Oklahoma Inventors Congress
Stillwater Chapter

The Oklahoma Inventors Congress was established by the state legislature in 1966 to assist Oklahoma inventors in patenting, licensing, developing, manufacturing and marketing their inventions. It consists of a number of chapters in cities across the state who meet regularly to assist one another in these endeavors. By sharing with each other we learn more about the process of inventing and avoid many pitfalls along the way. Please come out and join us!

January 23rd 2000 the Stillwater Chapter was moved to inactive status due to the poor meeting attendance and to the excellent resources locally available from the OSU Patent & Trademark Library and the Inventors Assistance Service (links to both web sites are at bottom of this page.) The letter announcing the status change and indicating how local inventors can be sure they are still connected to all the latest information is posted here as a Microsoft Word document. This website will no longer be updated. Thank you for your efforts and I encourage you to remain active in the inventing process and in the Oklahoma Inventors Congress.

Gary Polson

Past Meetings

1999

Our January 14th meeting was attended by about 20 area folks with interest in inventing and was a great success. The meeting was held in conjunction with a local internet club (SPIN). Gary Polson presented two presentations on "Using the Internet to Research and Develop Innovative New Product Ideas." Afterwards we had a short business meeting to plan future meetings.

The February 25th meeting was held at the Patent & Trademark Library in the CITD building at OSU. Julia gave a nice "walk though" of the resources available there, passed out several handouts, and described the services they do and do not offer. Basically, you schedule an appointment and they will assist you in learning the basic tools and methods of patent searching. It is your responsibility to do your own search. They do have excellent tools and copies of all U.S. patents.

Jill was in attendance from the Invention Assistance Service, so we asked her to describe their operation. She showed us a nice "trade show" board with a flow chart illustrating the processes an inventor must go through to eventually market their product and explained how they try to help inventors through the process. She also told us the IAS will be having a workshop on May 15th, more details to be available later.

Attendees had an opportunity to received help on their current problems and several general questions were fielded.

Gary Polson related his experiences with the Okie Grip barbell collar (recognizing the opportunity of improving the existing barbell collars, inventing Okie Grips, patenting, manufacturing, marketing, and some patent infringement experiences).

The March 25th meeting was especially lively. We had a nice turnout and listened to Dr. Allen describe and demonstrate his unique computer keyboard. The keyboard places the hands at a more natural angle and each finger goes into a holder that allows it to activate 3 keys. He described his process from conception of the idea to his most recent prototype and its construction method (stereo lithography).

Bill Baker, state president, updated us on the "book project" (gathering new products into a binder as a step to interest manufacturers) and some of the funding opportunities available to inventors.

Dr. Yalcintas, recently appointed as OSU Director of Technology Transfer, spoke about his new position and some of his prior job at Oakridge Labs. He described the new process the university will be using to seek out and commercialize new technologies.

During "Show and Tell", three of our attendees showed a very interesting small "kit" formed from readily available parts that could have significant commercial demand. They felt the product itself was not patentable and were seeking help in how best to proceed. Other attendees offered many suggestions and ideas on how this concept might proceed. The group already have a very well done prototype and a trade name selected. We look forward to hearing more about the progress of these inventors.

April 29th we heard a great presentation from Jamie Mc. Cracken and Kathy Goff on their stairway rescue device (tool to assist elderly and handicapped down stairways in rescue situations) and their Turtleshells (protective sports bra). They told of the long route from concept to production. It was very interesting.

We decided to have one more meeting (May 27th) and then shut down until fall.

May 27th we heard from Denise Kunesh, a local inventor, sharing experiences about her inflatable sock invention. She has relatively narrow heels and her foot blisters easily on long hikes because it slides around in shoes. By incorporating a inflatable pouch inside the sock, along the sides of her heel, the problem is eliminated It was very interesting to see how she had found help in developing the 1st prototype and many ideas were exchanged about possible future applications of the sock. Military applications, prosthesis applications, serious runners and others were mentioned by the crowd as potential users.

Congratulations to Julia who was in Sweden presenting some papers at a patent congress! We agreed to shut down the meetings till the 4th Thursday of September.

Sept. 23rd Gary Polson presented a session beginning with our summer assigned problem, how for police to stop a speed car. Some methods under development were discussed. Then a problem for the group to solve was presented. How to prevent rowdy fans from tearing down football goal posts after a big victory. Many novel ideas were developed and good time was had by all.

Oct 28th Gary Polson will reported on the state OIC meeting at the state fair and presented a program on Retro Inventions. Many old ideas are staying alive as niche products, being re-invented with new materials, how fads might be recycled, and the potential for certain ideas in third world countries. He will illustrate many examples of rekindled ideas such as very high end record players using lasers to read old vinyl records (no wear), use of electronic vacuum tubes in ultra high end stereos for improved sound and new uses for washboards. It was tentatively decided to meet the first Thursday in December since the 4th Thursday in November is Thanksgiving.

Future Possible Meeting Topics

In recent years, many significant changes have occurred that influence local inventors. Several state groups now provide assistance or resources to inventors in addition to the Patent & Trademark Library at OSU:

Area Special Inventing Events include:

Several local inventors have been successful. We could have them come and share their experiences.

Local efforts include the business incubator at Meridian Technology Center and the new High Tech Business Park now under development.

Recently passed state questions (680 and 681) allowing company research to be done in university facilities and allowing faculty and staff to develop their own innovations opens up an entire new set of local inventors and questions.

Recent changes in U.S. Patent law (extending the patent period), patent topics currently in the news (submarine patents, techniques being used by drug companies as major brand drug patents expire), proposed changes to U.S. Patent law (publish applications), the availability of patent information on the internet, the explosion in availability of international patent information and recent developments in patent data mining are just a few of the more recent developments in the patent arena.

Several new local high tech business are based on new products or new product development and might be potential speakers or facility tour opportunities.

The state has established new tax incentives that can be of benefit to inventors.

Some topics we repeatedly used in the past included: "Show and Tells" of our own inventions and discussions of our problems, "The U.S. Patent System", "How to Obtain a Patent for Your Invention" and "How to Avoid Invention Promotion Scams."

Some new techniques such as Literature Based Discovery could be reviewed explored.

Additional patent topics might include: What is patent infringement?, What normally happens in infringement situations? How to read patents and patent claims, How to license a patent, What is a patent worth? and Patent Citation Mapping.

Tours and speakers on the many new developments mixed in with the repeatedly used topics from the past and some of the other potential topics listed should supply an almost endless supply of meeting topics.

The OSU Patent and Trademark Library has offered their facilities as a meeting place, so we potentially have a regular place to meet (don't forget the first meeting is at ProValue Net).

We will try to include topics of interest to all inventor groups represented in our area:

Reorganizing the Stillwater Chapter has provided some great opportunities for learning, inventing, personal growth and local economic development. Please come out and be a part of this experience!

If you have any questions or comments at all, please drop me a line or give me a call. Also, you certainly do not have to RSVP to attend the meeting, but if you do think you are coming we would appreciate hearing from you.

Gary Polson
(405) 377-7100
polsong@virtualpet.com

LINKS

21 Jan slides