Shop4Patents

“I thought I would write to tell you a little about the Invent Now Challenge and my experiences in New York City where my DC-AC Soft-Switching Inverter was presented to a final judging panel. The sponsors and administrators for the contest were superb in the way they treated all the semifinalists. I recommend the 2008 Invent Now Challenge to all inventors because it is a fine way not only to show your own invention, but to also meet other inventors and see their enthusiasm and professionalism.

I must say though, there were inventors in the competition that paid the price for their successes both in financial terms and in hard work. I met inventors who believed in their ideas so wholeheartedly that they were willing to do (or give up) whatever was needed to promote and sell their inventions. How many of us are really willing to do that?

I built a low-voltage prototype of the inverter to show in New York City and it worked even better than I thought it would! I ran a small ac synchronous motor (which I also invented) for almost two and a half hours driven by the inverter with energy from a six-volt dry cell battery. There was very little heating of the micro-relay switches during that time so I’m certain that scaling up of the inverter to drive a bigger motor at a much higher voltage (such as in an HEV) would be no problem.

I was personally told just after the award ceremony where the the top five finalists were announced that I would have had a better chance of winning a top prize except that the final judging panel was comprised mostly of journalists with little or no technical training or experience in electricity. That would be my only criticism of the entire event. The lower judging panels from the eight technology groups, however, knew exactly what they were looking for because they couldn’t have been more professional in selecting the group of semifinalists and their inventions. Overall, I am honored to have been a part of such an event because I now know there is a group of people out there who are truly interested in helping the independent inventor for that reason alone. They have no other reward than just seeing the success of a person who has taken an idea and made it work. They are there to help!

Finally, we were guests at the New York Regional Independent Inventor’s Conference for two days which was given by actual senior patent examiners and staff from the USPTO. There were classes on claims writing, general patent application requirements, how to search prior art, and how to maneuver around the website (including how to use their EFS system to save money). If such a conference comes to an area near you, then I highly recommend the experience to any serious independent inventor. If you have any further questions, then I will be glad to answer them.

Sincerely,

Jim Hacsi: jjhasi@comcast.net.