"Leon Fisk" wrote in message
news
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


I have an old Jacobs drill chuck, normal-looking except that the
sleeve is diamond knurled, with the patent date "SEP 16 1902" stamped
on it.