Article by Tony Ellis. - Visit Tony’s website at www.conceptioneering.co.uk

This article follows on from part one and part two, if you haven’t read them yet you may want to go back and read them first.

Pitching our ideas to toy companies

When we develop new ideas/concepts, we then try to sell them into the toy companies in what amounts to a ‘Dragons Den’ type situation – in fact the similarities with the show is quite accurate.

The pitch is everything. Over the years I have done many (many) pitches, and still today get nervous, even with people that I have pitched to before a dozen times or more. Thankfully, my enthusiasm wins over my nerves – in my opinion there is nothing better than an inventors passion for what they believe in.

In the early days we were working blind – wondering if manufacturers would like our new concepts. We would pitch in hotel rooms in New York (during Toy Fairs) in a room with up to 10 people at a time, who would sit there blankly as we’d present them with our latest ideas. » Read the rest of the entry..

Article by Patrick Andrews - Visit Patrick’s website at http://iotd.patrickandrews.com

I’ve begun thinking about what I do that seems to make me inventive. Is it the half-bucket of espresso every morning or the temporal lobe seizures (might these be somehow related?)

500+ Ideas

I’ve gradually become aware, over the course of my last 500

(http://iotd.patrickandrews.com/2008/04/27/triggerings/) or so ideas, that there are several modes of thinking from which ideas for inventions emerge. I’ve tried to describe these elsewhere but I think it’s mostly to do with being able to see the world in a connected way.

As children, when we draw things, we seem to know that ‘m’ is the same as a seagull in flight. Only later, when we start to get formally educated, do we begin to divide the world into iconic representations: every hand must have five fingers, every face the standard number and layout of features. It’s why, I reckon, people stop being able to draw

» Read the rest of the entry..

Each Sunday we do a round up of all the news related to the inventing world.

If you have a suggestions for how to improve this site or an article you would like us to cover, contact us, and we’ll look into it.

News

• Dragons Den inventor becomes millionaire -  A contestant on the UK version of dragons den who secured £150,000 investment from the den is expected to make £25million in sales over five years.
• Prepare to meet your dragon - Canada are currently holding their auditions for the third series of dragons den. Rick Spence shares his story of being a judge at some of these auditions.
• Patent Bill Should Die - Being from England I didn’t know too much about the proposed Patent reform act in the us, this article helped me understand it a little better and it might for you to.
• Digital TV switch may be gamed by “patent jerks” - This article explains how a company who simply buys patents in the hopes of suing people could have a major impact on the cost of digital TV.

» Read the rest of the entry..

I thought it would be interested if each week we shared with you some of the cool inventions we’ve found on our travels through the web.

Ewgeco

The purpose of the device is to make you aware of how much gas, electricity or water you are using at any given time, this knowledge might then make you act on conserving energy.

Ewgeco was invented by Tanya Ewing and has taken more then two years to develop.

Currently this has only been released to businesses but is planed for residential use in the near future. » Read the rest of the entry..

If you want to know more about UltraDrainer visit the official site or read our review.

Shane Chen is the inventor behind UltraDrainer which has been sold on QVC both in America and Germany. Shane is also a serial inventor and invents for a living.

In this interview Shane gives some great insights into what an inventor needs to do to develop their idea into a product and also some tips on how to be an inventor.

Have you invented before? If so how many inventions have you got?

I am an inventor by trade. I have 10 patents so far and others are on the way. I also have a few provisional patent applications in.

Take us through the steps you went through in creating UltraDrainer?

I stated with a flat strainer, kind of like a hockey mask laid flat. I did research by going to kitchen stores and looking at all the different strainers and drainers on the market. I thought if I could combine a few of the features together, I could have a more versatile product.

» Read the rest of the entry..

The website for this product is - Inventist

UltraDrainer

Normally when doing a product review I would explain the problem and the solution, however today’s product is so brilliant that it doesn’t just solve one or two problems, it can be used for at least seven different situations in the kitchen.

When creating a product you want to make it impossible for people not to buy it. It needs to be far superior than any similar product already on the market.

Today’s product does all that and more.

Product

As you saw from the video, UltraDrainer,

» Read the rest of the entry..

Each week I let you in on some of the best the web has to offer with regards to the inventing world.

If you have or know of a site that should be featured in next weeks article Contact Us and we’ll take a look.

Core77

This site has two main sections of interest, the articles and the forum.

For me the best part of the site has to be the 1 hour design challenge. The premise is simple,

• The Core77 team set out a brief, in that brief they will detail a problem or subject for design
• We (the audience) then set about designing our ideas according to that brief, we design what ever we can within one hour.
• We then share our idea on the forum alongside ideas other people have had.
• This then opens up a debate about what design is best and what it truly possible. It’s a great way to get your head into problem solving mode.

Here’s an example of the challenge they set for a theft proof bike.

Articles - http://www.core77.com/blog/

Forum - http://boards.core77.com/

Inventor Mentor

This site is brought to you by Jack Landers, a past president of the UIA who has been writing a column for Inventors Digest for more than 12 years and has published four books about inventing including “How To Finance Your Invention“.

» Read the rest of the entry..

Article by Tony Ellis. - Visit Tony’s website at www.conceptioneering.co.uk

This article follows on from part one, if you haven’t read this yet go back and read that first.

Our inventions take off

When royalties started to come through, I quickly realised that I couldn’t do everything in the business myself, and my wife (Judie) agreed to join me to undertake the day to day running of company (Conceptioneering), which then freed me up to concentrate 100% on what I do best which is the development of new ideas/concepts.

» Read the rest of the entry..

If you want to know more about Cord Order visit the official site or read our review.

Brian Gates is the inventor behind Cord Order. This invention was born out of a  problem which Brian found while inventing another product! For four years a promotion company sat on he’s invention but Brian finally decided enough was enough and is now going it alone.

Find out about Brian’s plan for the future and the advice he gives to first time inventors.

Cord Order will be available for purchase at the end of May.

Have you invented before? If so how many inventions have you got?

I have been developing and inventing products for several years. Cord-order has been the first product I have personally pursued and developed.

Take us through the steps you went through in creating Cord Order?

The concept came about after developing another product that required three separate cords and was to sit on your coffee table. I was unhappy with placing this item on display and came up with a variety of methods to either hide or minimize the tangled mess of cords.

» Read the rest of the entry..