On Wed, 1 Aug 2018 08:47:03 -0400
"Jim Wilkins" wrote:

snip
I've never created anything patentable because I ultimately reduce
problems to very simple solutions, like using a sink spray as a
water-saving shower head.

Poking around, studying old patents is very enlightening and humbling.
In the mechanical area there's not a lot someone hasn't already come up
with. They can be deceiving too. I have a pretty much standard looking
laminated padlock with a pin tumbler I found somewhere. It has a
relatively new patent number on it. Seemed kind of odd to me, nothing
special about the lock I haven't seen a zillion times before. So I
looked up the patent. It was for the locking pawls and a novel way of
manufacture. Yet they are still shimable and the core can be picked
with a just a stern look. Looks good for sales though. "Hey look, this
one must be better, it has a patent." ;-)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI