NEVADA INVENTORS ASSOCIATION

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"Education, Assistance, and

Networking for the Inventor"

The Nevada INVENTOR

Official newsletter of and by the Nevada Inventor's Association

Volume: XVI No. 5 -Education, Assistance, and Networking for the Inventor- May 2004

Next Meeting: June 25, 2004 9:00 AM Washoe Medical Center Room cr101

Our web site is 'www.nevadainventors.org' Founded in 1988

We are a 501(c)6 group under IRS rules.

The purpose of NIA is to educate inventors and potential inventors through whatever means available, including regular meeting, classes, seminars, workshops, and evaluations, within NIA or in cooperation with other persons or organizations. The education of inventors, or potential inventors, may also include the publishing of written materials, such as a regularly published newsletter, flyers, notices, or letters.

Additional goals of NIA are to inform its members of private, civic, governmental, and public resources which may be of assistance to inventors; to promote a positive public image of inventors; to provide for its members a referral/resource directory; and to furnish assistance to its members, whenever possible, by directing their efforts toward the successful development of their inventions.



Next meeting May 28, 2005 9:00 a.m., Washoe Medical Center Rm.# CR 101. The board meets at 7:30 A.M. Cafeteria on regular meeting days in order to plan the following month's agenda and other business. All members are welcome to attend.


NIA Meeting notes:

N.l.A. Meeting Notes for March 26, 2005 Trustee's meeting Start 7:30 Am
voting members Vince C., James C., Len S., Dieter Berndt, Kelley, Don Costar. Submit draft of Newco LLC. By Dieter Berndt 501C6 business League No Votes, Proposed or taken end at 8:S2.

Regular meeting start 9:08 Len on Inventing (16 people) visitors are; Buz John, Lynn Spagg, Peter Miller, IBI Speaker Tim Trainer. Don's C. on grant money request, Board will meet on April 16 at this place (WMC crlOI) at 8:30 am. (19 people. www.NationalIPrightscenter.com

Virtual Office BREAK 10:04 10:20 start 10 23 talk by; Tim. Trainer on IBI.. Biz plan -mission -DGO -How unique Need -mgt team -Finished -mkt Pps -Bios -problems solved -IP w111 Fm -risks -Mktg plan -OPS -Capital Plan -R & D -branding strategy Alliance -Joint Venturing -Personality conflicts Sequence Completions -things to do -team list Agreement -legal compliance tracking IP, contracts -Elevator speech 2 min max. Completions, things that are done -Challenges & problems Elevator speech; -Problems to solve- Benefits -who has the problem -cost of not solving the problem. -how to solve the problem www.lBI.org or www.ibiglobal.org Note; cost for IBI membership $6500 one time End at 1122 Buzz Johns electronics hotrod, Knives, is a member of ABS (Assoc Blade Smiths) ( 18 people)

12:09 business part, Reports given, Motion to Accept reports by Don Costar ;sec by Beniard Heckmann, passed by all. Motion to adjourn by Don Costar ;sec by Bernard Heckmann, passed by all. End 12:12 coffee= $14.35


NIA MEETING NOTES

April 23, 2005 Board Meeting Annual picnic tentative date August 27,2005 this will take place of regular meeting that month l Solicit inventions in newsletter 2 5 2005 develop date for final selection Don & George will develop paragraph for newsletter Regular Meeting Follow up on the "invention packet, fly catching device" left by member, Hal Baran_at the January meeting with a member.. Locate the file. (Vince thinks he has it) REPORTS BY Don COSTAR (grant Committee) & George Kent (Brochure) www.biohome.com John Martinson

Don Costar, Chairman, Grant request steering committee

Update on news of the NIA grants request committee:

Meeting held on Saturday the 16th of April Washoe Medical Center cafeteria room. Don Costar called the meeting to order at 8:40 AM-Adjourned at 1 1:40 AM,

The discussions were lively, and some very good suggestions were presented, such as: . in the Washoe Medical

1. Suggestion by Bern that we propose the grant request is made in "phases" instead of one request for the three-year program. No decision was made on that suggestion because there is stir some feeling that the "grantor" may or may not be there for phase two, phase three, etc,


If you would like to receive the NIA newsletter by ernail, simply email us your address. Our email address is www. patents@ gbis.com

so it may be better to get the money up front for the entire program.

2 Don suggested the money (when funded) be managed by a licensed and bonded Trust Company. For approx. S2,000 per year the trust company to handle the money and fee to handle the money end file necessary reports to the IRS and/or any other agency involved. That is tentatively approved pending a vote at the next meeting.

3. There was some discussion about whether to request one grant for the Upgrading of NM operations to increase the public presence, and one separate grant for commercializing an invention. Conclusion was to leave it as is - no change.

4. The discussion of the Concept Statement" resumed in suggested changes in the phraseology, and George undertook the task of rewriting it. He will present it in the form of a 'Transmittal letter-forwarded to all committee members next week or two.

5. Don suggested that we consider increasing the size of the steenng committee to include some of the additional thinkers in the NIA piles not to over look any members of the legal profession, engineers, or female members. No response-still pending.

6. The discussion of the proposed budget for utilizing the grant funds under request resulted in a considerable increase in the amount of money projected to accomplish our goals.

The suggested new three year program budget list is as follows:

1. Secure Library Cart $ 2,000
2. Books, CD's, Video tapes, periodicals (lending library) $1 ,000
3. Cost of Newsletter ($3,600 per year) 10,800
4. Marketability assessment (10 @ $250 ea) 2,500
5. Yellow Pages ad, w/answering service 5,580
6. New Membership packet (100 @} $30) 3,000
7. Mailing brochure (5.000 @1.50 incl. postage) 2,500
8. Invention - concept to patent 20,000
9. Invention-marketing 20,000
10. Computer projection equipment for lectures 3,500
11. Trust account for managing finances ($2,000 per year) 6.000
Estimated grant request $ 76,880

Date and Time of next meeting to be announced.

Don Costar, Chairman,
Grant request steering committee


News

To all NIA steering committee members, We have a meeting set up with Rod Jorgensen for Tuesday, May 31st at 1:00 PM after lunch - for two hours. This meeting is to finalize the grant request, so I suggest we meet again before that time to agree on a final draft. Because of the parking problem at UNR, Rod suggested we meet off campus on the 31st.1 agree that is best. I'm open for suggestions. The parking at Washoe Medical Center is still OK, so maybe we can find a room there. I'll check it out and notify everyone the result of my inquiry.

Stuff Inventors Should Know

The "Patent Act of 2005 " is called a "Cormnittee Print" for the Senate subcommittee on intellectual property. It is a copy of the bill that passed the House and now sits in the Senate.

To view the entire bill content, go to: http://www.aai-usa.org/legislation/109th/SLS_674_XML.pdf

Before it left the House of Representatives the provision to eliminate the appropriation of funds from our patent fees for the Congressional general fund was quietly removed. Since 1992 over $750 million has been siphoned off the patent office income from inventor' fees. But inventors' fees have continually gone up to cover this loss to the patent office. The number of examiners have been cut back, and the pendency time for issuing patents has increased.

Lifting money from the patent office bank account is surely not recognizing, nor respecting, the provision in the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 8) that states: "Congress shall have the power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

Don Costar sent a letter to Senator Orin Hatch regarding Patent Act of 2005

If it inspires anyone to also send a letter -independent inventors thank you.

I've sent mine by snail mail to Hatch and all the subcommittee members, plus our own Nevada Senators. I interned for a Congresswoman one day in the 90's and learned that mail in hand addressed envelopes gets read more frequently than e-mails or faxes. Just a little tip I got by taking the staff to lunch.

Len Schweitzer 5-2-05

Thoughts on the April 05 NIA Meeting by Len Schweitzer 52-05

Some of the childhood awe and thrall of great inventors and what it might be like to actually be an inventor (possessing a patent or two myself) were once again demystified as an especially interesting inventor's story of travail kept our group in rapt attention as Guest Speaker, Dave McKenna, shared his inventing sojourn or saga-let the listener decide we heard all about the Heat Shingles...and more.

A most interesting story how the inventor developed his clever idea which causes shingles to warm along the edge of the roof line and thus obviating the possibility of a javelin sized icicle impaling the first person to leave the house in the morning just as he firmly closed the door behind himself. Following our own recent super abundant snowfall there arises little need to delve into a prolonged treatise on the nature and the need for such an invention.

The "more" portion of this story needs telling lest we deceive ourselves into believing inventing is a simple romantic notion: suddenly we get that great insight, apply for a patent, develop the prototype, get on with manufactured and soon after begin living happily ever after as the money starts rolling in.

As we learned-and for the veterans of the group this part is anything but new-obtaining investors proved to be an unsuccessful ploy and so he found himself to be the sole and primary venture capitalist. Then came the manufacturer's snafu, a home owner sued the installer, the installer sued the inventor etc. etc. Then the came the counter suit, and finally a move toward an out-of-court settlement. If the latter occurs there is the imminent possibility the inventor might incur the financial strength to substantially launch his new creation into a broader market.

As inventors we wish him well. And thanks for coming. !Our regular Carson City member, Bill Young, missed our recent meeting. We were informed he had a brief visit to the hospital for some tune-up and check up to keep all systems in order. We offer our best hopes and supportive thoughts and prayers that he is off and operating better than ever. it is fitting that his name should come up here. He deserves recognition for bringing a special guest to our March meeting.

Buz Johns, as it turns out, is a man who knows a thing or two about knives. Quickly we learned there's a good deal more involved in the task of understanding the history behind knives than our contemporary knowledge affords of paring knives, butter knives and hunting knives. If 'Root Samuria' left your wanting, I am with you. The skill, the craftsmanship, the unique and rare talent, and finally the very special raw material required to create these marvels nearly eclipses (decades ago), our contemporary technology's ability the explain how it could have been accomplished. Is there something special about all this? Perhaps, and if I correctly recall, these human artifacts (creations) sell for dollars ranging from $250.00 to more than ten times that amount!

Having had some background in working with and shaping metal, I have never see anything quite like to two blade samples he showed, one appeared to be sandblasted wood, the other might pass as birds-eye maple, mind you, this is not the handle, it is the blade itself! I was impressed. Nothing attracts the inventor-types like the NEW.

!Thanks Terry Kelly for finding and bringing in Dave McKenna, And Bill Young for your happenstance contact with Buz Johns and his knives. And no less to all the other various officers and members who make our group vibrant and therefore the compelling cause not to miss the next meeting



Bendable Concrete Makes Bridges & Buildings Stronger

By mixing fiber in concrete Scientists have created a bendable concrete material by mixing fiber into concrete. It is lightweight, lasts longer and resists cracking.

Fiber reinforced concrete is not new, but this variety developed at the University of Michigan is said to be Eve hundred times more resistant to cracking, and 40 percent lighter.

Already in use in Australia, Switzerland and other countries, it is slated to be used in the United States this summer. In bridges and buildings, concrete is reinforced with metal wire and bars. This new mix contains much of the same ingredients of the cement in use today, with the exception of coarse gravel. It looks like regular concrete and has a fiber added.

Under intense stress the concrete gives instead of breaking because the fibers slide within the cement. The fibers act like the ligaments in your body, holding things together and yet acting flexible.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will use the ECC to replace part of a bridge that crosses Interstate 94. The slab will eliminate the need for expansion joints, which are moveable steel teeth that separate sections of regular concrete. With the ECC, a longer continuous slab will be possible



God's last name is not damn it --

He that is afraid to shake the dice will never throw a six- A pint of example is worth a gallon of advice. -

The Ten Commandments are not multiple choice.


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Page done by Vince Chemist.
Created on August 9 2005

Updated on September 02 2005