Why money doesn't matter... and why you should never, ever, give up

Hi, Doug:

Hello from Willoughby Hills, Ohio. Interesting discussion.

Coincidentally I chose " Never, ever give up" as my sig line. I used to have a pic of a frog, half swallowed by a pelican, holding on and struggling to get out of trouble, with that caption, hanging over my desk.

You mentioned sales people presenting a new product or idea and getting turned away. I used to buy/sell anything tech related. New sales personnel would visit the warehouse and invariably say " I can't sell that &#)*. I would say to them "Go visit a garden center. There, you'll find bags of a material known as manure. It's horse &#)* in a bag. If a garden center can sell crap in a bag, we can certainly sell these items we have." And we did.

Anyway, back in 2003 my computer related job changed a tad and I had to do extremely repetitive work for as long as 12 hrs a day. My arm was killing me. It hurt. We're not talking simple carpal tunnel syndrome. This was so severe my entire arm hurt. So, necessity being the mother of invention, I made something that completely alleviated the pain. It's here now, in use. It is truly made from a few household items as I do not have a lot of $ and/or a machine shop to make it as I would like to. But it works and cost me nada, except a few minutes of time and the items previously mentioned.

I looked on Google patents and elsewhere and can find nothing along the lines of what I have. I also searched your site for the connect + develop link you mentioned back in 8-07 ( I believe it was around there) where you mentioned a person could possibly sell an idea/invention.

I don't have a lot of $ and I don't know if I should file a provisional patent, pay a lawyer a few hundred $ to do so, or what exactly to do at this point. The only thing I do know is this device will be inexpensive to manufacture and therefore affordable for anyone that needs this. I thought of contacting health insurance companies in an attempt to market it, as it would save them money in health care payments to people that get these types of injuries. The current devices out there do not address the health concerns as well as this does.

When you have time let me know what you would do if in my position.

I also have an idea for a real IED obviation device. I contacted the DOD. But once again $ is my roadblock. I used to work with USAF armaments. So, I have some knowledge and experience in the field. I just don't have a fancy lab like the guys at Bellcore, etc. I have only what I have and that's not going to hack it.

One last item. Can an individual like myself visit your facility? Or do I have to be part of a company>

Best regards,

athodyd
(MJL)