Steve van Dulken's Patent blog

Apple and its "Advertisement in operating system" patent application

There has been a lot of publicity about Apple's new patent application for their Advertisement in operating system invention but none, as far as I could tell, actually supplied a link to the document.

In fact two applications were published on the 22 October, one in the World system and one in the US patent system. The application says that it uses an "enforcement routine" to get users of an operating system to watch advertisements before the system starts working again.

Most of the reaction has been negative, to put it mildly. A more neutral article is in the Independent, on the 16 November. Curiously, though, it states that it was released earlier in the month (no, it was in October) and was only "filtered out online yesterday". In fact both American and World patent applications appear on the day of publication on the Espacenet database.

Apple is prolific, of course, with 139 applications published through the World system in 2009 so far. A good way to monitor a company's new publications through that database is to use WO in the publication number field and say 200911 in the publication date field. 200911 translates as November 2009. This gives 7 for Apple so far this month.

Tattoos on shirt sleeves

A friend sent me a slide show of unusual inventions and it included pictures of people with apparently tattooed arms. In fact they were wearing shirts whose sleeves imitated tattoos. Rather like this photo.

A colleague, Maria Lampert, mentioned that she was aware of patents on the subject. A good way to frighten parents, especially if gloves are worn as well as it is the wrists where it is obvious that sleeves bear the apparent tattoos.

I have made a list of 9 patents on the subject.Just click on the title and then on Original Patent to see the patent document. I particularly liked the Article for Imitating a Tattoo on Skin by an investment company, of all things, who presumably liked the product and financed it. Here is the main drawing.

 

The Toshiba Dynario fuel cell

The BBC news website is often the first to tell me of interesting innovations. It has a story about Toshiba's Dynario fuel cell, which is a revolutionary development.

Fuel cells work with cathodes and anodes and need a replenishable reactant. In this case it's methanol, which can be poured from a bottle into the hand-sized device. This contains a lithium ion battery which stores the generated power from the fuel cell and -- this to me is the clever bit -- transmits the power through a USB cable to the mobile phone or other device to recharge it in just 20 seconds.

A limited number, just 3000, will be produced for sale in Japan at about £195. The cost of the methanol has to be added.

I am not sure why such a limited number is being produced -- surely it's a test launch. After all, they have gone to the trouble of making quite a few patent applications.

Above is the main drawing from the Japanese-language Fuel cell patent application (not yet available in an English text), which was published in June 2007. In fact, there are quite a few by Toshiba on the subject -- this is a list of the 15 patent applications by the company in the "world" Patent Cooperation treaty system by them where "Fuel cell" is in the title and methanol is in the English summary. 

The Dyson Air Multiplier® fan

Dyson have produced an electric fan which they claim is the first in the world that works without blades.

The Dyson Air Multiplier® fan contains a small motor at the base of a large plastic loop. This creates a flow of air over the curved surface, which brings in more air to create a draught, much the same way as air flows over an aircraft wing. Dyson say that 15 times more air is blown out than is performed by its motor. Here is the main drawing from the patent specification, which was published in March. 

 

October may seem an odd time to launch a cooling product, but the company point out that it is the perfect time to launch in Australia. The UK retail price will be about £199 -- high, perhaps, but Dyson believe that people will pay for quality. CNET has an article about it.

 

 

Saving bathwater for the garden

I was looking through the October issue of Saga, a magazine for those over 50, when I came across a brief item (page 101) stating that "a reader wrote in last month with details of his patented invention".

Martin Clack of Chichester has invented a plug that allows bathwater to drain via a hose to a water butt, or to be sprayed directly on the garden. Water conservation is a serious issue here in the UK. The published patent specification is A bath plug, and here is the main drawing.

The plug blocks the plughole and the water goes instead into the hose. It is available from Mr Clack at www.droughtplug.co.uk.

The Saga piece said "patented" -- maybe their own enthusiastic interpretation. At present in fact only an application for British protection has been published, and it awaits a decision to grant, as shown by the entry for it, GB2448863, at the official Patent Status Information website. The product is called Droughtplug®.

Pressure exchangers in desalinization

I have found Forbes magazine, perhaps surprisingly, a good source for interesting articles about inventions.

