheeting, but I don't think I ever made a boat that way.

 

"I can tell you there's nothing really new, or maybe I should say very few new, ideas out there."

Perhaps the gov buroRats were correct in wanting to close the patent office in the 1860'S?

 

Rather than throw the whole process out, there certainly must be some ways to improve it. This might be a step in the right direction :

http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme...been-friendly-to-patent-challenges-1466436451

 

This guy is a writer but I think he sort of agrees with you.

"Everything has been done. Give up now."

http://www.inoveryourhead.net/2011/10/12/everything-has-been-done-give-up-now/

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Hah! Lurking around I came across this...

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

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This is the sad commentary of the disenchanted, those that have surrendered and given up. Most of these folks look back and think of the good old days as being better.

I disagree, we're in the best times now and it's getting better. This is the mindset of someone still looking forward, someone that hasn't given up and become cynical yet.

Yes, much of everything is a rehashing of previous stuff, but if it wasn't for the thought provoking the original provided, inspiration wouldn't get a chance to grow. This is the whole point of evolution and development. Yeah, sure original ideas are rare, but they still do occur, though only those that still look forward see them.

There's an old adage among racers, which is to place yourself in a position to win, on the last lap. The same is true of innovation and development, you have to be amenable to the possibility of change. You might be stuck firmly in 3rd place at the moment, but if you look forward to the next jibe and capitalize on a mistake, you might win.

We've all had lightbulbs go off in our heads when confronted with a set of problems. These lightbulb moments need electron flow to fire up, which doesn't come from waning dreams of a bygone era, but from actively seeking and moving forward in the hamster wheel of life.

 

Beautifully written. Bravo!!!

 

I don't think anyone here is seriously disenchanted or has given up. The site I referred to is more of a hyperbolic comedy piece.

I don't think ondavr is talking about people in general and their ingenuity and cleverness in making things, I think he's talking about the patent system, which is pretty much a fairy tale for regular people. Most new things aren't very new, they're just little variations on what's already been done. Velcro is almost an exact copy of those big round burrs that get stuck to your clothes, all that guy did was figure out a use for it while pulling them off his clothes. And if you do get a patent for something, maybe costing you $10-15,000, a simple defense effort on your part from someone claiming infringement will cost you $250,000. That's pretty much the least you can get by with. Patents are for people with money and lawyers.

Fast Fred's thing about the bureaucrats wanting to close the patent office might be referring to the statement that "everything that can be invented has been invented", which has been erroneously attributed to Patent Commissioner Charles Duell, but actually came from an 1899 comedy magazine. http://patentlyo.com/patent/2011/01...g-that-can-be-invented-has-been-invented.html

In 1843, a Patent Commissioner named Henry Ellsworth made a report to Congress stating "The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end." That sounds sort of naive or something, but not necessarily sad or disenchanted. Skid row and the homeless, winos and addicts, that's where you'll find sad, disenchanted folks who have given up.

The Patent Commissioner above, Charles Duell, made the statement in 1902 that "In my opinion, all previous advances in the various lines of invention will appear totally insignificant when compared with those which the present century will witness. I almost wish that I might live my life over again to see the wonders which are at the threshold."

That statement was very prophetic and very positive, accept for the curious "I almost wish..."

Mustafa does come up with numerous ideas, some better than others. He is an outside the box thinker.

 

Ideas are not inventions. Good inventions are something that gets built and works better or cheaper than previous technology. Mustafa seemed offended to be asked to build panels and show that his idea works.

 

My post was based on the composites industry and the many "new" ideas and technologies that were actually proven and patented decades ago when fiberglass was a little known term, it didn't go any deeper than that.

 

Gonzo, you don't need a working prototype to get a patent, so ideas can more or less be patented. What's crazy is food (Monsanto), dna (genetics), business methods and stuff like that can be patented. Mustafa is a thinker, not so much a doer.

ondarvr, sorry for speaking for you. As you view the composite industry, I view pretty much the whole mechanical field. Most new patents now are with electrical (electronics), chemical (pharmaceutical) and things like dna (genetics). Things that regular people don't deal with (except for paying monopolies exorbitant prices for lifesaving drugs or crop seeds etc). Being granted a patent doesn't even gaurantee you have a novel idea, in almost 2 out of 3 patent infringment cases that go to trial, the patents are overturned. For a lot of people, having a patent is a license to extort. 67% of infringment trials are instigated by NPEs, non-practicing entities, folks who have a patent and with no intention to develop it suing people actually making things. It costs so much to defend a patent, claims are usually settled out of court for smaller sums, usually involving giving the plaintiff, the NPE, royalties, or a cut of the action. As in a lot of everyday things, it somewhat resembles the way the Mafia operates.

 

Sounds a lot like taxes!

 

a fly is small but discusting , my reaction to trumps , they spill their wrong and useless ideas like an toxic waste. They poison many. If I was a moderator , I would ban 1/4 of the forum users.