Recently I read in it an interesting article about Leif Hauge of Norway and his research into using pressure exchangers in the desalinization of sea water. Using sea water as a source of potable water has long been desirable, but the problem is the amount of power involved.

The sea water is subjected to great pressure so that the water is forced through a membrane which enables the small water molecules to pass through but not the larger salt molecules. Traditionally, the story says, that pressure was allowed to go to waste. Hauge wanted to utilise it in a pressure exchanger where the pressure was used again.

Pressure exchangers do exist but Hauge's worked on a new principle. The exiting water enters chambers in a cylinder and, as water can't compress, transfers nearly all its momentum to water entering the chambers at the other end before exiting. The cylinder spins 1000 times a minute, and is the only part that moves.

The article says that the PX-300 pressure exchanger is 4 feet long and weighs 180 pounds. 13,000 gallons of water is handled an hour. The device costs $25,000 and has 70% of the market for desalination energy-recovery devices. It needs no maintenance and pays for itself in electricity savings in about six years.

Hauge eventually lost control of the company, Energy Recovery Inc. I can trace two relevant patents, the second being his Pressure exchanger patent application. 

Vibram FiveFingers® shoes

The latest big product in footwear seems to be Vibram FiveFingers® shoes.

The idea is a shoe that fits like a glove, with each toe having its own pouch. Vibram USA is a company that has been associated with mountain boots for many years. The inventor is Italian Robert Fliri, an industrial designer. Going barefoot gives more grip, but as it can lead to injuries the shoe acts like a second skin and protects the soles.

Reactions have been compared to Marmite® as people either love the sensation or hate it, having been used to their toes being crammed into shoes.

The patent application is called Footwear having independently articuable toe portions. Here is the main drawing.

There is more information on the Primal Lifestyle website.

Photoelectric controls on street lighting

It is always interesting to hear about the technology in well-known inventions. I was looking for something else when I came across an article from 2003 about Sean Noone and his method of switching street lighting on and off by using the presence or absence of light.

It used to be that lights were switched off when it was broad daylight. Noone was an electronics engineer who had returned to Belmullet in Mayo, Ireland. There was a lot of unemployment after a local factory closed. He learnt that the usual street lighting broke down a lot (possibly connected with commands to turn on and off ?), and devised his Photoelectric control unit with cooling chamber for which he filed a patent in 1984. This is the main drawing.

The patent makes it clear that minimising the need for repair was built in. This technology is used as the standard method in Britain and Ireland, and the company employed 64 people in Belmullet when the article was written.

The X-bow on ships

I was watching a TV programme last night about redesigning ships after disasters like the loss of the Titanic and the Estonia car ferry.

A new solution is the X-bow. The traditional ship's bow is narrow and raked, but this one is designed to form a huge snout, with the bow not sticking out at all. It is inverted, and is more like a bulge.

This means that as the ship moves through the water the bow's centre of gravity is lower than is traditional. Movement forward in rough seas is easier, and the bow does not move up and down as much as normal. The ship can also move forward faster.

Here is the main drawing from the patent application from Ulstein Design AS (of Norway), Foreship arrangement for a vessel of the displacement type. 

 

It shows the ship's bow as seen from the side. The programme said that when the engineers asked that a model be tried out for seaworthiness in a testing tank, the experts scoffed and said that it would sink. On the contrary: sensors showed that in heavy seas much less pressure was being exerted on the bow than in traditional designs. It was that kind of pressure that ripped off the doors of the Estonia car ferry.

It may seem strange that it has taken so long for a new design to be thought of.

The Great Exhibition

It's interesting to watch programmes about inventions but nothing beats going to see them in person, so that you can watch demonstrations and ask questions, frequently of the inventor in person.

The Great Exhibition will be held on the 29 September to 1 October at the Lawrence Hall, Royal Horticultural Halls, London. I know that there have been other inventions exhibitions but this is the first "great exhibition" so I don't know what to expect, but I'm sure it will be stimulating. The name relates to the 1851 exhibition which mainly featured industrial art and inventions.

I am on the judging panel but don't know yet what that entails. See you there !